11/03/12 Team Terrestrial Signing Off

As our last week as volunteers draws to a close, mixed emotions are evident across camp. A great sense of achievement is one as we completed the surveying of the mangroves this week. The final total ended up being over 4km for the eight weeks, which looking back is a long way using a twenty meter tape! The 4km we have done since we have been here is also more than all of last year, so we are all very proud of this particular achievement. We are also very happy to have finished our Coco de Mer’s this week. We surveyed sixty-seven trees this week and got drenched in the process; it was lots of fun. In total, it means we have surveyed five hundred and ten trees and had some of the best views of the island while doing it.

Another fantastic moment was when we found another hatchling nest on a walk that the marine volunteers had joined us on. Not only was it nice that the marines got to see them but it also brought back great memories of the first few weeks where we found lots of nests. The hatchling numbers had been dropping off due to the end of the nesting season, so it was very special to find a nest with one hundred and twenty one hatchlings. This almost nostalgic moment is reminiscent of how most of us are feeling now. Everyone knows our time here is nearly over and stories of everything that’s happened while we have been here are almost continually told. The whole camp feels like one big family now and it will be very hard to leave.

Even with our time here ending we are having a great last week. The staff kindly took us on a snorkeling trip as a treat for our hard work, we are also having a big theme party before we go and

are heading off on a diving excursion with Octopus Divers on Praslin with all the marine volunteers on our last day. We are all looking forward to this a lot as it will be our first and only chance to dive as a group. So, although we are sad to be leaving, our great trip will continue to the very last day.

With the workload thinning in the last week as we complete our projects, we have found ways of keeping ourselves busy around camp. Basketball games break out with regular frequency and today a huge talcum powder fight ended up in the majority of the volunteers looking like something out of the Adams family. Its been nice to have a more laid back week, but it has allowed us to think about the work we have done and really look back with a sense of pride. This feeling won’t leave us for a long time and all of us are so pleased to have been a part of this amazing terrestrial project.

Some of us might even come back again......please can we????

11/03/12 Team Terrestrial Signing Off