Seychelles conservation story – Aldabra, the apple of the eye in the Garden of Eden

ALDABRA THE APPLE OF THE EYE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
Splendid isolation comes to mind when looking up Aldabra, the worlds second largest coral atoll and part of the Seychelles archipelago. Aldabra is so large in fact that the entire main island of Mahe would comfortably fit inside the atoll, not that anyone would want to try that of course. Closer to Madagascar or the Comoros, both just over 400 kilometres away, compared to the main Seychellois inner islands which are nearly 1.150 kilometres distant from the atoll, Aldabra gained the coveted status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 19th November 1982 and is since then managed by the Seychelles Island Foundation alongside the Vallee de Mai, a second UNESCO World Heritage Site on the island of Praslin.
The name alone has a certain ring to it and the origin of the word is thought to be found in ancient Arabic, coined in the days when dhows traversed the Indian Ocean with the trade winds, along the East African coast and to the scattered islands way out in the ocean. Coast lines and islands were visited by traders from Persia, Oman, Yemen and other sultanates in search of precious stones, gold, ivory, spices, tropical hard wood as well as mangrove poles and of course slaves and it is thought that many of those seafarers knew of Aldabra and may have used the island to replenish fresh water, catch some fish and hunt some of the huge giant sea tortoises and other marine life for food and trophies.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site Vallee de Mai remains the Seychelles most visited tourism attraction, and with its growing income co-finances the research and conservation activities on Aldabra, since few tourist visitors are able to make the trip to Aldabra due to the complex logistics required. The resulting cost of such a trip, exciting as it may of course sound to get there and become one of a very few humans who ever set foot on the atoll in modern times is simply prohibitive for most of us walking under the sun, and maybe even for those who can happily afford the often extravagant luxuries of some of the Seychelles world class resorts. Unlike the Galapagos Islands which can be reached by air and sea in well organized and meanwhile often oversubscribed tours and with which Aldabra to a point at least can be compared, the natural attractions of the atoll, including over 100.000 giant sea tortoises are unique and literally untouched. Only a small crew of researchers resides semi-permanently on the atoll, at times complemented by visiting study groups from leading universities or marine and climate research institutions from around the world. They all follow in the footsteps of such famous explorer names like Charles Darwin and Capt. Jacques Cousteau, the former who visited this part of the Indian Ocean in the 1870 who knows if it was not his visit to Aldabra which ultimately inspired his theories of evolution and the latter more recently in the mid fifties of the last century. One other very high profile visitor was the Princess Royal a few years ago, greatly helping the Seychelles Island Foundation to attract attention to their challenges for funding, as it is always good to have friends in high places.
A couple of hundred intrepid tourists per annum at most have come to Aldabra in recent years although prior to the global economic and financial crisis this number had reached the magic 1.000 that year. Those who do come either take a day trip by boat from Assumption, the nearest island with an airfield, or else come with their ocean going yachts, anchor offshore, visit during the day for guided tours and then return to sleep on their boats at night. Either way, a visit involves some serious advance planning and logistics to be put into place and when that is all done the weather too plays an important role as the 20 odd mile journey across the ocean from Assumption can be very rough indeed at certain times of the year. When the few privileged intrepid adventurers then finally depart again, after exploring the various islands making up the atoll under the strict supervision of their Aldabra based guide, they are supposed to leave nothing behind on the atoll but their footprints in the sand this is a standing rule and strictly observed and enforced.
There are few destinations as remote and as difficult to access by visitors than Aldabra and it explains the pristine marine environment and untouched vegetation on the atoll the handfuls of visitors every month, at times there are none at all for weeks, create less impact and less damage to the environment. In fact, climate change and rising sea levels presently pose very likely a greater threat to the Aldabra atoll than a couple of hundred more visitors would, and the Seychelles Island Foundation has been very keen to see tourist numbers rise to help pay for the substantial expenses of keeping research crews so far away and supply them by boat from Mahe. It is clear from a detailed conversation with SIF Chief Executive Dr. Frauke Fleischer-Dogley that the Seychelles Island Foundation has a limit of annual visitors in mind to preserve the integrity of Aldabra and protect their research from becoming polluted, but for now, with visitor numbers also driven down by the presence of Somali pirates in the expansive waters between Mahe and the atoll, this seems a long way off before any limit needs announcing and enforcing.
On the downside has it also been reported that floatsam and debris is now being carried in increasing quantities to the atoll from far away, following the prevailing currents, evidence of just how polluted our oceans have become and that even at the remotest of places, deep in the open waters of the Indian Ocean, rubbish still makes its way to the shores and beaches, posing a significant and growing risk to marine life and serving as a reminder how urgent it is to treat our oceans with respect. Unless that is they are to become the worlds largest rubbish disposal site, probably with long term disastrous consequences for marine life and commercially harvested fish.
Repeated Aldabra exhibitions in Paris and Victoria have helped SIFs team to keep the attention of the global conservation and research fraternity at a constant high and helped raise additional funds to continue the often groundbreaking work on a number of ongoing, some say historic studies underway on Aldabra.
The distant and remote location in fact adds some historical spice to the story, dating back nearly 100 years, when the Imperial German Navy light cruiser Koenigsberg and her supply vessel the Somali played cat and mouse with the Royal British Navy along the East African seaboard at the onset of the First World War. In a perfectly executed game of hide and seek in early August 1914, just after war had been declared, did the Koenigsbergs Captain Max Loof defy the overwhelming odds when he managed to outrun the British cruisers in pursuit after his stealthy departure from Dar es Salaam and then drove his light cruiser, about 125 metres long and just under 3.100 tons, into the Aldabra lagoon through the Grand Passe or Main Channel, a coral reef lined passage about 700 metres wide and extending about 2.5 kilometres into the lagoon. Joining them in there was his supply vessel Somali allowing the Koenigsberg to bunker much needed coal and other supplies to be able to run back to Tanganyika and commence extended operations along the Eastern African coastline all the way down to Yemen. According to information made available by Glynn Burridge of the Seychelles Tourism Board the original rendezvous place for the meeting of the ships was to be the Rufiji Delta in the then German colony of Tanganyika which however had to be abandoned as the British navy had started to move additional ships into the area to hunt for the Koenigsberg and to deny the German troops in Tanganyika a strategic asset, able to deliver supplies and to even further disrupt and threaten British naval operations from their own colony in Kenya and beyond than that single light cruiser already did during its time.
The British navy must have been somewhere in the vicinity of Aldabra during the visit by the Germans but was unable to spot the well concealed German navy ships and probably also concluded from their maritime maps and on site assessment that there was no way a ship of that size could sail into the inner atoll. The British did eventually catch up with first the Somali and later the Koenigsberg herself in the war in the Rufiji Delta after suffering some humiliating losses caused by the German warship, but that cat and mouse game went on longer than intended as a result of the bravery of the Koenigsberg and Somali crews, who defied the odds and achieved a naval first, not since repeated of entering the Aldabra lagoon. In fact, entering the lagoon through any of the four main channels today is no longer permitted for commercial traffic and considering the dangers of ocean swells and rushing waters at tide and ebb any attempted entry would be quite dangerous in any case. The other main passages are the Western Channel, suitable only at calm weather and high tide for small craft, the Passe Houareau or East Channel equally only suited for smaller crafts and the just as difficult to navigate Johnny Channel although several other smaller inlets exist between the four larger and plenty of smaller islands making up the atoll.
But back to the present day Aldabra, leaving the events of the First World Wars Indian Ocean naval hunts behind us, interesting as it might be for war history buffs.
For conservation conscious Seychelles, which holds the world record of having more than half of its territory protected as terrestrial and marine national parks, as nature, bird and ocean reserves on public and private land, Aldabra, distant as it may be from the capital Victoria, is surely the prized apple of the eye of their conservation efforts. The Valle de Mai, which undoubtedly is better known for its uniquely shaped coco de mer nuts remains the most visited tourism attraction on the Seychelles but it is Aldabra which most reminds one of the original Garden of Eden for marine life and birds and coral island vegetation left literally untouched for hundreds of years and therefore entirely intact. Extensive mangrove forests, tall as no longer seen anywhere else and never really harvested by man in recent memory, provide an ideal environment for the often thousands of giant tortoises and other marine life calling Aldabra their home. Birdlife too is significant, both in terms of numbers and in terms of species. Reports from the Aldabra community have talked of finding crabs weighing several kilograms and fish larger than usual, probably a result of the nearly total absence of humans who would otherwise constantly raid marine life and reduce the populations starting from the big guys which nowhere else are now found in such abundance and with such regularity than in the waters inside the atoll and around Aldabra. The atoll therefore provides an insight into what our oceans used to be like in ancient times and the ongoing research gives us the data to compare the changes over the past decades caused by pollution, rising water levels and increased water and air temperatures and what impact to marine life this has caused and is continuing to cause.
The Seychelles Tourism Board has information about the atoll as has the Seychelles Island Foundation on their websites, for all those who are keenly interested to peep in from the distance via cyberspace, but once the bug has bitten, undoubtedly the intent will be to visit in person one day, as it is for sure the case with this correspondent. Aldabra for now remains one of the last frontiers still to be fully explored by humanity and it can only be hoped that it will be done so with extreme caution and care by conscious researchers and explorers able to appreciate the pristine environment they find and leave behind only their proverbial foot prints in the sand when they leave, richer by a rare and priceless experience and turned in to advocates for conservation. Seychelles Truly Another World.
www.seychelles.com www.seychelles.travel www.sif.sc

Getting there: By air from Mahe International Airport to Assumption Island, STOL capable concrete airfield of 3.963 x 41 ft with GPS data available through SCAA and SATC, and then 3+ hours by boat each way weather permitting, to be arranged in advance through the Seychelles Island Foundation offices in Victoria, or else by supply boat or private yacht or explorer cruisers, anchoring off shore as there are no sleeping quarters to be had for ordinary tourist visitors. Permission / clearance to visit must be pre-arranged through the Seychelles Island Foundation in Victoria and immigration procedures, for those travelling there from abroad, must be followed ahead of landing on Aldabra.

Kenya tourism news – More charter flights heading for Mombasa

ADDED CHARTERS HEADING FOR MOMBASA AMID HOPES AND DOUBTS
Information from aviation sources in Mombasa tells a story of hope and doubts at once, when details become known that more charter flights, including from Poland and Russia, were heading for Mombasas Moi International Airport as of next week. The new all inclusive tour charter flights are expected to boost occupancies for the beach resorts in and around Mombasa at a time when Kenyas tourism sector is reeling from two abductions of foreigners from remote beach spots in Lamu and further north in Kiwayu. The new flights are much welcome and much needed said a regular source from the Kenyan coast before adding and it only remains to be seen how the negative headlines are affecting sales. Tour operators from abroad have been seeking assurances from us here in Mombasa and from government about security arrangements for tourists. We now wait to see how the statements given by government are translating into action. Generally we are confident that Mombasa tourism will not be affected a great deal even though travel to Lamu has collapsed because of the blanket advise by embassies not to go there. Tourists fear that their travel insurances will lapse should they go there, and those handling excursions are also worried that if something should happen they might get sued for negligence. So coast tourism has two faces now, the Lamu situation and us here at north and south coast of Mombasa. I think here we are fine, demand for safaris is steadily upward and also for forward bookings for the beach resorts. The new flights, if they sell well in those countries where they are coming from, will give Kenya a boost and this would restore confidence in other markets too. We all regret a lot of course what happened and pray for those two ladies.
Kenya tourism is still on track to produce record arrivals and revenues for the calendar year of 2011 with a broad increase of about 15 percent over and above 2010, itself a record breaking year, and new flights, to Mombasa and to Nairobi will support this trend with the arrival of yet more visitors. Happy landings to the new flights and enjoy the sun drenched beaches of Kenyas coast.

Uganda conservation news – More controversy keeps the UWA Commission of Enquiry in the public spotlight

MINISTER OF CROCODILES CANNOT SHUT UP EITHER
Rash decisions and bad decisions triggered all this and it is entirely Otafires fault that UWA is now in tatters said a source close to the centre of the ongoing controversy, when it became known that the now Minister for Justice had gotten once again involved in the UWA Commission of Enquiry earlier in the week when he directed that the Commissions lead counsel stop working after it became public knowledge that he had, together with two other commissioners, publicly disagreed with commission chair Kanyeihamba.
Technically the commission is under Tourism so why Otafire gets involved is a bit of a mystery for everyone, but maybe he is trying to save his man Kanyeihamba. In any case, the term of the commission has expired in August and it was directed by the competent minister to wind up and produce a report. But it seems the commission chair is busy lobbying for another extension instead of writing his report. The dissent with his members is also now public knowledge and we wonder if we get one report signed by all or two reports signed by the factions only added the same source, understandably on condition of strictest anonymity, fearing a witch hunt for informers.
Meanwhile is the appointment of a new board of trustees for the Uganda Wildlife Authority still pending before the minister Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu as is the decision over the fate of the acting Executive Director Dr. Andrew Seguya, keeping the organization in added suspense. These latest public spats will undoubtedly put some added pressure to have these issues resolved at the very earliest opportunity as UWA deserves to get back to a level of normality with a properly constituted board in place and the position of Executive Director sorted out once and for all, to put past upheavals and operational paralysis behind and get on with crucially important conservation work. Watch this space as undoubtedly more twists and turns of this saga will come to light.

Uganda news – More CHOGM cases sent to court affecting top politicians

MORE CHOGM CHARGES AGAINST SENIOR POLITICIANS ROCK POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT
The Inspector General of Government moved swiftly over growing allegations that former Vice President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya was singled out and kept in remand jail while awaiting his bail application to be heard by the High Court, when more charges against senior politicians were brought. Conspiracy theorists had tried to make a connection of the former Vice President losing his parliamentary seat when an election petition was upheld against him yesterday and being kept in remand until next week due to the inexplicable absence of a judge to deal with the application for bail, unsettling a crucially important NRM constituency of voters and party supporters from central Uganda.
Summons were issued yesterday by the Anti Corruption Court for Foreign Minister Sam Kuteesa, former Works and Transport Minister and now Government Chief Whip John Nasasira and the now Minister of State for Labour Mwesigwa Rukutana, to answer charges of misappropriation of government funds in the run up to the November 2007 Commonwealth Summit.
The public accounts committee of the last parliament had investigated a number of politicians, senior civil servants and companies involved in alleged scams to siphon off public funds from the CHOGM budgets and while the current cases now before court are significant in regard of the personalities involved, it is only the tip of the iceberg as more charges against a larger number of individuals are said to be in the final stages of preparation. The committees report however was eventually thrown out by the plenary session of the last parliament which attempted to give blanket absolution, a failed effort it seems as the office of the Inspector General of Government conducted subsequent investigations and decided that prosecutions were in the public interest to quell rumours that the mighty always get away.
Notably, while the ruling NRM has made an anti corruption drive part of their manifesto for the last elections, have other reports emerged that President Museveni once again came to the aid of his former deputy by throwing his weight behind Bukenya, stating that in his opinion the former Vice President had no case to answer, bringing the head of state on a collision course with the supposedly independent court system. This scenario gained momentum when media reports began to emerge that a cabinet session had resolved to get Bukenya out of jail, something independent observers promptly used to speculate over the independence of the judiciary and due process. Watch this space as this saga now gains momentum and these cases go underway while others are due to be brought.

Kenya conservation news – Elephant relocation from Narok to Masai Mara concludes first stage

62 ELEPHANT GET RELOCATED INTO THE MASAI MARA
Information was sourced from Nairobi that the recently mentioned relocation of a herd of elephant from the Narok District in Kenya into the Masai Mara Game Reserve has been concluded earlier in the week, after a total of 62 animals, instead of the initially envisaged 50 had been captured and taken into the park.
Increasing wildlife human conflicts have emerged in the recent past in Kenya where a growing population and their demand for food has eaten into the wilderness areas where previously game could roam undisturbed, as new settlements reach ever deeper into such parts of the country and where more farmland is opened up to grow food. These developments have also in many places across Kenya cut off the traditional migration routes of game and while some attempts have been made to keep the most crucial game corridors open, this is becoming more and more difficult to achieve. The best examples are the challenges of keeping the migration going between the Nairobi National Park across the Athi plains to wilderness areas as far as Amboseli or the Chyulu Hills, but also between the Aberdare National Park and Mt. Kenya National Park, which are now in fact being fenced off to keep game inside, hindering the migration habits imprinted on the animals mind. Further north the age old corridors between Marsabit, across the Matthews range into the Laikipia plains, where the trails would have joined the Aberdare / Mt. Kenya game highway too are now becoming built up, causing increasing concerns over the future of game management to confine the herds or to let them roam as in olden days.
KWS had targeted some 200 elephant to be captured and relocated to the Mara and with the first batch now settling in some monitoring will be going on to see how the animals settle down and how their movements are, aided by radio collars through which they can be tracked.
It is understood that the affected communities have expressed relief over the departure of the elephant, many of which regularly raided small farms and posed a daily danger to the people who moved into these areas. Watch this space for more information when the second part of this major relocation exercise goes underway in a few weeks.

Ethiopia aviation news – Four new B777F orders placed by Ethiopian Airlines

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES SNEAKS IN AN ADDED 4 B777 ORDERS
In a rather stealthy way has Ethiopian Airlines apparently ordered yet another 4 Boeing B777F aircraft, as it just became known and confirmed by a source in Addis Ababa.
The airline had kept this development secret but when news began to leak through international aviation blogs, Boeing did finally confirm the order, which makes Ethiopian the first African airline to get these birds into their fleet.
Already engaged strongly in the aviation cargo business, the order of these brand new long distance aircraft will substantially boost ETs capacity to play a bigger role in flying cargo from around the world into Africa. This development comes hot on the heels of neighbour Kenya Airways entering the air cargo business too, with the acquisition of a B747F soon to be followed by the arrival of as many as three B737F, which will be deployed to deliver and collect cargo from across their own African network and feed through KQs Nairobi hub, where air cargo is already big business, though until now mainly for other dedicated cargo airlines.
Ethiopian and Kenya Airways both pursue similar strategies and with ET presently working towards membership in global leader Star Alliance, Kenya Airways is already an associate member in rival Sky Team, which is led by the KLM Air France Group.
The two airlines are aggressively rolling out a comprehensive Africa network aimed to cover all commercial and political capitals, connecting through their respective hubs while at the same time also expanding their international destinations to key markets, though both airlines expansion plans were thrown into some turbulence as a result of the long delays in the delivery of their B787 orders.
In contrast, the other big airlines on the continent, South African Airways and Egypt Air, are struggling to play catch up now. Egypt Air continues to struggle with the fallout of the political revolution earlier this year when they had to suspend most of their flights and has lost crucial points in the perception market while South African Airways appears to have the disadvantage of flying from Africas southernmost country not as well suited to copy the success story of its East African rivals due to geographical challenges.
Watch this space to learn when the new freighters will be delivered to Ethiopian Airlines and to get the most up to date news from the East African and Indian Ocean aviation industry.