Nature Seychelles has successfully implemented a mangroves rehabilitation project, which it was carrying out at the Sanctuary at Roche Caiman. This was revealed during a workshop held at the organisation's headquarters on 22nd October to share best practices learned under the project. The rehabilitation was done under the Mangroves for the Future (MFF) programme, which Seychelles is part of, with both Nature Seychelles and MFF jointly funding the project.

Contributed by Paul Chow: Seychelles is comprised of only 3 islands, out of 115, that have permanent population. These three islands are situated within a range of 30 kilometers of each other, despite our economic zone stretching over a million square kilometers of the Indian Ocean. The largest island is roughly 20 kilometers by 7 kilometers. Urbanization, therefore, has a completely different meaning for our tiny capital city, Victoria, than Nairobi for example, famous for two large townships or slums comprising of millions of formerly rural peasants, all living a miserable existence in search of a better standard of living around the city.

"Today was a good day at the Sanctuary," Robin said to me early this week. "There was a number of birds I have not seen here before that are now turning up or being seen regularly and in increased numbers." Robin Hanson is the manager of the Sanctuary at Roche Caiman, the wetland reserve Nature Seychelles manages. He is referring to different species of birds called waders, which have been attracted by the big pools of water resulting from recent work at the Sanctuary.

The Aldabra Giant Tortoises on Cousin Island Special Reserve are with no doubt one its greatest attractions. Visitors instantly fall in love with them when they meet individuals hanging out at the beach. Some are quite famous, with the one named George being the most photographed. He recently appeared in all his glory in a full page of the Lonely Traveller Magazine.