Class 4 imagined that they were Sally or Melv and wrote entries for their diaries. Here are some extracts from the diaries:

Sally

This evening we went to Praslin to go shopping. There is no chocolate and no crisps. I am finding it hard to adjust, but I know the longer I stay here I will get used to it and I must because this is a once in a lifetime trip and I can’t forget a moment of this two year experience. India*

PS. Today it was a staggering 30 degrees and I couldn’t go anywhere without my giant, floppy sunhat. In my opinion, I think I don’t look stunning. Jade*

I quite miss having chocolate or a bag of crisps because the shops don’t have them either. I suppose it means I’m healthier but still, I’m a big fan of chocolate! Abigail*


We do like our home because all the animals live with us and we have company everywhere we go. Gemma*

I went to bed because I was tired but I couldn’t get to sleep because of the waves and also I think because there are tons of spiders. It’s not just me who’s sleeping in my room! Rebecca*

When we wake up in the morning, we can hear all of the different kinds of bird gently singing in the breeze but at night most of the time some of the creepy crawlies come in our room an scare me out of my pyjamas!! It’s really scary. Katie*

Melv
Today I went fishing. I caught a whopper. I can’t describe it. We fish with a cane. There are no fishing rods here. Connor*

It looks nothing like Somerset. It is very hot. You could fry an egg on the floor. Luke M*

I love it here despite the heat. I am going to take a walk in the forest son because there is plenty of shade and space. Anyway, I love this place and I’m trying to have as much fun as possible because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’ve always wanted to come to an island like this and here I am now. Ben I*

Life here is a breeze. The sun heals my worries and refreshes my mind. Hayden*

Everyday I think I’m back in the rainy England but then I open the door and the sun’s rays beat against my face and then it hits me, I’m in the SUNNY SEYCHELLES.

Hi to Class 1 & 2 of Meare School from the Seychelles

The Seychelles are over 7,000 miles away and it is a country made up of 115 small islands. Melvyn and I came over to work here last December swapping our nature reserves in Somerset for a nature reserve called Aride Island. Aride is an island which is smaller than the village of Meare, with only eight people living on it, Melvyn and me, two volunteers and 4 local rangers.


Our job here is to look after the island and its wildlife, the wildlife is very special and is some of the rarest in the world. There are birds, turtles, lizards, crabs, fish, snakes and spiders, all living on and around Aride.


For us, living on Aride island can be quite hard work, there is no electricity or running water and of course no shops. We carry our water from a well and have a generator for electricity. We don’t have cars or bicycles as there are no roads and we go shopping once a week in a boat, as long as the sea is not too rough.

We live in a house, which we share with some of the wildlife like lizards and crabs, it is next to the beach and we can hear the waves when we go to sleep, there is a garden where we grow our food and we catch fish from the sea.

Hi Class 4,

Well we have finally arrived in the Seychelles and have now been living on Aride Island for the last 6 weeks, it is fantastic and there is so much to share with you, I almost don’t know where to start!

So what I will do first is show where we are living on the island and then hopefully you can start to visualise what things look like when I talk about our day to day living, our work and then of course the wildlife.

As you know the Seychelles are made up of a series of islands, there are two main ones – Mahe, which has a population of 90,000 and Praslin (in the picture on the left) which has 7,000 people.

Aride Island (picture right), is north of Praslin and has a human population of 8, but a bird population of up to 1.25 million. It is only 70ha in size (1,500m x 350m) and is right in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

The island is made up of 3 main areas:

The beach, which is a mix of sand and rocks and is about 750m long, and runs along the southern edge.

The plateau, which is next to the beach, and is our only flat piece of ground approximately 750m by 70m, this is where we all live. The plateau is where all the houses are, there are a total of 7, 1 for the wardens, 1 for the volunteers, 4 for the local rangers and 1 for visiting researchers and scientists. Also on the plateau is the well for our water, the garden, where we grow our food, the boat house for the boats to be kept out of the heat and the sun, and the Conservation Centre which is where we have the office and a visitors centre and shop for the tourists.

The hill, which forms the main part of the island, it is a rocky outcrop north of the plateau and very rugged. This is where most of the birds live, although the plateau is used by a lot of wildlife, the hill apparently becomes alive later in the year as most of the birds use this area to breed. The hill is 134m high and is a very steep climb in the Seychelles climate which is very hot and humid.

So where do we live? Well we are very lucky and we live right next to the beach (see arrow) and the noise of the sea is constant. When we go to sleep we can hear the waves crashing onto the beach and sometimes they are so loud it sounds like a thunderstorm echoing through the windows and doors.

There are lots of things to tell you over the next few months about how different life is on an island in the Seychelles, but to start with the things that spring to mind are:

We go shopping in a speed boat to Praslin to small shops which very often have a poor selection of food – certainly no crisps or chocolate and most of the time no onions or potatoes. This is not just the case for food, Melv couldn’t find a mirror to have a shave for 6 weeks and the one he has now got is yellow with a big teddy bear on the back – but don’t tell anybody!

With no television or radio our entertainment in an evening is watching skinks, geckos and crabs.

Washing is great fun and all our water comes either from the well or off the roof and our shower is a bucket over our heads.

The weather is very, very hot and 30’C most days, and so we go now where without factor 50 sun cream and big floppy hats. The climate is also very humid and our clothes don’t ever really dry out.

I will finish by saying you were all right about the wildlife a night, we share our house with lots of creatures...