Tropical Fruits

Well Classes 1 and 2, back in the early 1900’s as well as coconuts, different fruits were planted too and although most of those have now been removed there are still a few left in the garden, which we can harvest for ourselves and which form an important part of our diet.

So what are they?

Well we have pineapples - did you know they grow on a small, bushy, creeping plant on the ground? – We didn’t until we saw them here. The climate is so warm on the island pineapples grow throughout the year and ripen almost instantly – they taste fantastic.

There are guavas, which grow on trees and look a bit like small oranges. These are particularly good to eat and have a similar taste to sweet gooseberries. They are a real favourite for some of the birds here, particularly the blue pigeon and fruit bats.

We have bananas, oranges, grapefruits and limes, which are all very similar to what you can buy back in Britain.

But our favourite must be the papaya, which grows on very tall trees in bunches, a little like coconuts. They are a soft fruit about the size of a small melon and a challenge to pick – it always takes two of us – one with a very long stick to dislodge the fruit, the other standing at the bottom of the tree ready to catch. We eat them like melons, but they have a texture of very ripe avocados, they are delicious.

So we are all really glad they didn’t remove all the fruit trees when they turned Aride into a nature reserve!

The Coconut Story

Well Class 4, originally only visited by travellers, Arab traders and pirates, in 1861 Aride had a very small permanent human population of two. From this time on the number of inhabitants increased and the island was developed as a plantation, with the coconut being the most useful tree. The flat plateau and large sections of the hill were soon cultivated commercially with all the native woodland lost by 1868. All the original big trees were felled for timber and much of the island was cleared. Originally the coconuts were limited to the beach crest, where they would have established from nuts that had been washed on to the beach. In the 1920’s and ‘30’s there was an extensive planting programme and they began to cover a large percentage of the island.

But why coconuts, well the nuts were gathered and the dried flesh called copra was extracted for oils. The Copra house where this was done can still be seen on Aride today and this we plan to preserve to tell visitors about the history of the island. However whether due to the remoteness, the harsh dry conditions or difficult seas around the island we will never know, but Aride fortunately never became a full copra plantation unlike many of the other outlying islands. In 1967 it had a stroke of good fortune and a visit from Paul Chernard, a local Seychellois, decided it was too special and should be preserved as a nature reserve. From this time the removal of the coconuts began and the natural forest was allowed to regenerate and this has continued to present day.

The coconut palms are now just restricted to the beach crest where they would have occurred naturally and they are an excellent local food for the island. Coconut curry must be the staple diet of Aride Islanders, as we harvest the nuts and crack them open to obtain the coconut inside. This we shred out of the shells using a specially designed stool with a serrated blade on the end. The coconut is then combined with water to make coconut milk which is the staple ingredient for many dishes, both sweet and savoury. One of the local Seychellois rangers favourite is a pudding called ‘La Dobe’, which is coconut milk and a root from a marsh plant here on the island – coco yam – about which, together with all the other natural foods, I will tell you about next time...

Where do we get our water from?

Hi Classes 1 and 2, it sometimes seems funny that we are living on an island surrounded by water but we need to think about where we get our water for living from. Of course we are surrounded by the sea which is salt water and no good for drinking or washing. Luckily living on an island in a tropical climate, means it rains a lot more than back in Britain, and this we rely on.

We collect our drinking water off the roof of our house and store it in six big barrels. Before we do this, we need to make sure the roof is clean and all the bird pooh and leaves has been washed off. We can then drink and use this water for cooking, after it has been through a simple filter.

However it doesn’t rain all the time and so we need to make sure that we have stored enough during the two rainy seasons, and that we don’t waste our drinking supplies.

For all washing; ourselves, dishes and clothes, we have a well. The water from the well is slightly salty, which is no good for drinking but ok for washing. The well is 5metres deep and we use a bucket on a piece of rope to reach the water. The rope has knots in it so that we can grip it well and pull the bucket up when it is full and heavy. This water we then carry to our house in our own buckets, where we use it, we haven’t got a shower, sink or washing machine, so everything is washed by hand.

Not having a permanent supply of water or running water out of a tap and having too carry it from a well, really makes us think about how much water we use and encourages us to economical with every drop. This is important when living on an island to ensure that we don’t run out before it rains again.

A tour round our plantation bungalow

Located just off the beach crest, our plantation bungalow doesn’t have many similarities to anything we have lived in the UK, but is well suited for here and this hot climate. Originally built in the 1930’s to house people that worked on Aride when it was a coconut plantation. They are made of granite from the island, combined with cement, on top of a concrete plinth with tin roofs. The concrete plinth helps to raise the rooms up to stop some of the wildlife (and may be water) coming in. There are limited mod cons, with electric from a generator, but no running water or toilet.

The kitchen has a gas cooker and electric fridge, (the latter is essential in this hot climate), but no sink or drainer and the cupboards are basic, but built to keep the mice out. We have a few shelves for storage, but only for items that can’t be broken into by mice, birds, lizards, ants and crabs.

Off the kitchen there are two verandas, one for washing up and storing drinking water, the other is our main living space, where we eat and relax in the evenings.

Behind the kitchen there is a large room which is our personal office and storage room for tools, snorkelling kit, fishing gear and all other possessions. There are no windows in this room, so we have decorated it in bright white, to help us see with the dim lights here in the evening.

The bedroom is just big enough for a bed and one cupboard and chest of drawers. The bed has to be in the middle of the room so that we don’t get wet through the leaky roof when we have a tropical storm.

We try to keep all our clothes hung, why do you think we do that?
Please excuse the pink sheets – they were all we could find here – but they do brighten up the room!

The legs of the table we eat off and of our bed are all stood in tubs of water – why do you think this is??

Around the bed there is a large net, do you know what this is for?

In this picture, there is also a coconut shell with a coil on top which you light, what do you think this does?

Then there is the bathroom, well this is a bit of a grand name for a room with a whole in the wall to take dirty water! As we don’t have running water there isn’t a bath, shower or sink and definitely no toilet. To shower we fill a bucket from the well and pour it over or heads, often adding a kettle full of warm water first, as it can be a bit chilly.