(CNN) – There are few places in the world as beautiful or vulnerable as the outer islands of the Seychelles.
While the archipelago in the western Indian Ocean is made up of 115 islands, its 72 outer islands are arguably the most remote and best-preserved places.
The islands and atolls are 60 minutes to two and a half hours away from the main island of Mahé and offer an abundance of marine life, pristine coastline and exotic bird life.
Among them are the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Aldabra, home to the largest population of giant turtles in the world, Alphonse, the Seychelles’ first island to rely on solar energy, and the uninhabited Cosmoledo, known for its spectacularly pristine coral reefs.
“The most unique thing about the Outer Islands is that they were frozen in time,” environmentalist Keith Rose-Innes told CNN Travel. “These islands are so inaccessible to humans and so far away that they have been left alone.
“The coral is still intact because the atolls have very sharp debris and the cool water circles around them. So there is very little coral bleaching.
“The biomass of fish under the sea is amazing. Sometimes when you swim 10 meters apart you can’t see each other because there are so many fish. So it’s really an amazing place. There has only been a lot over the years little human pressure. “”
Threatened
Alphonse Atoll is one of the best-preserved places on the Seychelles’ outer islands.
Fiona Ayerst
Although the Outer Islands have been spared some of the “human pressure” problems faced by destinations like Thailand, they along with the rest of the Seychelles are nonetheless threatened.
Currently, the biggest threats to the islands are plastic pollution, overfishing and climate change.
This saw US charity natural reserve and a number of investors are buying a percentage of the Seychelles national debt and placing it in the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT), which offers low interest rates on repayments.
The money went to projects to protect marine life and combat the effects of climate change and promised to create 30% of its national water protection areas by the end of 2020.
After exploring the Outer Islands as a fly fisherman for many years, Rose-Innes said he saw the effects firsthand.
“Climate change is a big problem,” he says. “I can see it [the difference]. For example, we get bigger storms. Farquhar Island saw the most vicious cyclone ever recorded in the Indian Ocean in 2016.
“And a one degree increase in ocean temperature means 80% of our corals are dying. Now is the time to protect these places and use them properly so they can stay around longer.”
Protect paradise
Alphonse has registered more than 130 species of birds.
Anthony Grote
He has turned his attention to conservation over the past few years to “give back” after worrying about the future of the Outer Islands.
Rose-Innes was a co-founder in May 2018 Blue safari, which offers experience-style vacations that allow travelers to both explore the Seychelles’ outer islands and protect the ecosystems of these various islands and atolls.
“I was known as a ‘fly fisherman’,” he says. “That was my passion. But when you walk around the islands or sit in a boat, you notice all the amazing things these atolls have to offer.
“I thought, how do we generate enough revenue to protect these places? How do we reduce the amount of fly fishing we do? The only way to do this was through ecotourism.”
Blue Safari offers a range of activities and programs, such as snorkeling with and photography of manta rays, bird watching walks, turtle patrols, scuba diving, tree planting, beach cleanups and a scuba diving trip to collect debris from the ocean.
Available accommodations include lodges, eco-camps, and eco-pods from shipping containers.
“Every year we’ve seen amazing growth and more people come,” he says. “It’s important that people can experience and see these amazing places,” he adds. “This also opens up the possibility of collecting donations.”
While Islands Development Company (IDC) manages 13 of the 72 outer islands, Blue Safari takes care of four of them – Alphonse, Astove, Cosmoledo and Farquhar.
Travelers visiting any of the islands will be required to pay a nominal fee of USD 25 per day, which will be donated to the dedicated foundation and used for environmental and environmental programs and initiatives.
While those who take part in Blue Safari’s activities are given a unique insight into the Outer Islands through unique experiences, Rose and Innes and their 150+ team also benefit greatly from meeting travelers and educating them about the work, which they afford to be done.
Plastic problem
The uninhabited Cosmoledo Atoll is the furthest away from the island of Mahé.
Blue Safari Seychelles
“It’s an incredible opportunity,” he says. “There aren’t many places in the world where you can interact with guests, show them what you’re doing and tell them how to make a positive difference to their vacation.”
Beach cleaning is perhaps one of the most important, if not the most exciting, activities that visitors can partake in.
Tons of plastic, mostly from ships, regularly wash up on the beaches of the outer islands, and the amount is increasing every year, according to Rose-Innes.
“We collect tons of plastic, especially when the weather is better on the beaches,” he says. “So that’s obviously a pretty worrying thing.”
In March 2020 the Ocean project Seychelles, a non-governmental organization founded in November 2016, erected a “plastic ocean arch” from trash collected on the outer islands to raise awareness of plastic pollution.
Interestingly, along with water bottles, flip-flop sandals are among the most common plastic items to land on the outer islands.
“One or two of our islands have a pretty large number of flip-flops,” explains Rose-Innes. “Strangely enough, it’s mostly flip-flops on the left. I think it’s like 10 to one left versus right.”
However, Rose-Innes is confident that the global movement to reduce plastic packaging will ultimately reduce the amount of plastic that gets onto the islands.
Although the Seychelles are still considered a far-away beach destination by many travelers, the popularity of destinations such as Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands, and Kenya has proven that there is still a huge market for this type of travel.
According to a report by Allied market research In January, the global ecotourism industry generated $ 181.1 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $ 333.8 billion by 2027.
“Ecotourism is very important because it raises awareness of the environment,” says Rose-Innes.
“If you have a guest who comes out and we take them to a beach cleanup where we pick up plastic, it’s very easy for them to get them back where they came from.
“And maybe next time they’ll think twice about buying a plastic bag.”
Secure the future
The Blue Safari team runs a range of activities, including beach cleanups and bird watching walks.
Melissa Vd Walt
In the meantime, the debt maintenance agreement has so far proven to be successful.
In March last year, the President of the Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan, announced that the nation had kept its promise to protect 410,000 square kilometers of its waters, an area roughly the size of Germany.
“The Seychelles are ultimately an oceanic state and our people are connected to the ocean,” he said said in a statement.
“By protecting these large areas, we not only protect our marine environment, but also balance economic growth by managing the resources provided by the sea.”
While the economy is highly dependent on marine and marine resources, tourism also plays a huge role and the numbers have fallen significantly due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The nation, which closed its borders last April before reopening with restrictions in July, has done a little more than reasonably well during the Covid-19 pandemic 1,000 registered cases and three deaths.Currently only fully vaccinated visitors, unvaccinated visitors from the List of categories 1 and 2 of the Seychellesas well as those who arrive by private jet are allowed to enter. Non-vaccinated visitors must self-isolate for 10 days and give a negative PCR result within 72 hours of arrival.
Officials want to vaccinate over 70% of the estimated 98,000 residents by mid-March, which would make Seychelles the first nation to vaccinate its entire population and allow restrictions to be further relaxed.
“Nothing is coming in for the coming months and this is a disaster,” said Sybille Cardon of the Seychelles Hospitality and Tourism Association told the Seychelles News Agency in January.
“It is really important to have the right protocols in place as tourists are still coming and wanting to vacation in Seychelles.”
Rose-Innes shares this view, but is confident that the situation will improve in the coming months.
“We hope to get back to some sort of normality with guests coming to the islands by around April,” he says.
“But at the moment it’s very quiet. And the fewer people come to the islands, the less money we can collect.
“The most important thing travelers can do to support conservation is to visit us.”
