Volunteers from the Acajou Beach Resort of Seychelles took to the hills of Praslin recently for a tree-planting project in conjunction with a local conservation group.
The resort’s staff involvement comes as a result of an initiative of the Terrestrial Action Society of Seychelles (TRASS), which has been organising the planting of more than 3,000 trees on Praslin from November to January 2016.
Praslin is the second-largest island among the Seychelles inner islands, and is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Vallée de Mai, and some of the world’s finest beaches. More than 30 years ago, however, fires devastated some forests on the island, exposing the island’s characteristic red soil and contributing to erosion.
With the help of volunteers from around the island, TRASS is transplanting endemic plants from its nursery at Fond B'Offay to the identified planting sites.
In addition to helping the environment and contributing to the rehabilitation of Praslin’s deforested areas, Acajou staff also had a personal challenge of their own to overcome: the arduous task of carrying the plants to the hilltops by foot.
For more information about TRASS and its activities, please visit www.trass.org.sc.
ABOUT ACAJOU BEACH RESORT
The Acajou Beach Resort is a Seychellois-owned tourism establishment along the Cote D’Or beachfront on the northern coast of Praslin, the second-largest island in the Seychelles archipelago. “Praslin’s green hotel” features 52 units across five different room categories, offering visitors comfortable beachfront accommodation in a setting of natural, rustic elegance, while maintaining modern eco-friendly facilities and practices. The property opened in 1996 as the Acajou Hotel, the name being the French word for “mahogany,” in a nod to the natural wood-and-timber themed design of its original rooms.
ABOUT SEYCHELLES
An archipelago of 115 islands in the southern Indian Ocean, the Seychelles are the world’s only mid-ocean isles of granite formation and the most ancient islands on earth. Renowned for some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, lush mountain forests and a unique ecology with rare species, these tiny islands are home to about 90,000 people whose culture, cuisine and traditions are as much a blend as their African, European and Asian origins.
