On Saturday Sept 28, we organized a fieldtrip with our students from Roches Bois and Pamplemousses. The destination: Our coral nurseries in Trou aux Biches!
We reached there at around 10.15 am and our very own Nadeem started by explaining the role of corals and their importance in the marine ecosystem. Questions were popping up from all around and hands started rising up excitedly. It was the first time teaching for Nadeem, but he dealt with it bravely. Then came the most awaited part. The students were divided into three groups and each group in turn were taken for a boat trip.
The boat trip:
We started by taking a look at dead corals. A desolating sight. Then we moved on to living ones while Nadeem expertly identified and explained the difference between the different types of corals. The students got really excited when they started to see different types of fish. That’s why we must protect corals, they are habitats for fish.
The boat stopped and the skipper started to throw some food into the water. All the kids scurried towards the edge of the boat to see the fish rushing in towards the food. Then it was time to go see the nurseries. The cherry on the cake.
We currently have six nurseries under water. The sight of the nurseries awakened the kids’ curiosity but fortunately again Nadeem was here to explain. Then it was time to go back to the beach.
After all three groups had done the boat trip, the kids were allowed to go for a swim and have fun. We left Trou aux Biches at around 3.30pm.
The kids really enjoyed the experience and what they learned. Nadeem will soon start to run classes in both centers to explain in more details about coral farming and the marine ecosystem. Hopefully we’ll inspire some of our kids to become marine scientists in the future!
You can find more pictures on our Facebook Page.