Assessment of “La Rentrée des Pétrels” – 3rd edition!
While pupils already came back from summer holidays some time ago, our petrels are only coming back now from their journey at sea!
This Saturday, October the 7th, 2017, was held the 3rd edition of “La Rentrée des Pétrels”. We thus celebrated the return ashore of the two endemic species of petrels, the Barau’s and the Mascarene petrel, which come on our island to breed each y
This event was organized by the town of Saint-Louis, the Réunion National Park and the LIFE+ Pétrels. It gathered different environmental protection structures around this issue. Artistes and local associations assembled to celebrate the petrels’ return on our island!
A festive 3rd edition!
The goal of this event was to create a bond between petrels and the general public. Being nocturnal birds nesting in hard-to-reach places, people hardly ever see them in their natural habitat. We here offered the possibility to create a bond with the petrels. The aim was to win the loyalty of nature’s lovers as well as meeting those who are discovering nature.
In order to do this, the organizers setted up a festive afternoon with fun and playful activities, for parents and children: environmental awareness workshops, kids workshop (“learning to draw”, life-size board game, “Jack Barau” video game), small hikes, biking, tale telling, weather initiation. And, of course, the traditional petrel sighting led by experts with professional equipment: telescope wired to screen, field glasses and a radar created by the private company Biotope!
A stage was also set up. Thanks to the associations Klé de Sol and Zumba’ Hawa, the heat cranked up early that afternoon. Later then, the stage was electrified by the Roots rock seggae sound of the band Kaplawsé. The end of the show was galvanized by no other than Danyèl Waro who honoured us with his presence. It was a nice way to showcase the cultural heritage of La Réunion.
In total, around 400 people came!
A global entailment!
Petrels are, beyond their natural and cultural value, a good vector to organize territorial projects. These species create a bond between les Hauts (the highlands) and les bas (the coast) of the island on one hand and between the island stakeholders on the other. Thus the general public, the natural environments’ managers, the politicians, the economical and the educational world are all, on their own scale, involved in their preservation. So it is important to set up this type of events in order to mobilise and commit everyone on this thematics.
Some answered and came to our call! We’d like to thank theses structures for what they did during this 3rd edition of “La Rentrée des Pétrels” and their involvement in our environment’s protection.
The association “Aide à l’ acquisition des compétences de base La Rivière” (2ACBR), the “Association des amis des plantes et de la nature” (APN), the “Association de valorisation de l’Entre-deux mondes” (AVE2M), the private company BIOTOPE for bringing its radar, the CIVIS, the “Conservatoire d’espaces naturels de La Réunion” (GCEIP), “Gol les hauts aménagement et propreté” (GHAP), the “Société d’études ornithologique de La Réunion” (SEOR), La Poste, and the association “MétéoR Océan Indien”.
Merci zot’ toute et nartrouv’ sa l’anné prochaine!*
*Thanks everyone and see you next year!
Photo credit : Tara Yung et Camille Payet
