Previously an obscure disease, chikungunya has now entered the vocabulary of all Seychellois. In La Reunion where it has infected more than one third of the population educational cartoons have been made on the subject. But the disease is no joke. The chikungunya  virus outbreak in the Indian Ocean islands is of unprecedented magnitude and has completely surprised the population, policy makers, and public health specialists.

Millions of people all around the world use the internet  to investigate and plan trips to places they want to visit. This is the fastest growing component of the international tourism trade as well as the one holding the most promise of innovation and new services. There are several good web sites that advise people about where to go and what to see.  Two such popular websites are Trip Advisor and Ciao. These two sites, which are visited by many thousands of people worldwide, have brilliant reviews of Cousin island.

An email from Rachel Bristol, our NGO representative from Seychelles at the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Brazil, last week was all great news. The announcement by the island republics of Kiribati, Palau and Grenada of the creation of new marine protected areas has taken the conservation world by storm. More so that these were made at the launch of  the “Global Island Partnership” an event sponsored by an alliance of island governments, UN agencies and NGOs.

The government of Seychelles has announced restrictions on wood pallets that are used to ship goods to this country. The pallets have to be fumigated at the country of source before shipping. This step has been taken after alien species that could pose a danger to the country were found in pallets. A familiar sight to all Seychellois, some of whom use the timber for odds and ends, the pallets have become the new frontline of the ongoing battle with invasive species.