A new range of books, posters and DVDs to guide Seychellois students through the wonders of the country’s unique environment will be in classrooms soon thanks to a public-private partnership deal signed yesterday at Nature Seychelles’ Roche Caiman environment centre.

A brief online tour of Google Earth, or a flick through any atlas will quickly give you some vital information about Seychelles: the country is a long, long way from anywhere else. Hundreds of kilometres from our nearest island neighbours and the African mainland, the specks in the Indian Ocean that are Seychelles have been equally blessed and cursed by their remoteness.

The watery expanse between Seychelles and Africa has allowed unique ecosystems to develop on the islands, species unseen anywhere else in the world allowed to evolve in a relatively secure and secluded environment.