In a bid to promote technology for nature conservation, in November and December 2024, we welcomed two master’s students from Germany to assist the LEAP Project science team conduct ecological surveys in key wetlands sites on Mahé. The goal is to enhance knowledge of mangrove and wetland ecology, conservation, and restoration as part of the recently-launched EU-funded “Wetlands of Hope” project. Marlene Bauer and Anna Bischof, both pursuing a master’s program in Applied Earth Observation at the University of Würzburg, specialize in drone use for environmental monitoring.
The goal is to enhance knowledge of mangroves and wetland ecology, conservation, and restoration
During their time in Seychelles, Marlene and Anna helped map various wetlands across the island, contributing valuable data that will aid environmental conservation efforts. In addition to wetland mapping, they provided valuable training sessions on the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), commonly known as drones.
This training was specially designed for personnel from the LEAP Project and the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change, and Environment who are partnering with Nature Seychelles for the wetlands project, as well Cousin Island Special Reserve. The sessions focused on best practices for operating drones effectively and safely, emphasizing their potential applications in environmental monitoring and data collection. They included conducting drone surveys of mangrove sites and processing the data to create high resolution aerial imagery.
This training was tailored for personnel from the LEAP Project, Cousin Island, and the Ministry of Environment
From the moment they arrived, Marlene and Anna were captivated by Seychelles’ natural beauty. They described the crystal-clear water and the abundance of greenery as almost surreal.
In addition to the incredible landscape, they collected many memorable moments. One of Anna’s personal highlights was flying the drone over seagrass meadows while standing in turquoise water or lying on warm sand to ensure visual line of sight to the drone, while thinking of the grey and cold winter back in Germany. A particularly memorable moment occurred during a drone flight on Mahé, where people often approached to ask about their work. One man shared a story of losing his drone on its maiden flight due to due to a lack of familiarity with safety settings. This interaction further underscored the importance of the safety protocols that were also highly emphasised during the training sessions.
Drones will also be used for minitoring on Cousin Island
For Marlene, an unforgettable experience was conducting training on Cousin Island, where she witnessed turtles laying eggs and even saw some hatchlings going to the sea. This experience stood in sharp contrast to the nerve-wracking drone flights conducted on the Special Reserve, where drones will support ongoing turtle monitoring. Territorial birds on Cousin began approaching the drone during flight. Watching the birds swoop too close required strong nerves, but the personnel on the island remained calm, and the drone emerged unscathed.
Both Marlene and Anna described their time with Nature Seychelles as an immensely enriching experience, and expressed hope that their contributions would support the valuable conservation efforts of the NGO. They are looking at using this experience to promote the use off-the shelf drones for mapping work. Stay tuned for more news on this.