Holiday camp – time to reconnect with nature |08 June 2022

Children need time in outdoor activities and to be in close contact with nature. However, nowadays there are still many children who have little time to enjoy their natural playground or be in the wild.

For many, free time is spent in front of the television, mobile phones, tablets or other indoor IT games.

Holidays are time when outdoor physical activities can be organised for children of all ages.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment has resumed its holiday camp, after it was affected last year by Covid-19 restrictions.

The camp was long being awaited by its members and even parents.

Run by the staff of the Public Education and Community Outreach Division, the camp is usually held over a week.

This holiday all activities were in the wild, discovering nature.

School holiday camp is a time when children coming from different schools with the same interest can be grouped together to participate in fun yet learning activities.

It can also complement what has been learnt in formal classes during the term.

Moreover, the limited time spent in class or ECA to discuss issues related to environment is not always enough to ensure in-depth understanding of specific issues related to the environment.

During past holiday camps, it has been observed that these outings provide children with valuable outdoor experiences which promote relationship with the environment and construct deep environmental knowledge and understanding of the world that surrounds them.

Holiday camps can therefore provide these children another enjoyable and fun alternative where real life learning are based on real places, real issues, and authentic tasks.

It helps to provide sensory engagement opportunities to explore the environment using all five senses.

It provides children with time and environment for learning by doing and encourage them to be actively involved in hands-on exploration and investigation activities which are important in developing active environment stewardship.

It offers children with experiential learning opportunities, which enables them to make connection and apply learning in the real world.

It encourages transformative and action oriented learning, which is needed to encourage positive behaviour change for active citizenship.

The holiday camp started with Sandwatch training. The eco warriors team use Sandwatch programme so that they can learn the skills in monitoring the changes happening on beaches. They did the training in the past, and this one was like a refresher course.

Students from the University of Seychelles who are undertaking environment science degree joined them.

Sandwatch is an international Unesco programme which Seychelles has been participating in for many years now.

The other days were mainly out in nature. The team set off from Anse Forbans, taking the coastal trail, which was supposed to lead to Anse Capucins. But they took the wrong trail and instead of reaching their destination which was supposed to be an hour, they found themselves still climbing uphill after two hours. Bur they were not disappointed for about two and a half hours of walking they ended up at Pti Bwalo beach, which was the first time for most of the participants. Instead of going back using the same route, they returned via Grand Police which was another 45 minutes of walking. The stops along the way was not only time to rest a little, but also to identify the rare plants along the way. Many endemic plants surround that trail, which was used as learning tools for the children. It was also observed that in the past, the place was inhabited, as there were many fruit trees and ruin rock walls/foundation.

Participants also took time during that week to clean the Source Wetland area up at Val D’Andorre. ‘Source’ is now quite popular with both residents and tourists. However, we still have a few visitors who litter the place instead of using the bins at the entrance. After the clean-up and enjoying the peace and natural beauty of the area, the participants walked down to Baie Lazare beach for swimming.

One of the children’s favourite nature trails is Anse Major, for after about 45 minutes of walking, the team ended up on the beach. Instead of swimming in the sea, most of them preferred the clean and refreshing river, which ends in the sea there. Time was spent playing in the shallow water, especially traditional games like ‘res’ in creole, where they run and swim behind each other. Along the way, Anse Major trail provided children with beautiful views of the North West coast of Mahé as well as many endemic and nature species, especially those that thrive in glacis areas.

A week to remember, and surely a lot to share with their friends when they are back at school!

The accompanying photographs show some highlights of the holiday camp.

Contributed