ALDABRA EXPEDITION RETURNS TO VICTORIA
The Clipper Odyssey has returned to Victoria harbour over the weekend after a successful journey to Aldabra and the Amirantes islands. With 75 intrepid adventure travelers on board the trip covered visits to 11 of the outlying islands of the Seychelles, visited two reefs and most importantly paid a visit to the Aldabra atoll this correspondent wrote about in detail a few months ago the Seychelles Garden of Eden.
Staff from the Seychelles Tourism Board, led by CEO Alain St. Ange who was accompanied by Elsia Grandcourt and Glenn Burridge, welcomed the ship, crew and passengers back to Mahe and expressed their delight when learning that more such trips were now being planned in coming weeks and months, at last opening up the outer islands again for seaborne visits.
The Aldabra Atoll in particular is considered one of Seychelles foremost treasures, and is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, managed by the Seychelles Island Foundation and supported by a variety of research programmes, hugely important to study the impact of global warming and climate change.
Captain Peter Fielding was according to a source in Victoria positive about future trips and expedition leader Jack Grove, a marine biologist and co-founder of Zegrahm Expeditions too was confident about more trips being organized and put together by Masons Travel, the local handling agent for the cruise.
Meanwhile was it confirmed that another cruiseliner will be calling on Victoria harbour today, raising hope that the added safety and security precautions put in place by the Seychelles government for visiting cruiseliners and cargo ships will pay off in 2012 with a regular return of the big ships to the archipelago.
