Coco der Mer and Seychelles Parrots. Seychelles part 3.

One of my target species in the Seychelles was the endemic Seychelles (Black) Parrot. It was historically treated as a sub species of the one found in Madagascar and Comores it is now recognised as a separate species. Once  persecuted because of its love of cultivated fruits it's found only on Praslin and theres just over 1000 left. Its not really black but dark brown and grey. Researching best places to see it before we left home I found that the most regular place was the national park of Vaille De Mai - famous for its Coco De Mer palms. This is a living remnant of the forests that used to cover the Seychelles and is the smallest UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world. An entrance fee of SCR 450 is payable on arrival and I chose not to pay extra for a guide as I was specifically interested in the parrot and didn’t want to be rushed to anytime schedule. I'd read that the best time to get there is early morning before the crowds and the parrots are often seen near the entrance where the canopy is less dense.

Robert, our driver for the Cousin trip, offered to pick me up from the hotel and drive me the 20 minutes to the reserve and wait for a couple of hours until I returned. Skipping breakfast  I met him around 08.10 and arrived at the site when they opened 08.30. Again, I'd researched the call and was confident I'd be able to pick any parrots up on call as they're quite vocal.

Picking up my map at reception I set off and no sooner had I got through the ticket checkpoint about 100 m from the entrance then I picked up the whistling call of a Seychelles Parrot close by. I struggled to see it  until it walked down the branch it was on into view. I watched it for 30 minutes before it flew off to join others calling in the distance. A magical moment.

Continuing along the trails through the Coco De Mer forest was like taking a walk back through Jurassic times. The forest is so dense and dark it was hard to see anything and  I was followed by the calls of unseen Seychelles Bulbuls and parrots. 

By the tie I'd started making my way back to the entrance the park had got quite busy. Seeing a group looking at something high up in a tree pointed out by a guide I stopped to see what they were looking at. High up in the flowers of a Coco De Mer was a partially hidden Giant Bronze Gecko. I knew nothing about these and it wasn't until Sean Cole asked me if I'd seen one that I realised how rare they are! 

This definitely reinforced my feeling that I'd somehow been transported back in time millions of years or teleported to the film set of Jurassic Park.

Seychelles Bulbul

Back where I'd seen the parrot there were hordes of people being guided round in small groups. I picked up another distant parrot about 100 m away and tried to show it to some visitors but without binoculars it was invisible to them. Meeting up with Robert again I was back at the hotel by midday ready for lunch and a cold beer....or two......

The Seychelles are fantastic They take great pride in their endemic species and care for their environment. We'd certainly go again. Although not a big world lister I enjoy seeing new species wherever we go on holiday and on this trip ended u with 11 lifers. All to soon our trip was over and we had to return to Manchester and home to Cheshire. Leaving a warm tropical 29 C and arriving home to a cold dark 2C in Cheshire was a bit of a thermal shock.