Sur les terres oubliées des Petites Iles de la Sonde
Sur les terres oubliées des Petites Iles de la Sonde
Indonesia: Expedition in Forgotten Lands by the Iris Foundation
EPISODE 3
WHERE WE DISCOVER THE TRACKS OF A SPECIES PARTICULARLY HARMFUL ON A DESERT ISLAND
July 15, 2015
This morning the boat weighs anchor around 4 am. After 3 hours at sea we wake up in front of the island of Banta. It's a magnificent spectacle under a cloudless blue sky, a vision of a wonderful new world: the sea is turquoise, the corals are magnificent, the sand on the shore is pink, ...
But, on this desert island which has never sheltered humans because there is no source of water, the beach is littered with plastic waste, sad witnesses of our time of the Anthropocene.
Christophe sends the drone 500 meters high to get a global view of this island, a volcanic island that once exploded leaving a half-collapsed caldera in the sea.
The island is scorched on one side and covered with large tufts of soft green grass on the other. On the back beach, there is a beautiful grass close to the sea marmalade which fixes the dunes, the Spinifex , as well as the usual Ipomea pes-caprae , the Canavalia rosea (seaside peas), and terrestrial Tribulus (cross of Malta).
Jonathan, Christophe, and Thomas our botanist, climb up the burnt slopes to see the remains of vegetation that have resisted the fire. The sun is beating down, there is no road, the ground is stony and stones roll underfoot. The exploration will be difficult and the harvest unsuccessful this time around.
Jean-Marie, Jacques, Isabelle start with Agus the ascent in the tall grass towards the pass to discover the other side of the island.
The progression is done in the middle of butterflies with incredible colors, wild cotton, large red and black volcanic stones, and large spiders some of which would have been fine!
