Mauritius Ile aux Aigrettes Island, the history - Part 1

Ile aux Aigrettes is a small islet of around 26 hectares belonging to Mauritius found off the shores of Mahebourg. Its name may have been derived from the egrets that once lived there. Man may have been the culprit that led to Ile aux Aigrettes losing most of its flora and fauna. This land of Mauritius remained barren for years beaten by weather and it seemed that time would have the most of it. But that was not to be. The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation took control of the island with the aim of restoring it to a place never seen before.

Nowadays, part of the natural environment of Ile aux Aigrettes had been restored and the island is slowly beginning to take the shape of a natural giant. There was once a forest on this part of Mauritius which contained the Ebony, the Bois de Chandelle and species of orchid Oeniella Aphrodite among others. Equally, beautiful animals such as the turquoise and red lizard as well as the Ornate Day Gecko inhabited the forests of the island. In this scattered piece of Mauritius , considerable effort is being done these days to populate these endangered species of plants and animals. With a lot of time already spent, the action is starting to bear its fruits. Ile aux Aigrettes is becoming a place in Mauritius to see at least once in a lifetime.

Furthermore, before Mauritius gained its independence, Ile aux Aigrettes was declared as a Nature Reserve in order to save the piece of forest that still remained. At that time, this precious land of Mauritius had already been attacked by weeds and rats that caused great damage to the ecosystem. The imbalance that cropped in the ecosystem was notable as the weeds choked off the native plants and the rats feasted on fruits hence restricting further growth of plants. This continued for around 20 years before the MWF took control of the island. They began to remove all the weeds such as the False Acacia and the Prune Malgache. Afterwards, during the year 1991, all alien animals such as rats, cats and mongooses were eliminated. Consequently, the Mauritius Kestrel was reintroduced.

Moreover, after the rats had been removed form the island, Ebony seedlings started to appear. But a lot of work had to be carried out to regenerate the natural habitat. It therefore became an obvious fact that this part of Mauritius had to be re-given its credentials. So, in the year 1996, funds were obtained from the Global Environmental Fund to restore this unique place of Mauritius . This provided enough finance to use suitable techniques to remove the remaining weeds. These days, this small islet of Mauritius may have been freed from almost 90 percent of its weeds and its original plants may have been reintroduced.

Further development followed as in the year 1997 a nursery was built to produce endangered plants on the island. Ile aux Aigrettes may now produce around 30,000 plants per year. Most of these plants may be planted on this small islet of Mauritius during the months of February to April.

Article posting by Discount Web design for the Mauritius Tourism Authority site.