A Mauritian battling the ‘vann swet’ of Seychelles

From May to October, the powerful Southeast Trade winds dominate the Seychelles—carrying strong waves and shifting sand along our shores. Both Mauritius and Seychelles have similar cooler conditions and relief rainfall, called ‘tilapli iver’ in Mauritian Creole. ​

​My name is Maria Daniella Aza, and I arrived in Seychelles early this year to work as an Assistant Conservation Officer with the Islands Conservation Society (ICS). Following my degree in Biology, I worked as a Passerine (birds) Conservation Biologist on Ile aux Aigrettes in Mauritius. I also led educational programs at Casela Nature Parks and graduated from the African Wildlife Foundation through a Conservation Leadership and Management Fellowship.

​I had experienced rough seas and heavy swell (‘lahoule’) in Mauritius, where I was not able to leave my workplace on Ile aux Aigrettes. However, this was nothing compared to the swell of Seychelles. What I described as a storm in Mauritius, where we cannot go out to sea, is a normal day during the Southeast monsoon or ‘vann swet’.
 
I did not know that the Southeast Trade winds were such a powerful wave with a persistent coastal current. This unconscious mindset led to a broken toe in my left foot. The doctor was shocked when they saw a fully fractured toe from falling down in the sea during the ‘vann swet’ while pushing the boat to leave Aride Island. I was happy that it was not worse.
 
I have been amazed to witness the beach of Aride shrinking day after day. The long, beautiful beach moved and left behind rocks and gravel. This erosion that Aride faces is natural. The sand is sometimes transported slowly, or on other days, you would wake up and a huge shift had occurred, transporting sand along the beach to another side of the island or offshore.
 
Since July, the coastline of Aride has been dancing. This kinetic landscape isn’t static. Sand doesn’t just drift—it disappears, and reappears elsewhere in unpredictable ways. Today, however, we have experienced a return of sand on the beach.  This was such a relief for me. It is still unclear, but maybe this is a sign that the North West monsoon might come earlier this year.
 
Another thing that I was not prepared for when I came to Seychelles was the Sooty tern colonies. Once there was a shift from the North West winds to the Southeast Trade winds, the birds started to arrive. At Ile Aux Aigrettes in Mauritius, we used bird decoys and recordings of bird sounds to attract Sooty terns. This was not so on Aride Island, where we needed to count a population of more than 6,000 breeding pairs of Sooty terns. This experience on Aride Island has marked me for life.
In Mauritius, Sooty terns have been locally extinct in a few of our islets because of the culture of eating their eggs and the presence of rats within the colonies. It is such a blessing to encounter the young generation that is willing to protect the Sooty terns in Seychelles, and the presence of laws to protect this species from exploitation. So, the Southeast Trade winds or ‘vann swet’ is not such a bad thing after all. We welcomed the birds and said goodbye to the only beach on Aride Island. So, cheers to ‘vann swet’!