Restoring the Mangroves: A Community Effort

Every Saturday morning, a small group of staff and volunteers wades into the shallows near the sanctuary to plant mangrove saplings. It is slow, muddy work — but mangroves are the backbone of this coastline, buffering the island from storm surge and giving young fish, crabs and birds a place to shelter.

Since the programme began, the team has planted several thousand saplings along a stretch of shoreline that had been cleared decades ago for aquaculture. Guests on our island safari programme often paddle past the restoration site and can see the difference between the bare mudflats and the areas that have recovered.

It is not glamorous work, but it is exactly the kind of quiet conservation that rarely makes it into a brochure — which is exactly why we wanted to share it here.