Surprising, the little Mangrove that will grow big!

I was walking along a beach on an uninhabited island in Mauritius when I saw a baby Mangrove that looked very fragile. The small plant was fighting against currents that made it swing from left to right in a perpetual motion. I couldn’t help it find its stability and it was not the right thing to do…

I dug further and proceeded in my research. It had found its place, and, in a few years, it would be the one to protect us from the big waves coming from the ocean! Indeed, of its family, there are some 70 species, better known as mangroves and including red, black and gray

Mangroves grow either at great depths, in shallow water and also in dry areas. ‘They are one of the most bio productive ecosystems in the world, as they are the only large species to survive on muddy shores. They act as wooden reeves that become the support and shelter of important wildlife’. Protecting the unstable coastlines from the onslaught of the sea and storms, mangroves are populated by species of birds, crabs, mollusks, crustaceans and fishes which are more present’.

In thirty years, mangrove ‘forests’ have lost 20-25% of their area globally. In Mauritius we celebrate the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem every year on July 26^th. One of these was marked among other things by the planting of mangroves on the beach of Anse Jonchée.

It is our duty to protect mangroves and together we will contribute to save flora and fauna. Whether in Black River, Case Noyale, Baie du Cap, Mare La Chaux, Mahebourg, Ile aux Cerfs, Roches Noires or in the north near Amber or îlot Bernache, mangroves deserve our respect… They are real natural stilts and just looking at them, we already have like a taste of salty air. We can only imagine life on Mangoves and life below mangroves… They are just amazing!

Lza M Natur