From January 8 to January 10, I went to the Del Cano hut, in the south of the island, with Colombe, Clément (mamintro team) and Ugolin (phylica). First big manipulation for me! Departure from the base at 7am, and off we go for a big day of walking.
The first hour of the hike is on the tractor path, then there is no longer any real path. We walk along the coast, straight through the bush from north to south of the island . As long as we have the sea to our left, it's hard to get lost. The biggest challenge is avoiding the bulrushes which are tough to walk through.
On the way, we stopped at the Cauldron to collect phylica seeds and have a picnic. We have to wear snowshoes to avoid crushing the vegetation, mainly moss, near the phylica bushes . It was very hot!
During the trek, Colombe and Clément picked up the sm4 audio recorders, the photo traps and set up cat traps.
We arrived at the hut at the end of the afternoon. From the bench where we relaxed, we could look out to sea and over the large gullies below where a colony of sooty albatross nest. It is a beautiful place.
Colombe and Clément drew up their action plan for tomorrow.
In the evening, we went to the point with a view of the Entrecasteaux cliffs.
It was magnificent.
We watched the sun set behind the albatrosses in flight, as the cliffs turned pink.
The next day, we went to collect the recorders near the green wall, in the heart of a ravine.
It's very impressive and made me feel very small.
There are plenty of endemic plant species here.
On the way back to the cabin, we could observe the sooty albatrosses in their nests.
We could see our little hut below, in the middle of the bulrushes.
After lunch it was off to find photo traps along the coast, in an area called "red lands"
We sat down facing the sea, and watched the albatrosses flying overhead (a real highway!), It was magical.
A great spot for a break!
The next day, return to base. See you soon Del Cano!
