Five high school students with a major in science came to Tetiaroa for a four day stay with the person in charge of the Geoscience contest Mr Patrick SCHNEIDER. Chargé de mission SVT at the Vice rectorate of French Polynesia.
After a two hour and a half boat ride, they were greeted by the nature guides of Tetiaroa. They stayed at the research station on Tetiaroa. Alban PERRET showed them the hotel complex and the installations to promote sustainable development: the cold water air conditioning, the recycling (The Tortue d'or complex that was put in place for 3 years now) the water purification system, the rain water collecting system, and of course the photovoltaic panels along the airport landing area. At the center of the motu they saw areas where organic vegetables and spices would be planted. Tetiaroa's organic honey is already produced there.
The guides of Tetiaroa Society Xenia, Ngnahina showed them the different motus with the primary forest, natural forest that can only be found in a few places. They were happy to see the different marine birds. They were surprised to see the old village where coprah was harvested 50 years ago. It had its own bakery. Tetiaroa Society would like to build a facility there to house students.
With the scientists of Te mana o te moana, they tracked marine turtles that lay their eggs on the beach at night. They also made baits to catch coconut crabs and a transect with a bait every 10 meters. At night they collected tagged and measured crabs.
The four day stay on Tetiaroa was a memorable experience for those scientists in the making. Juliette OLIVEREAU will represent our fenua in the nationals in Paris thanks to Fenua Student Air Tahiti Nui.
This is what the students had to say about their experience
I really liked our stay. The activities were very interesting, especially the kaveu activity, It was good to work in a concrete manner. I also enjoyed meeting many people with different jobs and to see their different roles on Tetiaroa. I liked talking with them about their background, I think that it is important for us to meet people who say that we can start with one path and change completely or start anew in our studies.
- Zoé Quillasi, Lycée Tuianu Le Gayic
For me, I really loved our stay. Everything was incredible. Even if it was raining, it didn't ruin our stay, on the contrary. All the excursions and activities were different but they were all interesting. Seeing the professional paths that people took was a rich experience. We are fortunate to like such an experience and I'd like to thank everyone who made this possible that is The Brando, Tetiaroa Society and Te Mana O Te Moana and also M. Schneider.
- Teipo DROLLET, Lycée-collège POMARE IV
I loved our stay on Tetiaroa. It was a good experience for the five of us. The excursions were varied and well organized. The hotel staff and TS were really cool, the ambiance was nice. The stay allowed us to see both sides of the Brando. I learned a lot on the environment. We saw beautiful landscapes and the rain was not a problem. The kaveu expedition was my favorite, we really applied the method to assess population. Learning aboutthe background of the staff was super. I thank all the people who enabled us to experience this.
- Henri FORAY, Lycée Paul Gauguin
We really liked our stay and the food at the cafeteria! We learned a lot, seeing great landscapes and meeting welcoming and interesting people.
On the first day we visited the spas and the villas. Thank you Alban for the great tour.
Visiting the motus was a good experience thanks to Luciano's expertize and we were surprised by the different landscapes and good atmosphere at the old village. Between the apocalyptic scenery of cyanobacterial soils dotted with pandanus and the beautiful beaches, we were amazed. Thanks to Ngnahina who was our guide during the whole day. She taught us about the fauna and flora of our islands and Xenia the agricultural engineer. We really liked learning about medicinal or cosmetic uses of different plants.
Quentin from Te mana o te moana taught us to make a transect to assess kaveu and how to catch them without getting bitten.
To sum things up, being among scientists with different nationalities and specialties allowed us to project ourselves mentally in the future. It was a lovely atmosphere even if the stay was short...
Thank you all for this memorable experience!
- E’eva ALLAIN, Collège-lycée LaMennais et
- Juliette OLIVEREAU Lycée Paul Gauguin
