Land! The peaks of Rarotonga loom out of the clouds like the Promised Land.
In
the final blog of the epic trip, the team arrive back to Rarotonga to
delight in the luxuries that they’ve missed over the past six weeks,
reflect on the impacts of the modern world, and look towards a brighter
future for conservation in the Cook Islands.
Dawn of day seven at sea we saw the peaks of Rarotonga, looming out of the clouds like the Promised Land.
At last, it was time for a warm fresh-water shower, a toilet that
flushed with a button, and the choice of a plethora of food and drinks.
On Suwarrow it was a choice of just tea and water.
Being back in Rarotonga reminded me of the excesses of modern life, and the drain on the earth’s resources that it has become.
I asked Ian Karika why it was important that the Cook Island
Vaka (traditional boat) the
Marumaru Atua collected the team from Suwarrow?
“For the eradication team it wasn’t important, but for the
Vaka crew and Cook Island community it was”, said Ian. “This is because
Marumaru Atua’s
role is to raise environmental awareness. For the crew to be involved
in the baiting and support the conservation work raises the prominence
of these issues in the Cook Islands”.
Translated from Maori
Marumaru Atua means ‘under God’s shade,
or protection’. It uses no fossil fuels; relying only on the wind to
sail her, and the sun to charge her electric batteries. She’s example to
us all of how we can move towards a greenhouse gas free future.
After a safe crossing of the Pacific Ocean we were indeed honoured to
be travelling on such a fine vessel with a remarkable crew. It’s now
time for us all to return home to our families.
The Suwarrow team celebrate their safe arrival back to Rarotonga with family and friends.
The work though is far from over. There’s a film to be edited for
BirdLife’s World Congress about this amazing trip to help launch their
new Invasive Alien Species Programme.
The experience gained on Suwarrow by BirdLife and the team will be
used on further eradication projects in the Cook Islands and across the
Pacific.
In particular the two youngest members of the team Ben and Mia now
have the knowledge to train other Cook Islanders in the techniques of
rat eradication, biosecurity and island conservation.
Like the stars we followed, it seems the future for conservation in the Cook Islands is bright.
Nick Hayward – Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
***
.
The BirdLife Invasive Alien Species
Programme urgently needs your support to tackle more sites and save more
species. To support our work and make a donation today, please go to www.justgiving.com/BirdLife-invasive-species where every penny counts. Thank you.
The expedition to remove rats from
Suwarrow National Park is a joint project between BirdLife
International, Te Ipukarea Society (BirdLife Partner in the Cook
Islands) and the Cook Island National Environment Service. The project
is being kindly supported by the European Community, David and Lucile
Packard Foundation, SPREP, GEF and Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund,
and forms part of the BirdLife Invasive Alien Species Programme which is
tackling this greatest of threats to wildlife around the world.
BirdLife wishes to thank the efforts of many who are supporting the
programme including Pacific Invasive Initiative, Pacific Invasive
Learning Network, New Zealand Department of Conservation the University
of the South Pacific, Landcare Research New Zealand, Island
Conservation, Wildiaries
During
flight tests the YF-12As set a speed record of 2,070.101 mph
(3,331.505 km/h) and altitude record of 80,257.86 ft (24,462.6 m), both
on 1 May 1965, and demonstrated promising results with their unique
weapon system. Six successful firings of the 
The Convair F-106 Delta Dart was the primary all-weather 
