Saint Helena: Breathtaking nature in one of the most remote places on earth | DW Documentary

Rising from the ocean steps in the heart of the South Atlantic is an otherworldly drop of land that offers a window into our planet's past riches located two thousand kilometers from the nearest land mass halfway between Africa and South America. , the volcanic island of Saint Helena is unique not only for its extreme isolation but also for the diversity of its exceptional flora and fauna. This basalt jewel is home to a multitude of microecosystems, each with its own endemic species, but the discovery of the island by Europeans in the 16th century resulted in the systematic exploitation of resources and the introduction of exotic species that destabilize its fragile balance, however, today the people of Saint Helena have come together to save their natural heritage and achieve what many would consider impossible, shaped by thousands of years of volcanic eruptions, Saint Helena's central ridge dominates the skyline rising to more than 800 meters above sea level its three misty peaks are home to a unique ecosystem the cloud forest of Diana's Peak Park this is the beating heart of the island and the reason why Saint Helena was so important to European ships The water within these 81 hectares survives the relics of a rainforest that once covered the entire island isolated from the rest of the world.

Plant life here has evolved over millions of years and simple fans and daisies have grown into trees, but the isolation came at a price. In the absence of natural predators, endemic plants never developed the ability to regenerate quickly, leaving them defenseless against the voracious appetites of domestic animals introduced by passing ships and left to roam the island. In just a few years, the goats had decimated the island's ancient forests. Having exhausted their resources, the herbivores sealed their own fate and the 1000 herds are now gone, although the cattle are no longer a danger to the endemic flora.

Invasive plants now pose a serious threat to their survival. The St. Helena redwoods, ebonies and friend trees are struggling to hold on. Its foothold and future now lie entirely in human hands. Terrestrial Conservation Officer Sasha Bargo is part of the small team dedicated to the ambitious restoration of this exceptional forest. The Diana Pig Park is very unique because it is home to a fairly high proportion of endemic vegetation and invertebrates. the word endemic means it is very unique and not found anywhere else in the world, so there is quite a large amount in Saint Lina because we have the highest endemic biodiversity in the UK and all these overseas territories.

Endemic plants are really good at intercepting fogs. So the island doesn't get a high proportion of rain, but we do have a lot of clouds covering this high central ridge, so they actually have their leaves adapted to intercept the lost water and then throw this water out towards the floors pt. and then they reach the catchment areas and that is where we collect our drinking water. The park's endemic vegetation provides more than a third of the island's drinking water, making the team's conservation work essential for local residents. It all starts here at the foot of Diana's Peak our propagation in the nursery starts from seeds so we go out to the wall and collect seeds from the last remaining individuals and then from there we clean the seeds, sort them, then plant them , we wait for them to germinate. few growing stages until we can produce a plant that is very strong and long lasting and ready to replant on our sites, after months of care in the nursery the lovely young trees are now strong enough to join the forest cloudy, the patch of forest recently cleared.

The land that will be his new home is at the highest point of the park and there is only one way to get there. They told me that he is going crazy, how he just shows up by throwing something on the ground and things for cricket for crooked people. Yes, sometimes it can be overdone. and they do things that are unnecessary, so what we do at Diana's pig park is habitat restoration and that actually involves propagating endemic species to replant the sites, but before we can do that, we did a lot of invasive cleaning, hopefully in the future.

I would like to see Diana's pig fully vegetated in an endemic habitat and supporting very high populations of endemic invertebrates although there is still a long way to go the colossal work done by the terrestrial conservation team has been a real success tree ferns and black The trees Cabbage stands now dominate the park's ridge and their canopy shades the forest floor, limiting the growth of invasive plants. Many endemic invertebrates such as the blushing snail find refuge in the recently rehabilitated flora, to the delight of endomologists. Natasha Stevens and Lisa Fowler. Celina was very lucky. in the research of our invertebrates because there have been expeditions dating back to the 19th century, even Charles Darwin himself came here at one time to document many of our invertebrates, from spiders to beetles to true insects, so a wide range of them It's in Diana's Cloud Forest.

Peak national park is the highest habitat for invertebrates so it is home to an average of 120 endemic species so it is unique here in santolina we have over 400 endemic species and although we have them all we are actually discovering more every time, oh, another pointy load here, oh another. one of them is bristling with bright yellow thorns. This small armored creature hides in the

most

inaccessible corners of the forest. This is the pointed yellowwood house and is one of the rarest isopods in the world. Yellow spiky wood lice are not like your average lice because they tend to live.

In the trees below the tree farms, we've been very lucky here to have a project dedicated to Yellow Spikey Woodlaws, but unfortunately the Spikeys don't do much, so I think a PhD student or something needs to get down and actually , I would like to study them in depth for a whole year to get to know them and be in the field every day to really see what they are doing, but it is good that we have touched a little about them, the population and a little about the ecology and it is also assisting with conservation as well as a recent population study in known Spikey habitat has identified between 100 and 200 individuals within Diana's Peak Park due to research and conservation work on this tiny creature which is considered to be timber loss pointed yellow.

It is an umbrella species, so by protecting it all the flora and fauna with which it shares its home are also protected. a true Eden for the moment Santa Elena is home to 25 times more endemic species per square kilometer than the famous Galapagos Islands, however, as in many

places

around the world, this unique fauna faces multiple threats, among which the

most

worrying are the Habitat loss, climate change and invasive species To the south of the park, near the high peak, Sasha Lisa and Natasha set out to visit a particularly special part of the ridge at the edge of a steep slope. cliff clings to six inconspicuous trees the value of these false gum forests is immeasurable despite their modest appearance they are the last wild survivors of their species there are quite a few endemic invertebrates that associate with plants the harbor of false gum wood leaves is associated with the false convoys and hence the name, it is unique and it is very sad at the same time that its habitat has been reduced to about six trees left in

nature

and if these trees disappear, the ports of leaves will see it as if would have sprouted on two of the six trees.

Entomologists have made a disturbing discovery. Some of the grasshoppers appear to be covered in a strange whitish film. They have been infected by a fungus that has devoured them from the inside out. Invariably, they play a vital role in any ecosystem in the world. world They help break down plant matter, all the dead things, and recycle them back into the

earth

. As habitat restoration continues, our invertebrates will be protected, so that was the effort everyone is putting into conservation. It helps in the long term and should continue long after you go from striking yellow, spiky scale insects to dazzling golden candle spiders.

The cloud-covered heart of Saint Helena is a treasure trove of precious and fragile biodiversity thanks to the work of the conservation team. The cloud forest is gradually regaining its former splendor and one day its borders may once again reach the coast. Water captured by the cloud forest drips from the central ridge feeding thousands of mango trees as it meanders through the Shark Valley to the sea, but the island's natural riches are not limited to its lush peaks, proof of These are the strident colonies of red-billed tropical birds that populate the colossal large stone wall dragged to the limits of the island by the hungry cats and rats that arrived with the first settlers.

Many seabirds now find refuge on these inaccessible cliffs and surrounding islets, but recently many of the once-threatened populations have begun to show signs of recovery and some species such as tropicbirds and white tans have become particularly fond. To the rocky slopes surrounding Jamestown, the island's capital, the graceful gyres have even become something of an urban feature and frequently raised their young here over the next two months. The chick will need the full attention of its parents as they take turns feeding it. You will have to wait for it to acquire its adult plumage. grow before you can leave the comfort of your balcony and enjoy freshly caught fish if you survive until then.

A short distance from the town is a small reserve of islets that is home to some curious gunboats, aptly named Egg Island, hundreds of brown and black noddies. gira madeira and oil storms and tropical birds have driven residents here to lay their eggs that were once highly prized by locals today the clamorous islet bleached by centuries of bird droppings is a true sanctuary gira and the Brownheads nest side by side and in To avoid competition for food, the two species have separate feeding grounds and hunt different species, but this understanding does not prevent incessant disputes at home and each parent fiercely defends the living space of each other. their offspring off limits to the public.

Egg Island is the ideal place to monitor the health of the population a project run by the government through its environmental management division liane henry a marine conservation officer manages this vital work the abundance of seabirds on the island is evidence of the exceptional richness of its waters and in 2006 the 200 nautical miles around Saint Helena were classified as a marine protected area. Since then numerous research programs have been implemented, many of which are led by Lee Anne and her team. In 2012 we began The Darwin funded project was a habitat abundance study with a view to making a marine area management plan because San Lean had never had a marine management plan before, it was something we were working on.

I think our endemics are very important because if we lose them there is no way to recover their type of things and because centerliner is very old. we have quite a few endemics so it's just time and distance that makes these things special and if they disappear then you know the world has lost so much to that kind of thing now that it would be if james and i had to do some The things most people look at in the sea are simply blue, but it's the things happening underwater that you can't see that make the difference with such an amazing variety of species.

St. Helena's marine life represents a level of ecosystem health. that few regions in the world still possess, from underwater caves to large spurs of ancient lava, life flourishes here as it has for centuries. This Atlantic crossing is a key stopping point for many pelagic species such as the Chilean devil ray, which without effort to meander through the large coastal banks in search of fish before returning to the open ocean. New species are discovered every year and ongoing scientific research is helping us understand how to best protect them from the approximately 30 known endemic species that inhabit these pristine waters.

The St. Helena butterflyfish is its undisputed ambassador and is present in large quantities along the entire coast. They hover in thick clouds over the sunken ships that litter the seabed. Thanks to the shelter offered by these steel corpses, the butterfly fish plays an important role in the coastal ecosystem of Saint Helena and every year a sudden and spectacular phenomenon takes over the coast for a few daysa magnificent white storm swirls in the sea, millions of juveniles gather in the shallow waters that seem to fill the entire ocean, the coast explodes with life and this impressive flowering attracts numerous predators from the open sea to take advantage of the great generosity of which it is Far away a true oasis of life in the immensity of the Atlantic Saint Helena Having revealed all its secrets, the isolation of the island that allowed its unique fauna to evolve has now become an obstacle to its preservation far from laboratories and universities.

Conservationists often lack the human and financial resources necessary to carry out their research, but despite these difficulties, they fight tirelessly. sometimes even late at night, emboldened by the darkness, the most cryptic inhabitants of the island begin to emerge among the bearded fireworms and the fang-toothed moray eels, the large almond-shaped anthropopods begin their day, the brown and red lobsters, This last endemic to Saint Helena, they take advantage of the dark to move safely. Gregarious and sedentary species. These prehistoric-looking creatures are the focus of a new tagging program by monitoring the population. Researchers hope to shed light on their life cycle and behavior and determine whether they can be fished sustainably only with the Strait.

After carefully recording the necessary information, each lobster is hand-caught and with a tag that will identify them if they are recaptured. After carefully recording the necessary information, the docile crustaceans are released again. in the dark to continue their enigmatic lives in anticipation of a dramatic increase in tourism. The island is in a race to obtain a baseline. information about its natural resources to understand how much can be taken without compromising the health of the population, if this is still possible when you start putting all those pieces together and look at how many endemics we have when you look at the quantities and stuff So, sending this marine environment is pretty special and even if you look at it as a previous fishing perspective, you know we've always had rod and nine fishing like a fish, hook in line, so things like that, if you put all that together, then yeah.

What makes the particular marine area special is a small place that plays a role in a bigger picture when it comes to tuna for four years, maybe five, now we have been working to mainly collect the length weights of the fish that were has disembarked. I've been doing some tagging work, so if when you target the smaller fish you release them and they go off and do what they feed the tuna, they grow and then when the fishermen start catching those tuna, then you start getting information about how they move. around the island so that Santa Lina fishermen now have more information about what they should and should not catch to make their stock more sustainable and to ensure they can continue catching fish in the future.

St. Helena's fish populations are closely monitored and islanders know how precious they are, but these abundant waters are much more than a well-equipped ladder: they are of global importance in the field of marine biology and may contain the key to discovering the mysteries of the largest fish in the world, the whale. shark up to 18 meters long and weighing 20 tons this colossus leads a discreet and often solitary life a great nomad the whale shark regularly travels through the depths of the ocean it rarely ventures into shallow coastal waters this makes it a particularly difficult to study despite its imposing size and much is still unknown about its life between its long dives.

This gentle giant sometimes visits the surface to feed on plankton, warm up, and perhaps even mate, but no one in the world has ever observed whale sharks in full love. No one except here in Saint Helena the island's waters are the only known place where adult males and females gather in equal numbers as the most likely breeding ground for whale sharks Saint Helena plays a vital role in understanding and safeguarding this animal in danger of extinction globally, but for the

saint

s the whale shark It is also an indicator species, meaning that the population directly reflects the health of the island's waters, known by locals for its acrobatics.

The friendly pantropical spotted dolphins are not the only species that can be found diving in the waves after a long fishing trip. The masked booby is returning home. This charismatic species has settled on the rocky ledges of the sandy bay to mate and raise their young, preferring to forage in deep waters. They travel far from these barren cliffs to find enough resources for this crucial period. Every six hours the parents take turns fishing and caring for their chick until it is old enough to be independent, although the parents only raise one chick, the female usually lays two eggs to increase its chances of survival, as soon as it hatches. the older chick is strong enough to push its brother out of the nest, the parents did not recognize the expelled young as their own and left it to starve, but despite all efforts to survive, some appetites seem insatiable, the attention of Their parents may be constant, but the harsh combination of heat hunger and unrelenting wind. it's too much for some the masked boobies returned to the shores of

saint

helena

a few years ago, once present in large numbers throughout the island, they also suffered with the arrival of the first settlers in the 17th century a disastrous cocktail of habitat modification intensive hunting and predation. by rats and cats quickly led to the decline of the island's entire bird population and almost all of St.

Helena's endemic bird species are now extinct almost all despite their apparent fragility one resourceful survivor has surprisingly benefited from deforestation of the island the wirebird a plover found alone st

helena

especially likes windswept grasslands and semi-desert plains, but despite its adaptability, this small bird was once on the brink of extinction. Dennis Leo, member of the Saint Helena National Trust, manages the conservation project dedicated to this plover that is the emblem of the island the first nest with a wire bed and it was hot the first white path now well, actually the first thing I thought It was a chip and I was so excited to see this chick like you know, this was the greatest discovery ever made. you know, but from there I got hooked on that bird which was a white bed, it's a little plumber about 20 centimeters long, it has a gray coat with black moss and a white underside and it's quite distinctive with its long wiry legs, but he just loves to run on the ground, you know it's like you say the two birds, he's boom, he's gone, you know it's more if he pushes you away from the nest and then runs back to him, you know he's on the move, he's as if they were both faster than They both know that for the last 15 years, during their breeding season, these endearing sprinters have been closely monitored by the trust every January.

Dennis and his volunteers inspect no less than 31 sites across the island. With binoculars and notebooks at the ready, they sweep each area on foot to record the size of the fragile plover population. Why is the biggest strategy today the cat? It's the wild cat. You know, we have rats where rats are seasonal, like with good rains, we have a lot of rats so we can bait, but cats are a constant battle. not just in the white bottoms, it's in jamestown, it's in st paul to longwood, there are too many feral cats and we need to address it as an island problem, not just a hawaiian problem, if we catch up from october to march and then during the national season.

It will give the birds a chance for their chicks to survive and then for the rest of the year we will be able to create new habitats, which is the plan in the space of 10 years Dennis and his predecessors have managed to double the population of wire birds and today in day the species. It is no longer classified as endangered, but with only 510 adults counted in 2020, the little plover remains vulnerable as a result of climate change and habitat modification. Saint Helena is facing increasingly frequent periods of drought which are having a devastating impact on the island's flora and fauna.

Now more than ever support is needed to save this unique bird, but the small insectivore has not said its last word and has recently settled in a very special place on the northeast side of the island, the arid land still showing the scars left By colonial axes formerly known as the Great Forest, this sandy expanse was once covered by a dense forest of endemic plants and home to many insects and birds that are now extinct. It only took a few decades for newly settled humans to plunder this green paradise until the last stump and fertile large forest soil exposed to the elements was blown away by the trade winds, but in 2000 the people of Saint Helena launched an ambitious project. to reforest the area.

Each member of the community participated in the planting of three thousand trees. whose number has already more than tripled the ancient forest was born between gum forests and dwarf ebony a dozen other endemic species classified as endangered grow in the nursery under the green fingers of martina peters and her small team among them they have the The monumental task of caring for the 250 hectares of this young forest. This new habitat is encouraging the return of many insects and invertebrates, much to the delight of the wirebirds. The Millennial Forest is a titanic project that will span generations, but neither the strong winds nor the arid soil seems to be able to break the determination of the saints and seed after seed their perseverance brings them closer to the green Eden that was a great forest once neglected, plundered and exploited the natural heritage of saint helena is now being passionately defended by its people this work is not without its difficulties and both NGOs and the government have to make do with the limited means at their disposal, even with the construction of an airport in 2017, the island remains largely untouched by mass tourism, but this also means it has not benefited from the economic benefits.

An impulse enjoyed by many other destinations where

nature

is sometimes treated as an inexhaustible good, now open to the rest of the world, the saints have a unique opportunity to protect and preserve their resources, anticipating the coming changes and creating the foundations for a brighter future. A responsible form of tourism that is respectful of the wildlife with which they share their home, this basalt jewel with its hidden riches is the pride of its people who understand the importance of safeguarding its priceless beauty for future generations to make Saint Helena a real bastion of biodiversity to Finding support in the community is pretty good because I know a lot of people and they get a lot of things like, you know, hey, I saw a birthday on a wire, I saw why I've been here, which is good, I think that there is a gradual transition. increasing conservation awareness everything around san diego has its purpose everything has its benefit even if we don't fully understand it right now the more people understand or feel a connection to these things the easier it will be for them to understand why they should take care of them and protect them now.

It is up to us as conservationists to try to protect what we already have here now and expand habitats so that this unique life continues into the future and for future generations.