Last week, Flamingo Class were lucky to receive an invitation from our friends at Amanyara’s Nature Discovery Center – to contribute towards a Reef Conservation project!
Over the past few years, over 450 reef balls have been placed in the ocean by Amanyara. This new reef is situated in the Northwest Point National Park. More recently, coral has been added to these reef balls in order to preserve the delicate habitats of the area.
Children were treated to a guided snorkeling tour of the new reef by Discovery Center manager, Jackie Walker. We saw a wide range of coral that is now successfully living and growing in its new habitat. We learned to observe and identify Elk Horn, Mustard Hill and Finger coral.
Finally, Jackie took us to the Center’s underwater ocean coral nursery. We watched her identify and prepare a piece of Finger coral to plant on behalf of Providenciales Primary School. Thanks to a piece of special purple ‘putty,’ our little Finger coral is now held in place on a reef ball off the shore of Amanyara Resort. Not a bad place to spend its days!
In this way, conservationists in the TCI hope to preserve and develop this valuable habitat.
Year 4 students all enjoyed the experience and sights of the reef ball reef…almost as much as the Amanyara cookies that waited for them back at the Discovery Center! What a fabulous way to conclude our topic on Habitats and Conservation in the TCI!
