FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE OCEAN - Part 3 - End

EXTRAORDINARY FRAMEWORK

"The misfortune of some makes the happiness of others ..." That of the Chagossians for that of navigators of passage. Admittedly, this maxim is more than doubtful in view of past events. Nature, however, shows a formidable pragmatism. To live, man destroys his environment. The equation has been verified time and time again. By fishing, by hunting, by agriculture, by industry, Man imposes himself on a Nature that he eliminates every day a little more. But here, this degradation that would be today perhaps comparable to that made in Mauritius, did not have the right to life. It stopped on the day of the ultimate expulsion. In Chagos, Nature has forgotten Man. On the ground, the coconut palms of the old plantations have already begun to give way to a rain forest made of tall Takamaka trees and ground plants. The current generations of birds and fish have never known the fisherman or the hunter. The animal is therefore not afraid of him. The terns turn to come flying to carry arms of the visitor, the frigates do not hesitate to follow closely the boats, and a multitude of birds benefit unashamedly from the balconies before the few sailing ships, privileged, come to enjoy a recovered nature.

Underwater, this observation takes on even larger proportions. The many gray sharks and white tips off the coast are the first to welcome the diver. It is not uncommon to be expected by half a dozen of them while the diver is still sitting on the roll of the boat ... Certainly the water is a wonderful crystal, certainly the decor of the drop-offs is one of the most wooded that can be observed, but the source of the exaltation that invades the submarine diver discovering the Chagossian bottoms goes beyond the stage of mere contemplation. It is undoubtedly the curiosity of the reef fish that will challenge the diver in the first place. A grouper twenty centimeters from the photo lens, a bench of many snappers two meters above the head, five sharks three meters behind, four manta ray feeding on the surface, a real court accompanies the visitor to bubbles, event rare and even unusual in these places. Because here, diving is prohibited. For the obvious reasons of lack of security, and others much more ambiguous dictated by the political will not to communicate the fact that visitors other than Chagossiens can enjoy these places, any diver caught in the act of communion with the Nature will be verbalised and expelled by the British authorities. The underwater photographs of this report are thus photographs taken in apnea, nobody will doubt it. This is the case with an endless list of rules to be respected giving rise to his share of fines in the event of infringements. Underwater hunting and diving are forbidden, visitors must leave the shore at night, it is forbidden to build any structure on the island, even if only a wooden shelter, each boat of passage will have to leave a navigation fee of 60 € per week and can only stay for a maximum of four weeks ... The list continues on several pages ... There is still a community of navigators were established on the archipelago, living on their sailboats, but staying for several months or even several consecutive years. This ended up disturbing the authorities fearing the remonstrances of Chagossians expelled. The Law took over and began its usual work of undermining a now weakened freedom and promised a certain death.

In a short time, the contract between British and Americans will be renewed, and this, again, without consulting the Chagossian community now dispersed between Seychelles and Mauritius. The lease will be extended. The Chagossians will try to be heard but we already know it, it will not change anything. The atolls of the North Archipelago will remain uninhabited. Nature will continue to flourish there enjoying the absence of Man. Mariners brave enough to go to the middle of the Indian Ocean will be the only ones to enjoy this Land of Eden. And it will be so as long as the military strategy of the Americans will not change, after which, another strategy, British this one, will have to choose between social reintegration or profitability by the industry of tourism...

Photography copyrighted ©Marc ALLARIA - www.photo-sousmarine.com