My Time as an Intern with TIC

When I first arrived on Tengah Island, I wouldn't expect that my life would change so much. I started as a volunteer with Tengah Island Conservation with the aim to get as much field experience as possible and since the beginning, I felt I made the right choice to come here.

At first, I was quite disoriented and overwhelmed by excitement but I wanted to learn, and thanks to the great guidance of the conservation team, I started to get better and to believe more in my abilities. Also, I improved my diving skills and I fell in love with corals and everything that regards them. From the coral nursery cleaning to the coral surveys in the different islands of the Marine Park.

When I first arrived on Tengah Island, I wouldn't expect that my life would change so much.

Now I have the possibility to stay longer as an intern and I'm looking forward to developing my knowledge. I have the opportunity to work on soft corals and to make an inventory of those that we can find in the reef around this tiny island.

Melithaea Spp.

The project consists of scuba diving along the reef and taking pictures, everything with the help of Alberto, our Project Manager. Once we have the pictures, I try to identify the corals with books and keys, in order to have at the end a proper classification..

It's a really satisfying feeling to see that something that you work on slowly takes shape.

Until now we've discovered 14 different genus but there is still lot of work to do. It's a really satisfying feeling to see that something that you work on slowly takes shape. This experience is definitely providing me a great value and is growing in me a big desire to keep working in the conservation, especially of the corals.

Until now, we've discovered 14 different genus of soft corals…