An import part of what we do at Ecologi is to be transparent in every aspect of our business, and one of the ways we love to share this transparency is on our regular planting updates. Recently though, it’s become more and more difficult to do this. We want to share with you all the reasons getting progress shots and planting photos is quite difficult and why it’s especially hard right now.

We don’t need to remind anyone we’re in the middle of a pandemic, but what does this mean for the people planting our trees and why is it hard to take photos? We have to first take ourselves all the way over to Madagascar (soon to be joined by our new planting locations Nicaragua and Mozambique). At this time of year (Aug/ Sept) it’s monsoon season. Access to our dedicated planting site is only accessible by sea and in monsoon season the conditions are very dangerous. They still manage to plant but it does make it more difficult. When it comes to taking photos we also have to consider that there are no professional photographers on-site, all the imagery captured is taken by the local men and women who also plant the trees. The camera is usually on a phone and is snapped to document the process. We’re used to seeing high-quality images evrywhere we look but our cameramen and women do the best with what they have, probably at the end of a long day just having planted a whole load of mangroves, which is hard strenuous work.

Ok so what about progress shots, just stand in the same place and snap, right? The land we are reforesting is vast, and because there are no trees left it’s hard to find a landmark to get your bearings and take your perfect progress shot. This is something which is very difficult to pull off. Eden is working on this though, they’ve started to fill oil drums with rocks (to weigh the barrel down) and attach a post with a phone holder on the top – this way the person taking the photo just has to pop the phone in the holder. From there you can always get the photos in the same location/position – and get those wonderful progress shots everyone wants to see. We’re really excited about this prospect and hope our planting site gets an oil drum photo barrel soon.

And lastly, the pandemic, which has had a huge effect on, well, everything. The trees are still getting planted, safely, and there’s social distancing going on at all Eden’s planting sites, with each planter wearing a mask and using the hand sanitiser provided. But all the extra precautions slow down the usual process. We wanted to share this information, as we were initially hoping to see more progress shots and imagery to share with everyone, but after a phone call with our partner, Eden Reforestation, we quickly realised they are doing everything they can. The priority right now is to keep planting the trees and keep everyone safe, the documenting side has taken a back seat for a little while.

We hope you can understand the predicament and we look forward to sharing updates when we can.

Lucy, Co-founder of Ecologi🍃