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Seychelles

Cosmoledo Atoll

Cosmoledo is an atoll of the Aldabra Group and belongs to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. The atoll is 14.5 km long east-west, and 11.5 km north-south. The total land area is about 5.2 km², while the lagoon measures 145 km² in area (total 152 km²). It is located at 9°42’S 47°36’E. The closest island is Astove Island, 38 km farther south. Cosmoledo Atoll and Astove Island are together sometimes known as Cosmoledo Group, which is part of the larger Aldabra Group.

There are 16 individual islets and cays along the rim of the atoll, with Menai (in the west) and Wizard Island (Grande Île, in the southeast) being the largest.

Cosmoledo holds Seychelles’ largest colonies of all three species of booby that breed in Seychelles. The atoll holds the last viable population of Brown Booby, breeding mainly on Ile du Sud Ouest, with a few on Ile du Nord. It also has the Indian Ocean’s larget population of Red-footed Booby censused by the Island Conservation Society as about 15,000 pairs.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Seychelles

Astove

Astove Island is part of the Aldabra Group of the Seychelles. It is 38 km SSE of Cosmoledo Atoll, located at 10°06′S 47°45′E. It is a raised coral island of most peculiar form: a single stretch of land, more than 1 km (nearly one mile) at the widest, almost entirely encloses a shallow lagoon. This has a maximum depth of 3 metres (10 ft), and the only exit is a winding passage in the southwest, called Gueule Bras Channel.

Astove Island measures nearly 6 km (3.7 miles) north to south and about 4 km (2.5 mi) at most east to west. The land area is 4.96 km², and the total area including the lagoon 9.5 km². The only settlement, on the western coast, has been abandoned since the 1980s. There is a grass airstrip on the north east point of the island, and remnants of a former coconut and sisal plantation. Today, the island is rarely visited – usually by scientists researching the lagoon’s ecology – but the near-vertical drop-off from its outer reef edge is a popular location for diving cruises.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Seychelles

St. Pierre

St Pierre Island is a raised reef island west of Providence Atoll and part of Farquhar Group, which belongs to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. The island is located at 9°17′S 50°44′E, 35 km (19 nautical miles) west of Cerf Island of Providence Atoll, 704 km (380 nmi) from Mahé and 500 km (270 nmi) ENE of Aldabra.

The island is nearly circular, 1.6 km (1 mile) east-west by 1.4 km (0.87 mi) north-south, with a land area of 1.68 km² (0.65 sq mi). St. Pierre has a gently sloping seabed on the exposed southeastern coast and a steep drop off on the northwest, where the fringing reef is all but absent. It is uninhabited, and indeed in modern times all but uninhabitable. There is a derelict jetty and settlement on the north west shore, which is accessible by boat in the calmest weather only.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Seychelles

Alphonse Atoll

Alphonse Atoll is one of two atolls of the Alphonse Group, and located 87 km south of the Amirante Islands, and just three kilometers north of St. François Atoll, the second atoll of Alphonse Group. The atoll has just one island, Alphonse Island, with a population of fewer than 300. It was discovered on 28 January 1730 by Chevalier Alphonse de Pontevez, commanding the French frigate Le Lys. A luxury hotel has been build on Alphonse Island, generating frequent traffic between other islands in the group. The area of the island is 1.74 km². The total area of the atoll, with more than 3 km in diameter, is about 8 km², including reef flat and lagoon.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Seychelles

Desroches II

Île Desroches or Desroches Island is the main island of the Amirante Islands, part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. It is located 230 km southwest of Mahé, the Seychelles’ main island. It is 6.2 km long and has a land area of 3.24 km². Along its circumference of 15 km is a beach of fine sand.

Desroches was named by Chevalier de Roslan, commander of the ship L’Heure du Berger, after the Chevalier des Roches, the Governor of Mauritius (then Île de France) and Réunion (then Bourbon) from 1767 to 1772. It was explored by the Chevalier de la Billioère in 1771. The British had originally named it Wood Island because of its dense tree vegetation. The island was an important producer of copra.

Desroches has a population of about 50, a settlement in the middle of the northwestern shore (looking to the lagoon), a small luxury hotel with 20 rooms in the south (Desroches Island Resort), built in 1988 and a paved airstrip 1372 m long in the southern part. It is located 36 km east of the Amirantes Bank, and separated from it by water over 1300 meters deep. It lies on the southern edge of a reef of atoll character. At the northern edge of the atoll are the Shark Rocks, with least depths between 3 and 6 meters. There is a lighthouse on the northeast end of the Desroches Island. The island is fringed by a drying reef which extends 1.6 km offshore from the northeastern extremity and 0.8 km from the southwestern extremity. The island is low and is covered with coconut palms and tall hardwood trees. A deep channel, about 1.6 km wide, leads into the lagoon. The least depth in the channel is 18.3 m, and it crosses the atoll in a position about 11 km northwest of Desroches.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Seychelles

La Digue II

La Digue is the fourth largest inhabited island of the Seychelles, lying east of Praslin and west of Felicite Island. It has a population of about 2,000 people, who mostly live in the west coast villages of La Passe (linked by ferry to Praslin and Mahé) and La Réunion. It has an area of 10 km². La Digue is named after a ship in the fleet of French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, who visited the Seychelles in 1768.

Today the island’s main industry is tourism and is known for its beaches especially Anse Source d’Argent. In former times copra and vanilla production were mainstays of the local economy; which is commemorated in the island’s museum. In the island’s interior is Veuve Nature Reserve, home of the rare Black Paradise Flycatcher, of which there are only about 100 in existence. La Digue’s tallest peak is also in the central part of the island, Belle Vue (Eagle’s Nest Mountain), with its summit more than 300 meters above sea level.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Seychelles

Praslin

Praslin is the second largest island (38 km²) of the Seychelles, lying 44 km north east of Mahé. Praslin has a population of around 6,500 people and comprises two administrative districts; Baie Sainte Anne and Grand’ Anse (Praslin). The main settlements are the Baie Ste Anne, Anse Volbert and Grand’ Anse.

It was named Isle de Palmes by explorer Lazare Picault in 1744. During that time it was used as a hideaway by pirates and Arab merchants. In 1768 it was renamed Praslin in honor of French diplomat César Gabriel de Choiseul, duc de Praslin.

Praslin is known as a tourist destination with several hotels and resorts, as well as a number of beaches such as Anse Lazio and Anse Georgette. It also has substantial tracts of tropical forests with birds such as the endemic Seychelles Bulbul and the Seychelles Black Parrot. The beautiful Vallée de Mai Nature Preserve is known for the unique coco de mer and vanilla orchids. It has been reported that General Charles George Gordon of Khartoum (1833-1885) was convinced that Vallée de Mai was the Biblical “Garden of Eden”.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Seychelles

Bird Island

Bird Island is the northernmost island in the Seychelles archipelago, 60 miles from Mahe. The 0.70 km² Coral island is known for its birdlife, including sooty terns, fairy terns and common noddies, and for hawksbill and green turtles. It is now a private resort with 24 bungalows. It also contains a small weather station.

Bird Island was formerly known as “Ile aux Vaches” due to the numerous dugongs (sea cows) that lived in nearby waters. Between 1896 and 1906, 17,000 tons of guano were removed from the island and exported to Mauritius as fertilizer. It formerly was a coconut plantation, and cash crops such as papaya and cotton were also grown.

Since 1967 it has been privately owned, and conservation measures have taken place such as protection of birdlife and sea turtle nesting sites, and the eradication of feral rats and rabbits.

Another phenomena of Bird island is that each Year in May millions of bird come for nesting to the island and before they start nesting they pick up water from the sea and drop in the large grass patch of the island, where they intend to nest. The salt water the bird drop makes the grass go dry and after a few weeks they can start building their nests on the dry ground.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Seychelles

Desroches

Île Desroches or Desroches Island is the main island of the Amirante Islands, part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. It is located 230 km southwest of Mahé, the Seychelles’ main island. It is 6.2 km long and has a land area of 3.24 km². Along its circumference of 15 km is a beach of fine sand.

Desroches was named by Chevalier de Roslan, commander of the ship L’Heure du Berger, after the Chevalier des Roches, the Governor of Mauritius (then Île de France) and Réunion (then Bourbon) from 1767 to 1772. It was explored by the Chevalier de la Billioère in 1771. The British had originally named it Wood Island because of its dense tree vegetation. The island was an important producer of copra.

Desroches has a population of about 50, a settlement in the middle of the northwestern shore (looking to the lagoon), a small luxury hotel with 20 rooms in the south (Desroches Island Resort), built in 1988 and a paved airstrip 1372 m long in the southern part. It is located 36 km east of the Amirantes Bank, and separated from it by water over 1300 meters deep. It lies on the southern edge of a reef of atoll character. At the northern edge of the atoll are the Shark Rocks, with least depths between 3 and 6 meters. There is a lighthouse on the northeast end of the Desroches Island. The island is fringed by a drying reef which extends 1.6 km offshore from the northeastern extremity and 0.8 km from the southwestern extremity. The island is low and is covered with coconut palms and tall hardwood trees. A deep channel, about 1.6 km wide, leads into the lagoon. The least depth in the channel is 18.3 m, and it crosses the atoll in a position about 11 km northwest of Desroches.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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São Tomé and Príncipe

Príncipe

Príncipe is the smaller of the two major islands of São Tomé and Príncipe lying off the west coast of Africa. It has an area of 136 km² and a population of around 5,000 people. It rises in the south to 948 metres at Pico de Príncipe, in a thickly forested area forming part of the Obo National Park. The north and centre of the island were formerly plantations but largely reverted to forest. The island forms one province and one district named Pagué. The languages other than Portuguese includes Principense or Lunguyê with a few Forro speakers.

The island has one town, Santo António, and an airport (IATA code: PCP, ICAO: FPPR?), as well as some small villages including Bela Vista, Bombom, Futuro, Neves Ferreira, Paciencia, Ponta Fonte, Ribeira Ize, Santo Antonio de Ureca, Vila Rosa and more – few connected to the small road network.

The island is a heavily eroded volcano over three million years old, surrounded by other smaller islands including Ilheu Bom Bom, Ilhéu Caroço, Tinhosa Grande and Tinhosa Pequena.

Príncipe was the site where Einstein’s Theory of Relativity was experimentally proved successful by Arthur Stanley Eddington and his team during an eclipse in 1919.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)