Frégate Island

Frégate is a small granite island east of Mahé run as a single private resort, and its conservation record is out of proportion to its size: the Seychelles magpie robin was reduced to a handful of birds surviving here in the 1960s, and the recovery programme built around that population has since returned the species to several islands. More than three thousand Aldabra giant tortoises roam free and Anse Victorin is regularly named among the region's best beaches.

Background

Frégate is the easternmost of the granitic Inner Islands, 55 km east of Mahé, and covers 2.07 square kilometres. The explorer Lazare Picault named it after the many frigate birds he found there. Some 200 years of plantation farming cleared almost all the native woodland, and the conservation team has since replanted more than 10,000 native trees, among them the very rare Wright's gardenia. The magpie robin numbered 14 birds in 1980 and over 120 by 2016. Hawksbill and green turtles nest on the beaches, and the island has its own flightless giant tenebrionid beetle.

Source: Wikipedia, "Frégate Island"

What you'll find

• The magpie robin - the species that survived here and was recovered from this population.
• The free-roaming tortoises - more than three thousand Aldabra giant tortoises across the island.
• Anse Victorin - the beach regularly named among the region's finest.
• The granite boulders - the rock formations characteristic of the inner islands.

When to go

April to May and October to November are the calmest months. Access is by air year round. Turtle nesting runs from October to February.

Good to know

The island is a single resort and there is no way to visit without staying, at very high cost. Day visits are not permitted. Access is by helicopter or small aircraft only.

Nearby

Mahé is west, and Sainte Anne Marine National Park is beyond it.

Key facts