Aride, the most northerly island of Seychelles, is the flagship of ICS. Aride Island is probably the most natural and least touched of all the islands of Seychelles. Its spectacular wildlife makes it one of the world’s most important nature reserves. Aride Island is a Special Nature Reserve under Seychelles law. It was purchased in 1973 by Christopher Cadbury for Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. In 2004, it was leased by Island Conservation Society and management was transferred from UK to Seychelles.
For more details,
· View a brief gallery of Aride Island
· or visit the Aride Island web site (click to www.arideisland.net)
The capital, the only international airport and headquarters of ICS are on Mahé, where most of the population of Seychelles reside. Despite development, there are still wild areas of significant conservation interest, including Morne Seychellois National Park. Endemic birds on Mahé include the Seychelles White-eye. ICS has led the recovery programme for the species, which was once believed to be in imminent danger of extinction until the discovery of a previously unknown population on Conception (off north-west Mahé). ICS now has an MoU with the owners of Conception for conservation management on the island. Conservation interest on other islands around Mahé including significant numbers of nesting Hawksbill Turtles, particularly in Ste Anne Marine National Park. There are Marine Parks at Baie Ternay and Port Launay, on the north-west coast of Mahé.
Praslin, the second largest island of Seychelles, has the World Heritage Site of Vallée de Mai managed by Seychelles Islands Foundation at its heart. La Digue, just a short distance from Praslin has the Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher as its symbol, a bird protected at a reserve established thanks to efforts of Christopher Cadbury, Tony Beamish and the Seychelles Ministry of Environment. Nearby islands of conservation interest include the nature reserve of Cousin, which was purchased by RSWT in 1968 and transferred to BirdLife International in 2003. Cousine is also managed as a private nature reserve, while several small islands have seabird populations. A Marine Park surrounds Curieuse, where there is a tortoise conservation project. There is also a Marine Park around tiny Ile Coco.
Silhouette and North are different in character to the other granitic islands, being largely composed of much younger syenite and dated from 63 million years ago. Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles (NPTS) are based on Silhouette (see links).
Bird Island is named after its massive Sooty Tern colony of more than a million birds that may be seen from March to October. As the most northerly Seychelles island Bird is also the first landfall for rare migrants, especially during October to March. More migratory species have been recorded at Bird than any other Seychelles island. Hawksbill Turtles that come ashore to lay between October and March and Green Turtles from April to October. Denis Island is being rehabilitated and two endemics, Seychelles Warbler and Seychelles Fody were introduced in 2004.