Alphonse Atoll is one of two

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

s of the

Alphonse Group The Alphonse Group belong to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, lying in the southwest of the island nation, southwest the capital, Victoria, on Mahé Island. The closest island is Desnœufs Island of the Amirante Islands, further north. ...

, the other being St. François Atoll — both in the Outer Islands (Coralline Seychelles) coral archipelago of the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

Geography

Alphonse Atoll lies south of the main Amirantes bank, from which it is separated by deep water. It has a distance of south of

Victoria, Seychelles Victoria () is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Seychelles, situated on the north-eastern side of Mahé island, the archipelago's main island. The city was first established as the seat of the British colonial government. In 2010 ...

. Alphonse lies just north of St. François Atoll, separated from it by a deep channel. The atoll has just one island, Alphonse Island, with a population of 108 people who work in the Alphonse hotel or maintain the runway and island for the IDC. The area of the island is . The total area of the atoll, with in diameter, is , including reef flat and

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...

History

In 1562 the whole of the

(Alphonse, St. François and Bijoutier) are collectively named on Portuguese charts as San Francisco. Chevalier Alphonse de PontevezHistory
/ref> commanding the French

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

'' Le Lys'' visited on 27 June 1730 and gave the islands his own name. The following day he visited and named the neighboring island of St. François possibly following the former Portuguese name for the group. A small resort hotel was built on Alphonse Island in 1999, the island was a private plantation, only opened in 1999 to the public. in 2007 it was bought 50% by LUX hotels branch of

Desroches Desroches Island or Île Desroches is the main island of the Amirante Islands, part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. It is located 227 km southwest of Victoria, Seychelles. It is 5.5 km long and has a land area of 4.027 km2. ...

and then sold to Great Plains Group due to financial difficulties. After a failed attempt to build an extreme luxury villa development it was sold in 2013 to Alphonse Island Lodge LTD founded by Murray Collins and Keith Rose-Innes. The Alphonse Island hotel https://www.alphonse-island.com was renovated in 2014 to include luxury beach villas and beach suites. Alphonse island is an activity oriented destination and is owner operated by the ecotourism brand Blue Safari Seychelles https://www.bluesafari.com/en and fly fishing brand Alphonse Fishing Company https://www.alphonsefishingco.com

Flora and fauna

In 2007, Island Conservation Society established a conservation center on Alphonse to manage conservation on the island and on neighboring St. François.

Wedge-tailed shearwater The wedge-tailed shearwater (''Ardenna pacifica'') is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It is one of the shearwater species that is sometimes referred to as a muttonbird, like the sooty shearwater of New Zealand and ...

s breed despite the presence of rats and cats. The

common waxbill The common waxbill (''Estrilda astrild''), also known as the St Helena waxbill, is a small passerine bird belonging to the estrildid finch family. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa but has been introduced to many other regions of the world and ...

(probably introduced) breeds and is found nowhere else in

other than Mahe and

La Digue La Digue is the third most populated island of the Seychelles, and fourth largest by land area, lying east of Praslin and west of Felicite Island. In size, it is the fourth-largest granitic island of Seychelles after Mahé, Praslin and Silhouette ...

. The introduced house sparrow also breeds. The isolation of Alphonse acts as a magnet to migratory birds and Seychelles Bird Records Committee has recorded more bird species here than anywhere south of the granitics apart from Aldabra, including the only record of

sociable lapwing The sociable lapwing (''Vanellus gregarius''), historically referred to as the sociable plover, is a wader in the plover family. It is a fully migratory bird, breeding in Kazakhstan and wintering in the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, and Suda ...

for the entire southern hemisphere and the first country records of

red knot The red knot or just knot (''Calidris canutus'') is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the '' Calidris'' sandpipers, second only to the ...

tufted duck The tufted duck or tufted pochard (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird ment ...

and

common chiffchaff The common chiffchaff (''Phylloscopus collybita''), or simply the chiffchaff, is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds in open woodlands throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic. It is a migratory passerine which ...

. Recently Alphonse island Hotel, The Island Development Company and The Island Conservation Society set up an Alphonse Foundation to fund the conservation efforts on Alphonse Island, Bijoutier and St Francois.

Transport

The island is bisected by a

Alphonse Airport Alphonse Airport is an airport serving Alphonse Island, the sole island of the Alphonse Atoll in the Seychelles. The runway is next to the Alphonse Island Resort. The atoll is southwest of Mahé, south of the Amirante Islands, and north of ...

(

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

code:FSAL) that crosses the island diagonally. The airfield was renovated in 2000, and is now serviced between two and five times a week with an IDC operated flights.

Image gallery

File:Seychelles large map.jpg, Map 1 File:Outer Islands in Seychelles.svg, District Map File:Alphonse Group.png, Satellite image of

(Alphonse Atoll north) File:Alphonse.jpg, Alphonse

References

External links

Alphonse Island

Official Fishing Operator for Alphonse Atoll

Island guide 1

Seychelles Bird Records Committee

National Bureau of Statistics

Info on the island

2010 Sailing directions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alphonse, Seychelles Islands of Outer Islands (Seychelles) Atolls of Seychelles