Cousine Island is a small granitic island in 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 ...

west of

Praslin Praslin () is the second largest island (38.5 km2) of the Inner Seychelles, lying northeast of Mahé in the Somali Sea. Praslin has a population of around 7,533 people and comprises two administrative districts: Baie Sainte Anne and Gra ...

Island. It is a combination luxury resort and since 1992 a nature preserve.

History

In 1992 the island was purchased and a conservation program was introduced to protect nesting sea turtles and maintain the existing populations of endemic land birds.

Flora & Fauna

Cousine Island is a breeding ground for seabirds and has a population of transplanted

Aldabra giant tortoise The Aldabra giant tortoise (''Aldabrachelys gigantea'') is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is endemic to the islands of the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles. It is one of the largest tortoises in the world.Pritchar ...

s. The island has undergone an extensive vegetation rehabilitation program which involves planting of indigenous flora and the removal of alien plant species. Since 1995 over 2000 native trees have been planted. Indo-Pacific

hawksbill turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is large ...

s are known to nest on this island.

Important Bird Area

The island has been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

because it supports populations of the

Seychelles warbler The Seychelles warbler (''Acrocephalus sechellensis''), also known as Seychelles brush warbler, is a small songbird found on five granitic and corraline islands in the Seychelles. It is a greenish-brown bird with long legs and a long slender bill ...

magpie-robin The magpie-robins or shamas (from ''shama'', Bengali and Hindi for ''C. malabaricus'') are medium-sized insectivorous birds (some also eat berries and other fruit) in the genus ''Copsychus''. They were formerly in the thrush family Turdidae, but ...

and fody, as well as substantial breeding colonies of

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 ...

white-tailed tropicbird The white-tailed tropicbird (''Phaethon lepturus'') is a tropicbird. It is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. It is found in the tropical Atlantic, western Paci ...

s, lesser noddies and

white tern The white tern or common white tern (''Gygis alba'') is a small seabird found across the tropical oceans of the world. It is sometimes known as the fairy tern, although this name is potentially confusing as it is also the common name of '' Sternu ...

Tourism

In order to finance the restoration project a small exclusive bungalow resort was built on Cousine. The hotel manager, his family, and an

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

with his family, live in the staff quarters on the east beach. They are responsible for the restoration, maintenance and preservation of flora and fauna of the island. The current staff is 16 employees. There are four beachfront French Colonial style villas (maximum number of guests allowed is 10) on the island. It is 30 hectares.The world's most expensive private islands
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' , it is the world's third most expensive private island.

Image gallery

File:Seychelles large map.jpg, Map 1 File:cousine+cousine seychelles.jpg, Cousine and

Cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

(right), seen from

File:Cousine_island.jpg, Cousine Island File:Praslin.svg, Map 2

References

External links

Cousine Island Nature Conservation - Giant Turtle Conservation
Islands of Grand'Anse Praslin Important Bird Areas of Seychelles Private islands of Seychelles {{Seychelles-geo-stub