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, ...
west of
Praslin 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 tortoises. 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 turtles 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,
magpie-robin and
fody, as well as substantial breeding colonies of
wedge-tailed shearwaters,
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 ...
s,
lesser noddies and
white terns.
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](_blank)
''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 f ...
'' , 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 Praslin
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