Marianne Island is a small granitic island 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 ...

. in size, it is located 3.8 km ESE of

Félicité Island Félicité Island is a heavy forested granitic island east of La Digue in the Seychelles. It is the fifth-largest island in the Seychelles archipelago, measuring . Until the 1970s it was a coconut plantation that had a population of about 50. In ...

. The island was a former coconut plantation, and on the western side of the island is a long beach. The southern tip of Marianne is known as a world-class diving location. The tallest peak on the island is Estel Hill, at 130 meters. Presently, Marianne Island is uninhabited but is routinely visited by tourists and boaters. For much of the 19th and 20th century, farming and

copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from copr ...

production took place on Marianne. There was a former settlement called La Cour, and in 1940 the island had 60 inhabitants. There are a few species of

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

on Marianne, including the

La Digue day gecko ''Phelsuma sundbergi ladiguensis'' is a diurnal subspecies of ''Phelsuma sundbergi''. It lives on the islands Ladigue, Felicite and Cocco in the Seychelles, and typically inhabits trees and dwellings. The Seychelles giant day gecko feeds o ...

(''Phelsuma sundbergi ladiguensis'') and ''

Phelsuma astriata semicarinata ''Phelsuma astriata semicarinata'' is a subspecies of Seychelles day gecko. It is a small, slender gecko, has a bright green colour and feeds on insects. It is found on different islands of the Seychelles, where it often lives near human dwellin ...

''. Reportedly, the rare

Seychelles paradise flycatcher The Seychelles paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone corvina'') is a rare bird from the genus of paradise flycatchers (''Terpsiphone'') within the family Monarchidae. It is a forest-dwelling bird endemic to the Seychelles where it is native to the ...

(''Terpsiphone corvina'') is occasionally spotted on the island. Also, it was once home to the extinct

Seychelles chestnut-sided white-eye The Marianne white-eye (''Zosterops semiflavus''), also known as Seychelles chestnut-sided white-eye or Seychelles yellow white-eye, is an extinct species of small bird in the white-eye family. Taxonomy Edward Newton described it as a full speci ...

References

External links

Photo gallery
Islands of La Digue and Inner Islands Uninhabited islands of Seychelles Tourist attractions in Seychelles {{Seychelles-geo-stub