1. 34 A F R I C A G E O G R A P H I C • apri l 2 0 0 8
35w w w. africageographic . co m
Cheryl-Samantha Owen travels
to the ends of the earth, and finds
herself in the magical world of Bird
Island. Rescued from environmental
purgatory by a 40-year restoration
plan, this tiny cay in the Seychelles
archipelago has a thriving (not to
mention incredibly noisy) colony of
sooty terns, as well as several other
animal attractions. 
of terns,tides turtles&

2. I
n that golden hour before sunset,
which only the tropics set alight
with this much warmth and colour,
I leave the rustic comfort of my
chalet and walk barefoot across the
island. Hopscotching along the sandy
path in an attempt to avoid the prickly
casuarina seeds that lie along its length,
I notice that their parent trees are all
that separates the inland from the idyl-
lic white beach beyond. Here, on Bird
Island, no concrete walls or sprawling
buildings blockade the tide, forcing the
sand to re-route unnaturally and alter-
ing the original coastal vegetation. A
flurry of grey feathers interrupts my
reverie and, scurrying along, I remind
myself to take the beach route on my
return and steer clear of this particular
brown noddy that is taking its chick-
guarding post so seriously.
At this time of year (in the middle of
the south-east monsoon), even if you
were blindfolded and wore earplugs,
the tern colony would be unmissable.
Nothing, not even the cacophony, pre-
pared me for what spilled out at the
end of a long narrow path through the
coastal scrub. More than 1.5 million
sooty terns Sterna fuscata sat, hovered,
circled, soared and flew. This highly
pelagic seabird avoids landing on water
as it is unable to swim, and returns to
Bird Island en masse each year from
May to September to breed and fledge
its chicks.
In what must surely be nature’s most
spectacular bird symphony, the sounds
crescendoed with the setting sun until I
felt as though I was sitting amidst a
giant orchestra performing one of
Tchaikovsky’s loudest masterpieces. Had
I been on the island in March and April,
when the terns start to gather in
increasingly large numbers before land-
ing and establishing their individual
territories, I would have seen a swirling
mass of hundreds of thousands of birds,
patterning the sky with long, out-
stretched wings.
At the end of the breeding season,
the sky changes again, becoming
speckled with fledglings testing their
new wings in erratic sorties over the
36 A F R I C A G E O G R A P H I C • M A R C H 2 0 0 9
water. Like learner pilots, they stick
close to the wings of their parents, dip-
ping to the ocean to collect seaweed
and darting over shoals of fish bub-
bling near the surface.
B
ird Island is the most northerly
of the Seychelles archipelago
and is a young coral cay, little
more than a sandbank, that
probably emerged between 2000 to
4 000 years ago following a drop in sea
levels. Covering less than 688 square
metres, the island perches on the north-
ern rim of the Seychelles Bank and a
one-kilometre snorkel out to sea reveals
the dramatic edge of the bank itself.
Here, the bottom of the sea changes
abruptly from light to dark as the floor
plummets from 12 metres to impenet-
rable black depths. The island’s nearest
neighbour, Mahé, is 111 kilometres
away and, from a bird’s-eye view, this
golden orb is barely a smudge in the
Western Indian Ocean.
In 1776, a passing ship reported that
the island was ‘covered with birds
OPPOSITE However, the lack of small
trees in the Linyanti woodlands is a
concern for biodiversity. Seedlings like
this camel thorn acacia are found,
BELOW However, the lack of small
trees in the Linyanti woodlands is a
concern for biodiversity. Seedlings like
this camel thorn acacia are found kds.
37w w w. africageographic . co m
N
U
0 100
metres
- Frigatebirds Fregata ariel .minor
- Sooty tern Sterna fuscata
- Brown/common and lesser noddies tern
Anous stolidus and .tenuirostris
- White-tailed tropicbird Phaeton lepturus
KEY
I N D I A N
O C E A N
BIRD ISLAND

from a bird's eye view, this golden
orb is barely a smudge in the
Western Indian Ocean
_

3. 39w w w. africageographic . co m
innumerable’, suggesting that early vis-
itors to the island had a similar experi-
ence to mine. In the 200 or so years
that followed, however, circumstances
did not always favour the island’s feath-
ered residents.
Lust for guano, used as a fertiliser in
the sugar-cane fields of Mauritius,
stripped 17 000 tonnes of this white
gold between 1896 and 1906, leaving
the island bare. A coconut plantation
was then established, together with
cash crops such as papaya and cotton,
which covered the sooty terns’ breeding
grounds. This was a disaster for the col-
ony as the terns scrape out shallow
depressions in the bare ground in which
they lay their eggs, with little or no nest
lining. Nest densities are greatest in
open areas with only 30 to 50 per cent
vegetation cover. By 1967, when the
current owners, Guy Savy and his part-
ners, took over, the sooty terns had all
but vanished.
In the past 40 years, a concerted con-
servation effort involving careful man-
agement of the vegetation to restore the
breeding colony has successfully broken
the island’s unnatural silence. Sooty tern
numbers have risen from around 18 000
in the 1960s to more than 750 000 pairs
today. Studies have shown that many
adults come back to Bird Island each year
and, what’s more, their chicks return as
adults to breed at their natal colony.
Sooty tern eggs are considered a deli-
cacy in Seychellois culture, but over-
collection and the killing of adults and
chicks have led to a steep decline and
even extinction on several other
islands. The managers of Bird Island,
in keeping with their nature-based
tourism philosophy, have achieved a
sustainable balance and are able to
supply Mahé with a number of sooty
tern eggs each year. This, in turn, helps
to stem the trade in poached eggs
while satisfying traditional culture.
A
lthough sheer numbers make them
the obvious stars, sooty terns are
not the only participants in Bird
Island’s conservation and tourism suc-
cess story. At least 20 other bird species
can be seen throughout the year – the
island’s northerly location means that it
is the first landfall for many migratory
birds and vagrants that are sometimes
blown off course by the westerly squalls
that occur during the monsoon.
A total of more than 15 000 pairs of
brown noddy terns .stolidus are found
on the islands of Aride, Cousin, Cousine
and Bird, with Bird Island holding the
largest population. Courtship involves
an engaging ‘dance’ of nodding heads
(of particular amusement to Japanese
guests) but, as I discovered, brown nod-
dies are especially aggressive towards
intruders near their nest sites. Unlike
the lesser noddy tern Anous tenuirostris,
which nests only in trees, these noddies
make themselves at home at the base of
coconut palms and even in coral cavi-
ties and on ledges.
The introduction of rats to various
islands in the Seychelles, including
Bird Island, devastated populations of
brown noddies and many other bird spe-
cies. The eradication of these rodents,
together with rabbits, has contributed
greatly to the successful breeding of
brown noddies, wedge-tailed shearwa-
ters and white-tailed tropicbirds.
Homicidal noddies aside, life here can
take on a fairytale-like feel, with some
species looking as though they’ve
stepped from the pages of a book of
fables. One such character is the fairy
tern Gygis alba. Its pure white feathers
give it an angelic appearance that is quite
startling against a vivid blue sky and,
when the heavens are white, its translu-
cent wings render it almost invisible.
Fairy terns lay a single egg on a bare
branch. It looks precarious, but the
adults sit patiently behind the egg with
their lower breast feathers fluffed out,
falling away and backwards as they fly
off in search of fish. After about three
weeks, the chick hatches, complete
with well-developed claws to cling to
the branch of its birth, while the adults
ferry small blue and silver fish to it sev-
eral times a day, carrying up to six
neatly in their bills.
Once upon a time, in the pristine
seagrass beds around Bird Island, a
character that fuelled the imagination
of sailors and sparked the myth of mer-
maids really did exist, giving the island
its temporary title Ile aux Vaches, island
of the cows. The dugong Dugong dugon
was once common around the
once upon a time, in the pristine seagrass
beds around Bird Island, a character ... that
sparked the myth of mermaids really did exist
38 A F R I C A G E O G R A P H I C • M A R C H 2 0 0 9
OPPOSITE However, the lack of small
trees in the Linyanti woodlands is a
concern for biodiversity. Seedlings like
this camel thorn acacia are found,
BELOW However, the lack of small
trees in the Linyanti woodlands is a
concern for biodiversity. Seedlings like
this camel thorn acacia are found kds.


4. 41w w w. africageographic . co m40 A F R I C A G E O G R A P H I C • m arch 2 0 0 9
islands of the Seychelles, but for the
past century, hunting, fishing-related
fatalities and habitat degradation, com-
bined with its long lifespan (50-plus
years) and slow rate of reproduction,
have made it all but a ghost in these
waters. Listed as Vulnerable to extinc-
tion on the IUCN Red List and on the
verge of being regionally extinct in the
Western Indian Ocean, dugongs have,
until recently, only occurred in
Madagascar, Mozambique and the
Comores. Since 2001, however, sight-
ings around the Aldabra Atoll, some
1150 kilometres to the south-west, indi-
cate that these shy marine mammals
might be returning. If they could repop-
ulate Aldabra’s waters and be allowed
safe passage north, Bird Island’s healthy
marine environment would be an ideal
habitat for their reintroduction.
Although no siren’s song serenaded
me on my walk back from the colony, I
did hear the scrunching sound of beach
excavation and, as I squinted through
the darkness, the large shell of a green
turtle Chelonia mydas gradually ap-
peared, masked by a spray of sand. This
is one endangered species that has
found its way to the safety of Bird
Island, and on nights throughout the
year, especially between June and
September, females clamber onto the
beaches above the high-tide mark to
nest and lay between 100 and 200 eggs.
Like the sooty terns, mature turtles
often return to the beach of their birth,
and Bird Island has a wealth of healthy
seagrass meadows upon which adult
turtles feed almost exclusively. After
this female had dug her egg chamber
and started to lay, the island’s resident
ecologist gathered guests to watch as
she buried her clutch and returned to
the water. There are no lights here,
which can disorientate nesting green
turtles and their hatchlings as they
make their way back to the sea. As part
of the island’s conservation programme,
females that come ashore are tagged
and nests are monitored, contributing
to a wider turtle–monitoring project
within the Seychelles.
Bird Island also hosts a population of
the critically endangered hawksbill turtle,
whose sharp, curving beak enables it to
feed on sea sponges and toxic jellyfish.
Perhaps because it is one of the few plac-
es where it is undisturbed by humans,
this is the only known place in the world
where hawksbill turtles come ashore dur-
ing the day to nest. Their peak nesting
period stretches from November to mid-
February, and hatchlings start emerging
some 58 days after the eggs are laid.
P
ollution, overexploitation, con-
flicting use of resources and
other harmful consequences of
human development are serious
and sharply increasing threats to the
marine ecosystem of the Seychelles.
Yet, the conservation and sustainable
use of the archipelago’s biodiversity is
essential for the development of its two
major economic sectors: tourism and
fisheries. The cumulative degradation
of the marine environment caused by a
combination of natural and anthropo-
genic disturbances, including the indi-
rect effects of global climate change,
such as coral bleaching, is therefore a
serious problem.
Amongst the flurry of words used to
describe ecotourism ventures, it is not
easy to differentiate those that are
guided by conservation principles with
nature at their core from the green-
washers and glitzy marketeers. In a
world where damage to the marine
habitat through dredging and land rec-
lamation has led to the destruction of
entire mangrove forests, coral reefs and
seagrass beds in favour of luxury five-
star resorts and real-estate develop-
ments, Bird Island offers an escape to a
place that truly is at peace and in har-
mony with nature.
like the sooty terns, mature turtles often
return to the beach of their birth, and Bird
Island has a wealth of healthy seagrass
meadows upon which they feed

OPPOSITE However, the lack of small
trees in the Linyanti woodlands is a
concern for biodiversity. Seedlings like
this camel thorn acacia are found,
BELOW However, the lack of small
trees in the Linyanti woodlands is a
concern for biodiversity. Seedlings like
this camel thorn acacia are found kds.
infotravel
Don’t think that because Bird Island
is free from modern trappings (no
television, air conditioning or thirsty
swimming pools) and prizes its cast-
away image, that it spoils you any
less. Bird Island has balanced conser-
vation and tourism with the running of
an ecologically sound operation. The
classic sandy beaches are protected
by a barrier reef, making swimming
safe and better than in
any chlorinated pool, and the natural-
ly ventilated chalets allow the various
birdcalls intermingled with the sounds
of a 200-year-old tortoise to infuse
the air.
For more information, tel. (+248) 22
4925; fax (+248) 22 5074; e-mail res-
ervations@birdislandseychelles.com or
visit www.birdislandseychelles.com