Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Seychelles, Indian Ocean |
Coordinates | 4°12′48″S55°40′48″E / 4.21333°S 55.68000°E Coordinates: 4°12′48″S55°40′48″E / 4.21333°S 55.68000°E |
Archipelago | Inner Islands, Seychelles |
Adjacent bodies of water | Indian Ocean |
Total islands | 1 |
Major islands |
|
Area | 0.71 km2 (0.27 sq mi) |
Length | 1.65 km (1.025 mi) |
Width | 0.6 km (0.37 mi) |
Coastline | 4.23 km (2.628 mi) |
Highest elevation | 135 m (443 ft) |
Highest point | Gros la Tête |
Administration | |
Group | Inner Islands |
Sub-Group | Granitic Seychelles |
Sub-Group | Praslin Islands |
Districts | Grand'Anse Praslin |
Largest settlement | La Cour(pop. 8) |
Demographics | |
Population | 8 (2014) |
Pop. density | 11.2/km2 (29/sq mi) |
Ethnic groups | Creole, French, East Africans, Indians. |
Additional information | |
Time zone | |
ISO code | SC-14 |
Official website | www |
Aride Island is the northernmost granitic island in the Seychelles (Bird Island is the northernmost Seychelles island overall). A nature reserve, it is leased and managed by the Island Conservation Society of Seychelles. [1]
The name ‘Aride’ first appears on nautical charts after French voyages of exploration in 1770 and 1771. The first written account was in 1787 by Jean-Baptiste Malavois, French commandant of Seychelles, who described it as being “…no more than a pile of rocks covered with a few bushes.” Between 1817 and 1829 Aride was possibly an unofficial leper colony. In 1868, the Irishman Perceval Wright, who gave his name to Aride's unique gardenia and one of its endemic lizards, visited Aride. In 1883, the British artist Marianne North painted a scene on the island, reporting just one large tree, beneath which the island staff sheltered from the sun. Coconut palms were planted over much of Aride and copra production became important economically. Dogs, pigs, cats and chickens were introduced, though fortunately rats never arrived.
The wooden plantation house on Aride, overlooking the small settlement, is one of the last buildings of its type to survive in Seychelles.
For almost a century sooty tern eggs were cropped with up to 220,000 being removed each season. Not surprisingly the number of nesting seabirds declined and all endemic land birds were wiped out. However, in 1967, the island's owner, Paul Chenard, ceased egg collection and declared the island a reserve. In 1973, Mr. Christopher Cadbury purchased Aride for the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (now Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts). In 1979 it was declared a Special Reserve under Seychelles law, to include a marine zone of 200m around the island, with penalties including imprisonment for killing or disturbance of its wildlife.
In 2003, management was transferred to Island Conservation Society. In 2006, the freehold was transferred to the UK Registered Charity Island Conservation Society UK and in 2008, the island was leased back to Island Conservation Society of Seychelles.
The island is part of the district of Grand'Anse, located 10 km north of Praslin island and is 68 hectares in area. [2]
The only human inhabitants are the reserve's staff; currently four Seychellois rangers, two expatriate Conservation Officers and two volunteers. They live in the main village of the island, La Cour, [3] on the south side of the island.
Being an island with a small population, there are not any government buildings or services. For many services, people have to go to Praslin.
Today, the island is dedicated to conservation supported by ecotourism. It is known for huge seabird colonies, with more breeding species than any other single Seychelles island plus large numbers of non-breeding frigatebirds. The density of lizards is also one of the greatest on earth. There is only one beach, which faces south, making access difficult when the southeast trade winds are at their height (June to September) [4] There is no overnight accommodation other than for the resident staff of the island but one can visit for the day by boat trip from neighbouring Praslin, 8 kilometres to the south.
The only form of transportation is by foot.
Fish is the staple diet supplemented by fruit and vegetables grown on the island and other foodstuffs brought by the island boat from Praslin.
Over 1.25 million seabirds regularly breed on Aride including the world's largest colony of lesser noddy, the largest Seychelles population of roseate tern and the world's largest colony of tropical shearwater. There is also an enormous roost of non-breeding frigatebirds. [5] [6] [7]
There are five species endemic to Seychelles resident on Aride. The Seychelles warbler was introduced from Cousin Island to Aride in 1988 and its population is now the largest in the world with over 2,000 pairs. The Seychelles fody was also introduced from Cousin in 2002, as well the Seychelles magpie robin from Fregate Island. The Seychelles blue pigeon and the Seychelles sunbird have re-colonised Aride naturally.
Reptilian fauna includes several species of skink, three species of gecko and three species of non-poisonous snakes. Green turtles and hawksbill turtles are regular visitors to the beaches of Aride.
Aride is the only place in the world where the flowering shrub Wright's gardenia Rothmannia annae is endemic.
Europa Island is a 28-square-kilometre (11 sq mi) low-lying tropical atoll in the Mozambique Channel, about a third of the way from southern Madagascar to southern Mozambique. The island had never been inhabited until 1820, when the French family Rosier moved to it. The island officially became a possession of France in 1897.
Aldabra is the world's second-largest coral atoll. It is situated in the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, with a distance of 1,120 km (700 mi) southwest of the capital, Victoria, on Mahé Island.
Cosmoledo Atoll is an atoll of the Aldabra Group and belongs to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, and is located 1,029 km (639 mi) southwest of the capital, Victoria, on Mahé Island.
Praslin is the second largest island (38.5 km2) of the Inner Seychelles, lying 44 km (27 mi) 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 Grand' Anse. The main settlements are the Baie Ste Anne, Anse Volbert and Grand' Anse.
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 Island. It has a population of 2,800 people, who mostly live in the west coast villages of La Passe and La Réunion. There is no airport on La Digue, so to get there from a foreign country, one has to fly to Victoria and continue by ferry, usually via Praslin. It has an area of 10.08 km², which makes it relatively easy to travel around by bike or on foot.
Curieuse Island is a small granitic island 1.13 sq mi (2.9 km2) in the Seychelles close to the north coast of the island of Praslin. Curieuse is notable for its bare red earth intermingled with the unique coco de mer palms, one of the cultural icons of the Seychelles, only growing on the two neighboring islands.
Cousin Island is a small granitic island of the Seychelles, lying 2 km (1.2 mi) west of Praslin. It is a nature reserve protected under Seychelles law as a Special Reserve. It is managed by Nature Seychelles, a national nonprofit organization and Partner of BirdLife International, by which it has been identified as an Important Bird Area.
The great frigatebird is a large seabird in the frigatebird family. There are major nesting populations in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans, as well as a tiny population in the South Atlantic.
Cousine Island is a small granitic island 30 ha in the Seychelles 6 km (4 mi) west of Praslin Island. It is a combination luxury resort and since 1992 a nature preserve.
The Seychelles fody is a small yellowish songbird that are native to the Seychelles islands of Cousin Island, Cousine Island, Frégate Island, and have been introduced to Aride Island, D'Arros Island and as of 2004 Denis Island. Their natural habitat is woodland, but they have adapted to living in such habitats as coconut plantations and gardens.
Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, as well the other uninhabited islands nearby, are a haven for wildlife in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The islands are or were home to much endemic flora and fauna, especially invertebrates, and many endemic fish species found in the reef ecosystems off the islands. The islands have been identified by BirdLife International as Important Bird Areas for both their endemic landbirds and breeding seabirds.
Nature Seychelles is a registered non-governmental association in Seychelles dedicated to environmental conservation. It is the national partner of BirdLife International and was formed as the replacement of Birdlife Seychelles in 1998.
The Seychelles skink is a species of skink in the family Scincidae. It is endemic to the Seychelles.
The wildlife of Mauritius is composed of its flora and fauna. Mauritius is located in the Indian Ocean to the east of Madagascar. Due to its isolation, it has a relatively low diversity of wildlife; however, a high proportion of these are endemic species occurring nowhere else in the world. Many of these are now threatened with extinction because of human activities including habitat destruction and the introduction of non-native species. Some have already become extinct, most famously the dodo which disappeared in the 17th century.
The Granitic Seychelles are the islands in the Seychelles which lie in central position on the Seychelles Bank and are composed of granite rock. They make up the majority of the Inner Islands, which in addition include the coral islands along of the rim of the Seychelles Bank, namely Bird Island and Denis Island. The Granitic Seychelles contrast with the Coralline Seychelles or Outer Islands, several island groups made up of low coral islands with dry, infertile soils.
The Wildlife of Seychelles comprises the flora and fauna of the Seychelles islands off the eastern coast of Africa in the western Indian Ocean.
The Ascension scrub and grasslands ecoregion covers the dormant volcano, Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean. As well as shrubs and grasses wildlife on the island includes a range of unique flora and fauna. In particular the surrounding islets are important havens for many seabirds, although the seabird populations on Ascension island itself have been severely affected by introduced species, particularly cats.
The Coral Sea Reserves Ramsar Site comprises the 17,292 km2 of oceanic island and reef habitats within the former Coringa-Herald National Nature Reserve and the former Lihou Reef National Nature Reserve in the Australian Coral Sea Islands Territory.
Motunau Island is a small, 3 ha, island nature reserve lying 1.2 km (0.75 mi) off the coast of New Zealand's South Island, at the northern end of Pegasus Bay, south of the mouth of the Motunau River. The reserve is managed by the Department of Conservation and access is by permit only.
The Ashmore Reef Marine Park is an Australian marine park that covers the Ashmore Reef, which is located about 630 km (390 mi) north of Broome and 110 km (68 mi) south of the Indonesian island of Rote. The marine park covers an area of 583 km2 (225 sq mi) and is assigned IUCN category Ia. It is one of 13 parks managed under the North-west Marine Parks Network.
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