Aride Island

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Aride Island
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Aride Island
Location of Aride Island in Seychelles
Geography
Location Seychelles, Indian Ocean
Coordinates 4°12′48″S55°40′48″E / 4.21333°S 55.68000°E / -4.21333; 55.68000 Coordinates: 4°12′48″S55°40′48″E / 4.21333°S 55.68000°E / -4.21333; 55.68000
Archipelago Inner Islands, Seychelles
Adjacent bodies of water Indian Ocean
Total islands1
Major islands
  • Aride
Area0.71 km2 (0.27 sq mi)
Length1.65 km (1.025 mi)
Width0.6 km (0.37 mi)
Coastline4.23 km (2.628 mi)
Highest elevation135 m (443 ft)
Highest pointGros la Tête
Administration
Group Inner Islands
Sub-Group Granitic Seychelles
Sub-Group Praslin Islands
Districts Grand'Anse Praslin
Largest settlementLa Cour(pop. 8)
Demographics
Population8 (2014)
Pop. density11.2/km2 (29/sq mi)
Ethnic groups Creole, French, East Africans, Indians.
Additional information
Time zone
ISO code SC-14
Official website www.seychelles.travel/en/discover/the-islands/

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]

Contents

History

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.

Geography

The island is part of the district of Grand'Anse, located 10 km north of Praslin island and is 68 hectares in area. [2]

Granite rock in the cliff of Gros la Tete - Aride Island. The thin (1-3 cms. wide) brighter layers are quartz veins, formed during the late stages of crystallization of granitic magmas. They are also sometimes called "hydrothermal veins" ArideGranite1.jpg
Granite rock in the cliff of Gros la Tête – Aride Island. The thin (1-3 cms. wide) brighter layers are quartz veins, formed during the late stages of crystallization of granitic magmas. They are also sometimes called “hydrothermal veins”

Demographics

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.

Government services

Being an island with a small population, there are not any government buildings or services. For many services, people have to go to Praslin.

Tourism

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.

Transport

The only form of transportation is by foot.

Cuisine

Fish is the staple diet supplemented by fruit and vegetables grown on the island and other foodstuffs brought by the island boat from Praslin.

Flora and fauna

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.

Related Research Articles

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Cosmoledo

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

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

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

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.

Great frigatebird Species of bird (Fregata minor)

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

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.

Seychelles fody Species of bird

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.

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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.

Seychelles skink Species of lizard

The Seychelles skink is a species of skink in the family Scincidae. It is endemic to the Seychelles.

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Granitic Seychelles


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.

Wildlife of Seychelles

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Ascension scrub and grasslands

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Coral Sea Reserves Ramsar Site

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

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.

References

  1. Island Conservation Society
  2. Official Aride Island Guide
  3. map Archived 2016-04-11 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Photo gallery
  5. "Aride guide". Archived from the original on 2016-04-30. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  6. Aride Island Nature Reserve
  7. "Aride Island Guide". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2009-12-25.