Aldabra Islands

Aldabra Atoll*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	Seychelles
Type	Natural
Criteria	vii, ix, x
Reference	185
Region**	Africa
Inscription history
Inscription	1982  (6th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO.

Aldabra is a raised coral atoll in the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that form part of the Seychelles. The island is more than 700 miles from Mahé and is closer to the coast of Africa and Madagascar.^[1] Virtually untouched by humans, with distinctive island fauna, including the Aldabra Giant Tortoise, the island is designated a World Heritage Site. The atoll is home to the world's largest population of giant tortoises, numbering some 100,000 individuals.^[2] They are also known for their green turtles, hawksbill turtles, hammerhead sharks, manta rays, barracuda, and birds, including the Aldabra rail, the last surviving flightless bird of the Indian Ocean region. The Aldabra Group includes the island of Assumption and the atolls of Astove and Cosmoledo.

History

Aldabra tortoise

Aldabra was visited by Portuguese navigators in 1511. The islands were already known to the Arabs, from whom they get their name. In the middle of the 18th century, they became dependencies of the French colony of Réunion, from where expeditions were made for the capture of the giant tortoises. In 1810 with Mauritius, Réunion, the Seychelles and other islands, Aldabra passed into the possession of Great Britain. Réunion was returned to France, and Mauritius gained possession of Aldabra as well as the rest of the Seychelles. The previous inhabitants were emigrants from the Seychelles. Sailors landed on the atoll in the 19th century and attempted to raid the island for tortoises as food; in 1842, two ships were reported to have taken 1200 of them. By 1900, the tortoises were nearly extinct, and a crew would often have to hunt for three days to find one.^[3]

Aladabra was designated a World Heritage Site on November 19, 1982, and is administered by the Seychelles Island Foundation based on Mahé.^[4] An environmental disaster for the island was averted^{[citation needed]} in the 1960s when the British nearly entered into negotiations with the United States to turn the island into a military air base. The proposal created an international protest by ecologists and their lobbying resulted in military plans abandoned and the wildlife habitat receiving full protection.^[5]

The abandoned settlement Picard on the southwestern tip of West Island is now home to the Research Officer, Island Manager and their rangers and staff. There is no other permanent population. The islands are managed by the Seychelles Island Foundation.

Geography

Map of Aldabra Atoll

Map of Seychelles

The atoll is located at 9°24′S 46°22′E / 9.4°S 46.367°E / -9.4; 46.367 and belongs to the Aldabra Group, one of the island groups of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. The atoll is 265 miles northwest of the northern tip of Madagascar and 1150 km southwest of Mahé, the principal island of the Seychelles archipelago. The Comoro Islands lie 220 miles southwest of Aldabra. The Aldabra Atoll, along with Des Roches and Farquhar, was part of the British Indian Ocean Territory from 1965 until Seychelles independence in 1976.

The atoll is the second largest in the world after Kiritimati. It is 34 km long, 14.5 km wide, up to 8 meters above sea level, and has a land area of 155.4 km². The lagoon measures 224 km² in area, of which roughly two thirds fall dry during low tide.

The atoll consists of a ring of four larger islands (counterclockwise) including South Island (Grand Terre, 116.1 km²), Malabar or Middle Island (26.8 km), Polymnieli or Polymnie (4.75 km²) and Picard or West Island (9.4 km²)

Aldabra and Assumption Island

Smaller islands

Additionally, there are some forty smaller islands and rocks, all inside the lagoon, except a few very small islets at the West Channels between South and Polymnie Islands, the largest of those being Îlot Magnan. The largest islands inside the lagoon are Île Michel (Coconut Island), in the east (0.34 km² or 0.16 sq.mi.) and Île Esprit (Euphrates Island), in the west (0.41 km² 0.13 sq.mi.):

See also

• Addyaita - a giant turtle of Aldabra. It was at least 250-years old when it died at Kolkata Zoo on March 24, 2006.
• Geography of Seychelles

References

External links

• Aldabra at the Ministry of Environment, Seychelles
• Aldabra at the Seychelles Islands Foundation
• Aldabra Marine Programme
• Aldabra Atoll at the UNESCO World Heritage Site
• "Expedition Aldabra" (Gordon, Ethan, Fathoms Online, Issue #8)
• Photos of Aldabran wildlife
• Aldabra Island xeric scrub (World Wildlife Fund)
• UNESCO Natural Site Data Sheet
• Save Our Seas Foundation Promotional Video for Aldabra
• Pictures of Russian Robinson Radio expedition to Aldabra