Original photo pending rights clearance
Private islands & atolls
Alphonse Island
Alphonse lies in the Outer Islands, about 400 kilometres southwest of Mahé, a flight of roughly one hour. The island itself covers about 1.7 square kilometres inside an atoll of some 19 square kilometres; it is the only inhabited island in its group, home to about 82 people at the last census.
- Location
- Outer Islands, about 400 km southwest of Mahé
- Area
- About 1.7 km² of land, atoll about 19 km²
- Population
- About 82 residents at the 2014 census
- Access
- Air only, about one hour from Mahé
There is no scheduled boat service to Alphonse; the only way in is by air, two to five flights a week landing on the island's own 1,220-metre airstrip. The island took its name in 1730, when the Chevalier Alphonse de Pontevez visited aboard the frigate Le Lys; from 1925 to 1955 it was farmed as a coconut plantation, producing over a million coconuts a year at its peak. The government took control after independence in 1976, and the first resort opened in 1999. Since 2007 an Island Conservation Society centre - the first in the Outer Islands - has operated on the island, and the lodge runs a turtle-monitoring programme for nesting green and hawksbill turtles. The atoll is designated an Important Shark and Ray Area: grey reef sharks and spotted eagle rays are among the species recorded there, both listed as endangered by the IUCN, and the eagle rays use the shallow lagoon as a breeding ground each February to May.
Selected stays
Alphonse Island
Original photo pending rights clearance
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