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Private islands & atolls
Bird Island
Bird Island sits about 100 kilometres north of Mahé, on the outer edge of the Seychelles Bank - the northernmost island in the country. It covers roughly 0.94 square kilometres, is reachable only by air, and carries a single lodge with seven villas alongside around 700,000 pairs of nesting sooty terns.
- Location
- Northernmost island in Seychelles, about 100 km north of Mahé
- Area
- About 0.94 km² (1.77 x 0.75 km)
- Population
- No resident population, only lodge staff (38 per 2014 census)
- Access
- Air only, about 30 minutes from Mahé
Bird Island is a coral sand cay at the northern edge of the archipelago, with a single lodge and no resident population beyond staff and guests - the 2014 census counted 38 people. The island has its own grass airstrip; the flight from Mahé takes about 30 minutes. Around 700,000 pairs of sooty terns nest here among 112 recorded bird species, hawksbill and green turtles lay eggs on the beaches, and a giant tortoise named Esmeralda - at over 304 kilograms the heaviest known free-roaming tortoise of her kind - has lived on the island for roughly 170 years. The island was named in 1771 after the ship 'The Eagle'; before that it was called 'Île aux Vaches'. Guano was mined here between 1896 and 1906, with about 17,000 tons shipped to Mauritius. The Savy family has owned the island since 1967, when accountant Guy Savy bought it with his uncle Robert Delorie; sooty tern numbers had fallen to about 65,000 pairs by then, and recovered after rats were eradicated and Seychelles sunbirds were introduced. Bird Island Lodge reopened on 15 July 2021 after a pandemic closure, rebranded as a self-catering property with seven villas.
Selected stays
Bird Island
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