When Charles Darwin came across giant tortoises on the Galápagos Islands, he noted that “I was always amused when overtaking one of these great monsters, as it was quietly pacing along, to see how suddenly, the instant I passed, it would draw in its head and legs, and uttering a deep hiss fall to the ground with a heavy sound, as if struck dead”. Luckily for me, the giant tortoises on Desroches Island in the Seychelles were much friendlier, especially Big Pete, who happily posed with us as long as we stroked his carapace and long neck, which he extended in an attitude of bliss. Perhaps their friendliness is because the Aldabra giant tortoises on Desroches Island are a species unique to the Seychelles, but also because they are now a protected species thriving on the islands, unlike in Darwin’s day when they were seen as a delicious dinner and hunted almost to extinction.
The Seychelles is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 1,000 miles off the east coast of Africa, northeast of Madagascar and just a few degrees south of the equator. Most of the 115 islands are uninhabited and 50% of the total land area is protected so as to sustain the stunning and varied natural environments. Desroches is the largest of the Amirantes Islands, a group of coral islands and atolls a 35-minute flight southwest of Mahé, the Seychelles’ largest island and capital.
It is owned by the Islands Development Company, set up by the Seychelles government to focus on environmentally sustainable.