North Island

Home to just one resort, the private North Island is an incredibly luxurious option even for the Seychelles; it was the site for the royal honeymoon of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011. In 2014, North Island was voted the 3rd best hotel in the world by Conde Nast; it is easy to see why. Visitors arrive by helicopter, an approximately 20 minute journey from Mahé to be greeted by four ivory beaches and dense inland vegetation.

North Island was the first island in the Seychelles to record a landing on its shores, made in 1609 by Captain Sharpeigh of the East India Company. Until the 1970s, the island was a plantation used to grow fruits and spices. As a result, a host of alien species of flora and fauna were introduced and a great deal of damage was caused to the indigenous ecosystem. Following its takeover in 1981 however, North Island has undergone some of the most extensive ecological rehabilitation of any island in the world. Now, thanks to the resort’s ‘Noah’s Ark’ conservation programme, endemic species are once again thriving on North Island: around 100 Aldabra giant tortoises reside here, 5 endemic bird species and sea turtles are returning to nest.