Seychelles Wildlife

Natural environment of the Seychelles

Seychelles is a unique environment, which sustains a very special biodiversity. It is special for a number of different reasons. These are the oldest oceanic islands to be found anywhere...

Bird Watching

Seychelles Wildlife

Seychelles is a paradise for birdwatchers, you can easily see the unique land birds, the important sea bird colonies, and the host of migrants and vagrants. Some sea bird...

Seychelles Black Parrot

Endemic Bird Species

Black Parrot or Kato Nwar in Creolee is brown-grey in colour, not truly black. Many bird experts treat it as a local form of a species found in Madagascar and...

Fairy Tern

Seabird Species

The Fairy (or white) Tern is a beautiful bird seen on all islands in Seychelles, even islands like Mahe where they are killed by introduced rats, cats and Barn Owls....

Introduced Land Birds

A little over two hundred years ago, there were no humans living permanently in Seychelles. When settlement occurred, people naturally brought with them the animals and plants they needed to...

Native Birds

Although over 190 different species of bird have been seen on or around the central islands of Seychelles (and the number is increasing all the time), many of these are...

Migrant Shore Birds

Shallow seas and estuaries are very rich in invertebrate life. Many birds feed on the worms, crabs and shellfish in these habitats; often, they have long bills for probing sand...

Seychelles Magpie Robin

Endemic Bird Species

The most endangered of the endemic birds, Seychelles Magpie Robin or Pi Santez in Creole, came close to extinction in the late twentieth century; in 1970 there were only about...

Seychelles Blue Pigeon

Endemic Bird Species

The Seychelles Blue Pigeon or Pizon Olande in Creole, spends much of its life in the canopy of trees and eats the fruits of figs, bwa dir, ylang ylang and...

Seychelles White-eye

Endemic Bird Species

The Seychelles White-eye or Zwazo Linet in Creole, is rare and endemic. They may sometimes be seen in gardens and forest over 300m at La Misere, Cascade and a few...

Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher

Endemic Bird Species

The Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher or the Vev in Creole is endemic to Seychelles, you cannot find this bird anywhere else on earth. Although it was once widespread on...

Seychelles Sunbird

Endemic Bird Species

The tiny sunbird or Kolibri in Creole, is one of the few endemic species that has thrived since humans arrived in the Seychelles.

Achievements

Stopped near extinctions of birds +

Down-listing of the critically endangered Seychelles warbler from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened. Other Seychelles birds have also been saved including the Seychelles Magpie Robin, Seychelles Fody, and the Seychelles…
Restored whole island ecosystems +

We transformed Cousin Island from a coconut plantation to a thriving vibrant and diverse island ecosystem. Success achieved on Cousin was replicated on other islands with similar conservation activities.
Championed climate change solutions +

Nature Seychelles has risen to the climate change challenge in our region in creative ways to adapt to the inevitable changing of times.
Education and Awareness +

We have been at the forefront of environmental education, particularly with schools and Wildlife clubs
Sustainable Tourism +

We manage the award-winning eco-tourism programme on Cousin Island started in 1970

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Trading the environment in the marketplace

“It’s the economy, stupid!” said Bill Clinton once. Economics is all pervading, even in environmental management. This is because the environment is an asset and has value. The value can be quoted in direct as well as indirect terms. Our Marine Parks provide direct financial benefits through entry fees, private sector profits and employment. The Morne Seychellois National Park provides benefits such as water catchment and filtration. Coral reefs provide both direct benefits in supplying fish as well as other benefits such as coastal protection and formation of beaches.

Let us not confuse landscaping with conservation

Many Seychellois have been to Singapore and amidst the frenetic shopping have found time to admire the landscaping of this city state. Billed as the Garden City, Singapore has planted hundreds of thousands of trees and bushes around tourist centers and elsewhere. It is said that our recent landscaping efforts in Seychelles are inspired by Singaporean achievements.

Hurricanes, climate change and the costs of damage

When I was living in Houston, Texas, a hurricane once hit the city and smashed every window in the skyscrapers downtown. Last week, members of my family living there fled from hurricane Rita, with only a few belongings and important papers. They are back now, with Houston mercifully spared. But the devastation caused by Katherina in New Orleans, a city I know well, is unprecedented and beyond belief. One question that keeps popping up is whether climate change is affecting hurricanes in some way or other.

Seas turn Milky White

We were cruising somewhere in the Indian Ocean, two days shipping from Djibouti. Two of us were on the deck of the research vessel in the middle of the night because instruments had to be dropped into the ocean at regular intervals. It was then that we saw the sea turning almost milky white. The captain had seen such a phenomenon before but none of us had. That was about 18 years ago and although we were all familiar with the bioluminescence common in the ocean we could not find out what was turning the seas milky.