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Visit Cousin Island

The island that belongs to birds

Cousin Island is one of the world’s first whole island and sea reserves. It lies 2km off the coast of Praslin, the second largest island in the Seychelles.

In 1968, the International Council for the Protection of Birds (ICBP), now Birdlife International, purchased Cousin Island, making it the world’s first internationally owned reserve. Their goal was to save the last remaining population of the Seychelles Warblers (Acrocephalus sechellensis). In 1974, the Seychelles Government designated the entire island, including the 400 meters of water surrounding it, a ‘Special Reserve’. The island is not only significant for seabirds and endemic land birds but is also the most important breeding site for Hawksbill turtles in the Western Indian Ocean.

When the island was first settled in the early 1900s, the original vegetation on the plateau was cleared to make way for the profitable copra business and a small garden. Through an intensive conservation program, the island has been successfully restored, creating habitats for many species. Today, 56 years later, the previous coconut plantation is now mainly a native forest.

The reserve is managed solely by local staff and benefits local communities in neighboring Praslin through eco-tourism. Ecotourism began in the 1970s and continues to date, with Cousin receiving international accolades for its conservation and ecotourism efforts.

GETTING THERE

The island attracts thousands of visitors each year and also caters to educational groups and locals.

Tour operators are responsible for ferrying visitors to Cousin Island where they are then transferred to the island using the Reserve’s boats, a measure implemented to prevent the accidental introduction of pests onto the Reserve.

It is open to visitors five days a week (Monday to Friday), between 9.45 and 12.30am.

Visitors pay an entry fee of SCR 600 for non-residents and SCR 300 for residents. Entry is free for children (resident and non-resident) under the age of 12.

Please note:

  • There is no overnight accommodation or barbeque facilities on the island and the island has no stores or amenities.
  • It is highly recommended to bring essentials with you such as water, mosquito repellent, and a high factor sun block.
  • Film crews and commercial photographers pay commercial fees and should contact the Mahe office prior to getting to Cousin. Telephone: (Mahe Office) +248 2519090, (Cousin Island) +248 2605700, Email: nature@seychelles.net
  • Locals or educational groups should contact the Nature Seychelles office on Mahe for details regarding the transfer from Praslin Island to Cousin Island.

watch our video
THE LITTLE BIRD THAT SAVED AN ISLAND

In 1959, the Seychelles warbler population was thought to number only 26 individuals all restricted to Cousin.

When ICBP took over the island, most of the native habitat had been largely converted to a coconut and cinnamon plantation. The remnant population of Seychelles warbler was clinging on in a mangrove swamp, providing less than ideal habitat for the species.

An intensive conservation programme was soon underway: the island’s coconuts were cut back, allowing the native Pisionia grandis forest favoured by the warbler to flourish once again.

By 1982, the warbler population had reached around 320 adults, the maximum population that Cousin could support. From here the warbler was re-introduced to other islands in the Seychelles to boost its population and the bird now occurs on four other islands in the Seychelles and numbers over 3000 individuals. The bird was reclassified as “Near Threatened” from “Critically Endangered” in the Red List in 2015 and is one of the World’s greatest conservation success stories in recent times.

 

Despite its small size, Cousin boasts a number of species and habitats.

The plateau forest is characterized by Pisonia grandis, Indian mulberry Morinda citrifolia and Ochrosia oppositifolia where many of the land birds can be seen. The hill creates ideal nesting sites for shearwaters and bridled terns; on the seashore crabs and shorebirds abound. .

Five of Seychelles eleven endemic land birds are found – Seychelles Warbler, Seychelles Magpie Robin Copsychus seychellarum, Seychelles Sunbird Nectarinia dussumieri, Seychelles Fody Foudia seychellarum, and Seychelles Blue Pigeon Alectroenas pulcherrima.

Seven species of nesting seabirds occur; White (Fairy) Terns Gygis alba and White-tailed Tropicbirds Phaethon lepturus nest all year round, whilst Lesser Noddys Anous tenuirostris, Brown Noddys Anous stolidus and Bridled Terns Onychoprion anaethetus have different breeding seasons. Two shearwaters, Tropical Shearwater Puffinus bailloni and the Wedge-tailed Shearwater Ardenna pacifica breed on the island. The former breeds all year round whilst the later breeds from May to October.

Cousin Island is recognized as one of the most important nesting sites in the western Indian Ocean for Hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata. Turtles come ashore to nest each year during the day. Other reptiles found here include Aldabra giant tortoises Aldabrachelys gigantea, and four endemic skinksthe Seychelles skink Mabouya sechellensis, Wright’s skink Mabuya wrighti, the Bronze-eyed gecko Ailuronyx seychellensis and the burrowing skink Pamelaescincus gardeneri, as well as the native green gecko Phelsuma astriata, and Bronze-eyed gecko Ailuronyx seychellensis giving Cousin Island one of the highest lizard densities per hectare in the world.

The Special Reserve area includes the surrounding marine area. Comparative studies have revealed that Cousin’s reefs have the highest fish biomass compared to reefs in other marine protected areas in the granitic islands.

However, the reefs have suffered coral bleaching as a result of a rise in sea water temperature in 1998 and 2006.

The transformation of the island from a coconut plantation to an ecologically-restored island has taken place through a policy of habitat restoration. As a result, conservation on Cousin has enjoyed great success with a 300% increase in the population of warblers. Seychelles Fodys have now attained a healthy population. There has also been successful translocation of Seychelles Magpie Robins from Fregate Island.

Cousin is today one of the few islands free of cats, rats and mice, a cause of the demise of the native fauna on other islands. This is a result of strict regulations visitors and wardens working on the island have to adhere to.

Visit this page to learn more about or bird conservation work and marine turtle progamme

Recognising the environmental impact of international tourists, most traveling by air and reaching the island by boat, Nature Seychelles in 2010 made Cousin Island carbon neutral, the first nature reserve in the world to do so.

In 2009, Carbon Clear, a leading European carbon management company assessed the footprint of conservation and tourism activities on Cousin Island Special Reserve.

This included both on and off island costs as well as the hotel, transport and other relevant impacts of international visitors. We found that we were responsible for more than 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents annually.

The restored forest on Cousin was estimated to absorb certain amount of this. But the bulk had to be offset. Carbon Clear searched for a carbon sequestration project that met several internationally agreed criteria and found an improved cook-stove project in the Darfur region of Sudan where the appropriate number of carbon credits were purchased to make Cousin the 1st carbon Neutral Nature Reserve.

The scheme is unique in that it invests funds derived from eco-tourism in Seychelles into climate adaptation projects in other countries. Two projects in Brazil and Indonesia are recipients of the carbon offset funds this year. The Brazilian project prevents deforestation and protects the Cerrado Biome by using agricultural waste in place of deforested wood to fire community based ceramic kilns. The Indonesian project made a number of vital upgrades to an existing conventional power station using coal to make it geo-thermal.

Learn more: https://www.cousinisland.net/conservation/carbon-neutral-cousin/