Desroches Island or Île Desroches is the main island of the

Amirante Islands The Amirante Islands (''Les Amirantes'') are a group of coral islands and atolls that belong to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. They stretch about 155 km from the African Banks (African Islands) in the north to Desnœufs (Isle des No ...

, part of the Outer Islands of the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

. It is located 227 km southwest of

Victoria, Seychelles Victoria () is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Seychelles, situated on the north-eastern side of Mahé, Seychelles, Mahé island, the archipelago's main island. The city was first established as the seat of the British Empire, Bri ...

. It is 5.5 km long and has a land area of 4.027 km². Along its circumference of 13 km is a beach of fine sand. Conservation on the island is managed by

Island Conservation Society The Island Conservation Society (ICS) was registered as an NGO in Seychelles on 25 March 2001. The Head Office, known as The Island Conservation Centre, is situated at Pointe Larue, Mahé. ICS focusses on protection and rehabilitation of the small ...

History

The island was named Île des Roches in 1771 by La Biolière, captain of the French ship ''Étoile du Matin'', in honour of François Julien des Roches, Governor of Île de France (now

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

) and Île Bourbon (now

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island o ...

) from 1767 to 1772.Carpin, Sarah,(1998) ''Seychelles'', Odyssey Guides, p.159, The Guidebook Company Limited, Retrieved on June 22, 2008 It was explored by the Chevalier de la Billioère in 1771. The British had originally named it Wood Island because of its dense tree vegetation. The island was an important producer of

copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from co ...

. in 1835 the first settlement was establishedResearch on island
/ref> Along with the remaining Amirante Islands, Desroches had been a part of the Seychelles since it became a separate colony in 1909. On 8 November 1965 the United Kingdom split Desroches from the Seychelles to become part of the newly created

British Indian Ocean Territory The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 ...

together with Farquhar,

Aldabra Aldabra is the world's second-largest coral atoll, lying south-east of the continent of Africa. It is part of the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, with a distance of 1,120 ...

and the

Chagos Archipelago The Chagos Archipelago () or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives arc ...

, but returned it to the

with the first two. The purpose was to allow the construction of a military base for the mutual benefit of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. On 23 June 1976 Desroches was returned to Seychelles as a result of it attaining independence. In 1972, a tourist lodge was built on the island, on Lodge Beach. In 1988, the Lodge changed hands to MK resorts which renovated it to a Luxury resort with 20 rooms. In 2005, the resort was sold to Collins Properties which renovated it and added a spa In 2008 Island Conservation Society opened a Conservation Centre at Desroches. Turtle monitoring, bird monitoring and island rehabilitation projects were implemented and an endowment fund established to provide funds to protect the environment. The LUX managed resort was expanded to 60 rooms in 2008, and in 2016 the resort was sold to Four Seasons hotels. Four Seasons are adding more rooms in Lodge beach, but the Madame Zabre Beach units are sold as residential buildings, and a new neighborhood will be formed in this area by 2017.

Geography

It is located east of the Amirantes Bank, and separated from it by water over deep. It lies on the southern edge of a reef of atoll character. At the northern edge of the atoll are the Shark Rocks, with least depths between . The island is fringed by a drying reef which extends offshore from the northeastern extremity and from the southwestern extremity. The island is low and is covered with coconut palms and tall hardwood trees. A deep channel, about wide, leads into the lagoon. The least depth in the channel is , and it crosses the atoll in a position about northwest of Desroches.

Demographics

Desroches has a population of about 100. The Collins group hotel formerly had 30 rooms in the south (former location of ''Desroches Island Resort''), built in 1988, and 1 presidential villa at Madame Zabre Beach There is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses m ...

on the northeast end, at Helene point, of the Desroches Island.

Administration

The island belongs to Outer Islands District. Being an island with a small population, there are not any government buildings or services. For many services, people have to go to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, which is a difficult task.

Transport

The island is bisected by a long paved airstrip in the southern part (

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tarif ...

code DES,

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

code FSDA). The island has regular service aircraft from Mahé.schedule1
/ref>

Economics

The inhabitants of the island engage mainly in tourism, and in small scale farming and fishing which are mainly for local consumption.

Flora and fauna

In 2007,

opened a conservation center on the island, employing full-time staff. There are no endemic land birds, only introduced species. Around the hotel and village there are populations of

house sparrow The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the Old World sparrow, sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of and a mass of . Females and young birds are coloured pale ...

s and

zebra dove The zebra dove (''Geopelia striata''), also known as the barred ground dove, or barred dove, is a species of bird of the dove family, Columbidae, native to Southeast Asia. They are small birds with a long tail, predominantly brownish-grey in col ...

s and in the woods Madagascar fodies and the more retiring

grey francolin The grey francolin (''Ortygornis pondicerianus''), also known as "manu moa" or "chicken bird", is a species of francolin found in the plains and drier parts of the Indian subcontinent and Iran. This species was formerly also called the grey pa ...

. Much of the island is covered in

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...

trees but well-wooded pockets of forest remain. The long, encircling beach and beach-crest of Desroches are of national importance for both

green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

and

hawksbill turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is la ...

, particularly on the south and northeast coasts. The only known

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

of the Amirantes, a species of cockroach ''Delosia ornata'', is found here. Small numbers of

wedge-tailed shearwater The wedge-tailed shearwater (''Ardenna pacifica'') is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It is one of the shearwater species that is sometimes referred to as a muttonbird, like the sooty shearwater of New Zealand and ...

s breed despite the presence of rats.

Image gallery

File:Seychelles large map.jpg, Map 1 File:Outer Islands in Seychelles.svg, District Map File:Desroches.jpg, Desroches Island
from the southwest File:Desroches_ISS022.jpg, Sat image File:Desroches_76.png, 1976 map File:Desroches beach (Pietervisser) 02.jpg, A beach on the western side of the island File:Reims-Cessna F406 Caravan II, Islands Development Company JP9861.jpg, Cessna airplane on the island

References

External links

Island guide 2

National Bureau of Statistics

Desroches Island Resort

- a Hideaways article about the resort at Desroches. {{DEFAULTSORT:Desroches, Seychelles Islands of Outer Islands (Seychelles) Former islands of the British Indian Ocean Territory Atolls of Seychelles