Cosmoledo Atoll is an

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...

of the

Aldabra Group The Aldabra Group are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, lying in the southwest of the island nation, around from the capital, Victoria, on Mahé Island. Population and area The group contains four islands and atolls. By far the lar ...

and belongs to the Outer Islands of the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

, and is located southwest of the capital,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, on Mahé Island.

History

The name ''Cosmoledo'' honours António (or Antão) Gonçalves Cosme Ledo who sailed to India in 1537 as pilot of the vessel Flor de la Mar, becoming patron chief before returning to Portugal in 1545 aboard the São Joao. Menai and Wizard Islands were named after ships that explored the atoll on the Moresby Expedition in 1822. In 1878, Sergeant Rivers visited the atoll and reported that judging by the turtle remains on the beach, the atoll was frequently visited by fishermen and whalers. He found a recently destroyed hut and ‘turtle park’ on Menai; a hut on the southern point of Wizard built from the wreckage of the ''Merry Monarch'' (wrecked in April 1874), which had been burnt. He reported that Menai was virtually covered with tall mangroves. Cosmoledo was settled shortly after this and a visitor in 1895 noted 200-300 coconut trees, maize and goats. By 1901, there were just two men on Menai, one on Wizard and four on North-east Island. Exploitation of

guano Guano (Spanish from ) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. Guano is a highly effective fertiliser due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also, to a le ...

on North-east Island was taking place in 1901, when 120 tons had been removed. A few years later, mangrove bark had become an important product; it was dried and exported for tannin. The atoll was inhabited as a fishing and turtling station until 1992 when it was abandoned.

Geography

Cosmoledo Atoll is a

raised coral atoll A raised coral atoll or uplifted coral atoll is an atoll that has been lifted high enough above sea level by tectonic forces, protecting it from scouring by storms and enabling soils and diverse – often endemic – species of flora and fauna to ...

that is 17 km long east–west, and 12.5 km north–south. The islands land area is 5.2 km², and the

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

and the reef flats have an area of 145 km². The closest island is Astove Island, 35 km farther south. The lagoon is up to 8.2 metres deep. Geologically, it is the twin of Astove Island, standing on the same volcanic basement measuring 85 km from north to south and 52 km from east to west and rising from a depth of over 4 km. The two islands are sometimes known together as the Cosmoledo Group. The two peaks join at a depth of around 1 km. Unlike the steep wall of Astove, the sea floor falls gradually to about 50 metres over a distance of up to a kilometer then more steeply reaching 500 metres in about 1.5 km. Two main passes lead from the ocean to the shallow lagoon, one northwest of South Island and one (Grande Passe) between Pagoda Island and Wizard Island. On the western coast, elevated reef rock forms undercut headlands mirroring the waves of the sea and separated by sandy beaches. There are sand dunes in the north and south, rising to about 10 meters.

List of islands

The Constitution of Seychelles names 20 islands although there are also a number of unnamed islets in the atoll. The South-East passage is between Pagoda Island and Wizard Island. Menai Island west coast is sandy. Johannes Point, the NW extremity of the island, is conspicuous. The village is located at this point. Cosmoledo Atoll

Demographics

Menai has a large cemetery. the village was abandoned in 1992.

Administration

The island belongs to Outer Islands District.

Flora and fauna

Cosmoledo is an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

and holds Seychelles' largest colonies of all three species of

booby A booby is a seabird in the genus ''Sula'', part of the family Sulidae. Boobies are closely related to the gannets (''Morus''), which were formerly included in ''Sula''. Systematics and evolution The genus ''Sula'' was introduced by the Fre ...

that breed in Seychelles. The atoll holds one of only two Seychelles populations of

brown booby The brown booby (''Sula leucogaster'') is a large seabird of the booby family Sulidae, of which it is perhaps the most common and widespread species. It has a pantropical range, which overlaps with that of other booby species. The gregarious bro ...

, breeding mainly on South Island, with a few on West-North Island. It also has the Indian Ocean's largest population of

red-footed booby The red-footed booby (''Sula sula'') is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. Adults always have red feet, but the colour of the plumage varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, but they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings. They are ...

censused by the

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 focuses on the protection and rehabilitation of the sma ...

as about 15,000 pairs. Exploitation has wiped out the

lesser frigatebird The lesser frigatebird (''Fregata ariel'') is a seabird of the frigatebird family Fregatidae. At around 75 cm (30 in) in length, it is the smallest species of frigatebird. It occurs over tropical and subtropical waters across the Indian ...

and has almost done the same to the

great frigatebird The great frigatebird (''Fregata minor'') is a large seabird in the frigatebird family (biology), family. There are major nesting populations in the tropical Pacific Ocean, such as Hawaii and the Galápagos Islands; in the Indian Ocean, colonies ...

, which is down to just 15 pairs compared to hundreds of pairs in the 1970s. Despite this, hundreds of non-breeding frigatebirds of both species are to be seen, these being probably from

Aldabra Aldabra, the world's second-largest coral atoll (the largest is Kiritimati), is located 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 (Seychelles), Outer Islands ...

. The

also once bred but now may be extinct. Cosmoledo also has Seychelles' largest colony of

sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It is a seabird of the tropical oceans, and remarkably, has evolved the ability to fly for years at a time, skimming the sea surface for food, and returning to land only ...

breeding on the northern end of Wizard Island. Second only to Aldabra are the numbers of breeding

red-tailed tropicbird The red-tailed tropicbird (''Phaethon rubricauda'') is a seabird native to tropical parts of the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Oceans. One of three closely related species of tropicbird (Phaethontidae), it was described by Pieter Boddaert in ...

, black-naped tern and crested tern. In May 2023,

discovered

Caspian tern The Caspian tern (''Hydroprogne caspia'') is a species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no accepted subspecies. The genus name is from Ancient Greek '' ...

breeding on Menai, the second known oceanic breeding site in the world after

. The lagoon is an important feeding ground for migratory waders, with

crab plover The crab-plover or crab plover (''Dromas ardeola)'' is a coastal wader (shorebird). It is the only member of the genus ''Dromas'' and the family Dromadidae. It is unique among waders in making use of ground warmth to aid the incubation of its e ...

and

ruddy turnstone The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan wader, wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was form ...

most common. There are three endemic races of land bird: the Madagascar white-eye (race ''menaiensis''), the

souimanga sunbird The souimanga sunbird (''Cinnyris sovimanga'') is a small passerine bird of the sunbird family (biology), family, Nectariniidae. It is native to the islands of the western Indian Ocean where it occurs on Madagascar, the Aldabra Group and the Glor ...

(race ''buchenorum'') and a particular form of

Madagascar turtle dove The Malagasy turtle dove or Madagascar turtle dove (''Nesoenas picturatus'') is a bird species in the pigeon and dove family (biology), family, Columbidae. Taxonomy The bird has several subspecies. The Rodrigues pigeon, an extinct but fairly e ...

. The Madagascar cisticola is also common and there are a few

pied crow The pied crow (''Corvus albus'') is a widely distributed African bird species in the crow genus of the family Corvidae. Structurally, the pied crow is better thought of as a small crow-sized raven, especially as it can hybridise with the Somali ...

present. The flora is similar to that of

, with fewer species but including several plants endemic to the group. As on Aldabra there are areas of tall mangrove, especially on the lagoon side of Menai Island. Coconuts are common only on Menai, where many were planted. Lizards include Bouton's snake-eyed skink and Madagascar banded lizard, the latter found nowhere else in Seychelles.

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 exte ...

nest in reasonably large numbers, despite decades of exploitation in the past and poaching in the present. The reefs are spectacular and offer some of the best diving in Seychelles. The

employs staff during the fishing season, conducting conservation and rehabilitation work on the atoll. Rats have been eradicated from all islands except Menai.

Tourism

There are fly-fishing cruises to the atoll on a regular basis. The IDC have proposed a plan for an eco-resort with about 20 rooms to be built at Menai in 2019.

Image gallery

File:Seychelles large map.jpg, Map of the Seychelles File:Outer Islands in Seychelles.svg, District Map File:Cosmoledo and Astove.jpg, Cosmoledo Atoll and Astove Island File:Cosmoledo.png, Satellite map File:Seychelles outer islands 25.08.2009 10-09-41.jpg, Cosmoledo from airplane

References

External links

National Bureau of Statistics

Atoll research Bulletin

Atoll Research Bulletin vol. 83 "Notes on some of the Seychelles Islands, Indian Ocean"

Atoll Research Bulletin vol. 136 "Coral islands of the Western Indian Ocean" (map of Cosmoledo, p. 139)

Satellite Images

Fishing at Cosmoledo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosmoledo, Seychelles Outer Islands (Seychelles) Atolls of Seychelles Uninhabited islands of Seychelles Important Bird Areas of Seychelles