ALIDA and Adrian are snoozing under a cashew tree, while Hector seems happier
to wallow away the afternoon half-submerged in the muddy marshes.
The astonishing thing about this nonchalant trio is that they - along with
Stan and Clio - are almost certainly the planet's only surviving adult
Arnold's giant tortoises, a species that until recently was believed to be
extinct.
A year ago the tortoises were released at Grande Barbe beach on the remote
west coast of Silhouette. On the other side of Silhouette at La Passe, the
island's only settlement, the South African-born naturalist Ron Gerlach had
drawn me a diagram showing the territorial boundaries they had adopted, and
outlines of their distinctive shell and markings.
Silhouette arches out of the Indian Ocean, the third-largest, second-highest
and most densely vegetated of the Seychelles. It is also the most
biodiverse, with countless endemic creatures hidden among the forests that
cloak its steep granite slopes.
This is what enticed Gerlach and his English wife, Gill, to move here from
Mahé, the main island, in 1997 and establish their Giant Tortoise
Conservation Project. Since then, most visitors to Silhouette have been
nature lovers, staying at a lone, simple guesthouse.
But things changed last year with the opening of the five-star Labriz resort.
Arriving from Mahé after the hour-long speedboat crossing, you would hardly
know the resort was there - the 110 beachside bungalows and villas are
camouflaged among the palm trees and granite boulders.
Gerlach explains to Silhouette's honeymooners and well-heeled tourists how he
and Gill rescued a collection of giant tortoises from captivity in empty
swimming pools around Mahé and elsewhere. “It was assumed that the Arnold's
tortoise, and also the Seychelles giant tortoise, had been extinct since the
early 19th century when their populations were plundered by sailors for
meat. The surviving species was the distinct Aldabra giant tortoise, which
flourishes in the far-flung Aldabra archipelago, which the sailors never
reached, and has been introduced to other islands of the Seychelles, such as
Frégate and North Island.”
Gerlach claims, however, that DNA samples prove that their rescued tortoises
include survivors of the former two species. The Arnold's tortoises, with
their knobbly carapaces, have produced a sustainable number of offspring,
which is why the adults were taken to Grande Barbe for release into the
wild. The same is planned for the flatter-shelled Seychelles giant
tortoises, if and when they hatch enough young. For now, six giants saunter
about the enclosure eating breadfruit or mangoes and occasionally mounting
one another, while visitors marvel at the spectacle of a species crawling
out of its shell 150 years after supposedly dying out.
The Gerlachs have reached an amicable accord with their new neighbours,
Labriz, with Ron describing the resort as “reasonably environmentally
sound”. At his request, its management has put an end to anti-insect
“fogging spray”, which Gerlach believed was threatening the island's
endangered sheath-tailed bats. And he has a captive audience on the
inspirational nature hikes he leads for guests, high into the island's
hinterland.
Bulbuls cackled from the forest canopy and the air was scented with cinnamon
after an overnight deluge as a dozen of us scrambled up a slippery,
rock-strewn track in the cool of early morning. Gerlach stopped every now
and again for us to catch our breath as he pointed out a cloud of fruit bats
hanging in a green mist of ferns and tangled vines. At the edge of a pool
below a waterfall, he cupped his hands to catch a Sooglossus frog that was
so tiny it sat comfortably in the middle of his thumbnail. “Uniquely in the
frog world, the young hatch from eggs fully formed, about the size of a
grain of rice,” he told us.
The trek proved more arduous than any of us expected, and it was a
sweat-drenched and tired but hearty crew who arrived back after five hours
in the mountains. “We expected to flop on the beach in the Seychelles, not
go on hiking and wildlife tours... it is by far the most exciting thing we
have done here,” said Niall and Nikki O'Hagan, from London - a eulogy indeed
considering they were newlyweds.
Labriz, however, offers every chance for honeymooners to indulge: private,
spacious, contemporary bungalows in coral tones within sight and sound of
lapping water; top-notch nosh in a choice of Italian, Japanese and
Asian-fusion restaurants; and a magnificent spa dramatically set in a
natural amphitheatre of granite boulders. At present Labriz is the only
place to stay on Silhouette, although there is a controversial project in
train to bulldoze a road over the island to Grande Barbe and build a second,
albeit much smaller, “eco-resort”.
Grande Barbe is a wild stretch of sand strewn with driftwood and coconuts, as
I found on a tricky speedboat landing amid pounding Indian Ocean breakers.
Then I wandered among rows of coconut palms and the ghostly outbuildings of
a long- abandoned copra plantation, eventually coming across three of the
Arnold's giant tortoises more or less where Gerlach's diagram indicated they
might be.
Because the beach is unprotected by any reef, a jetty cannot be built here and
swimming is hazardous. From this perspective, the idea of a resort seems as
whimsical as plans to slash a road through the forest are brutal. So I am
with the Gerlachs in hoping that the project is thwarted, and that Grande
Barbe's new reptilian residents are left alone to creep back from
extinction.
NEED TO KNOW
Audley Travel (01993 838500, www.audleytravel.com)
offers six nights at Labriz from £2,350pp, including flights from Heathrow
on Air Seychelles, transfers, accommodation and full board. A half-day
nature hike with Ron Gerlach is about £18.50pp. Further information
Seychelles Tourism Office ( 07775 612157, www.seychelles.travel).
