Aldabra
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How it came to be
Aldabra in the Indian Ocean is an atoll of four large coral islands around a shallow lagoon. Most of its land is ancient coral reef about 125,000 years old. Its name was given by Arab seafarers, and Portuguese navigators visited in 1511.
With no fresh water, people came to take tortoises and turtles. In 1842 two ships were reported to have taken 1,200 tortoises, and by 1900 the giant tortoises were nearly gone. In 1891 James Spurs, who held the concession for the atoll, banned killing them.
Today more than 100,000 giant tortoises live there, along with the white-throated rail, a flightless bird. The Seychelles Islands Foundation has managed the atoll since 1979. It became a Special Nature Reserve in 1981 and was inscribed on 19 November 1982.
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