Certainly one of the highlights of my Seychelles trip, meeting with Aldabrachelys gigantea will remain as a lifetime memory. This giant tortoise was the very reason we included Curieuse island on our schedule and the reason why tourists and nature lovers alike visit this small granitic island situated close to the north coast of Praslin island. On December 28th 2018, we barely arrived in Praslin after a 5 days stay on Mahé when we decided to embark forthwith for a visit to Curieuse.
Curieuse is a major touristy day trip for any nature enthusiast visiting the Seychelles archipelago. The island and its surrounding waters were established as a marine national park in 1979. At this time, a conservation project that ran for a few years relocated Aldabra giant tortoise from the atoll of Aldabra, the world's second largest coral atoll, to Curieuse (other Seychelles islands were also used as new havens for the species). Nowadays, Curieuse hosts more than 300 tortoises: some being very easily observed as they stay around the Ranger's station right near the beach while others wander around the island.
A few minutes after we left the small boat that brought us from Praslin to Curieuse's Baie Laraie, we arrived at the ranger station which is just a couple of minutes from the granite rocks beleaguered beach. There we met our first tortoises. I was left quite speechless I have to say. This is a meeting I have lived many times in my awakened dreams since I was a childand it turned out, so to speak, to be as intense as some of the rare plants discoveries I have made in recent times.
A true giant, A. gigantea has a 122 cm long in average carapace that is high, domed shape and of a brownish color. The legs are heavily scaled and stocky as they have have to support a heavy body that can weight 250 kg in average for males and 159 kg for females. The species has a long neck that enables it to get food as high as a meter from the ground, a quite remarkable feat for a tortoise.
Various species of plants (I forgot to write their exact names unfortunately) protected by rudimentary fences made of logs were cultivated in the vicinity of the ranger station so that food is alway available for the quiet giants. Visitors are allowed to feed them.
As part of Curieuse conservation programme, a tortoise nursery has been set up in the island after the tortoise introduction in the late 1970's and early 1980's. There, youngsters are nurtured between birth and 5 years old before they are released into the wild. It was quite incredible and moving to be able to observe juveniles so closely.
Aldrachelys gigantea is one of the largest tortoises in the world and reach similar size to the well known Galapagos giant tortoises (species from the Chelonoidis nigra complex). As its genus name implies, it has been found from the islands of the Aldabra Atoll, one of the last wildlife -sanctuaries in the world where it is still possible to this day to observe dozens of thousands of giant tortoises (more than 150 000). Giant tortoises from various species were once common and widespread just a few centuries ago throughout the Indian Ocean before they were driven to extinction by European sailors over-exploitation. By 1840, all giant tortoises were eradicated except from the huge population of the hardly accessible Aldabra Atoll. Curieuse's population of A. gigantea thus derives from this Aldabra population.
Although we were confounded and enchanted to observe so easily Aldabrachelys gigantea, we also longed to observe additional individuals in a less human-made environment. We knew it was not hard to meet more tortoises in the island wilderness either in the mangroves found around Baie Laraie of in the neighboring forests and beaches so we embarked on a trail that was supposed to led to the magnificent Anse Joseph hoping we would cross the path of some more tortoises.
After a few moments, we were delighted to stumble onto a few specimens. One of them even stayed with us and followed us for a while. :-)
It was a striking sight to see those huge tortoises roaming free in the island well-vegetated environment. Apparently, in their almost contant search for food, they perform a role similar to the one undertaken by elephants in Africa and Asia: other smaller animals use the pathway created by these large reptiles. Aldabra giant tortoises are mostly herbivores and although they are known to occasionally feed on carrion and small invertebrates, their main diet in the wild is composed by grasses, leaves and stems, something we witnessed a few times during our visit.
Aldabra giant tortoise if often found in lawn-like covered places referred to as 'tortoise turf'. This short grass is actually composed of about 20 species of very short herbs and grasses that have amazingly coevolved with the tortoise and are naturally dwarfed: hence their seed production occurs not at the top as it is often the case but closer to the ground in order to escape the tortoises jaws!
In spite of the fact that Curieuse was after all a touristy spot with an environment that was partly man-made, we felt like we were almost traveling in another dimension, another space and time. Our whole Seychelles trip would even have been satisfying at this point had it been reduced to that single day total mind trip.
Now I can't help but dreaming of visiting the legendary Aldabra Atoll. Unlikely but who knows. One day maybe...
