Wildlife· Desnoeufs· Seychelles
Desnoeufs Sooty Tern Island
6° 14.1′ S · 53° 2.6′ E
A 35 ha island ringed in concentric sandstone, home to a huge sooty-tern colony (about 430,000 pairs recorded by BirdLife), boobies and nesting turtles, with heavy swell that makes landing very hard.
Practical
Never permanently inhabited. IDC managed controlled egg harvests on part of the island until 2018; after the 2021 census found a 60-70% national decline, the government imposed a two-year collecting ban in 2022. Landing can be extremely difficult even in calm weather, and you need IDC permission; watch from offshore. Coordinate is the island position from OpenStreetMap.
Best for
Seabird spectacle from the water
Season
Sooty terns breed in the SE monsoon (egg season June-August)
Nearby
- Sooty Tern Census Decline and Egg-Collecting Ban0.4 NM away
- Marie-Louise Island Anchorage (Northwest)6.8 NM away
- Marie-Louise Seabird Colonies6.9 NM away
- Boudeuse Cay Masked Boobies15.3 NM away
- Somali Piracy Advisory History (2009-2012)16.1 NM away
- Étoile Cay Roseate Terns21.1 NM away
- Île Florentin Heron Flats32.4 NM away
- Poivre Causeway Walk32.7 NM away