Visit to Cousin Island, Curieuse and St Pierre (Praslin)
Island Hop: Set Sail and Discover 3 Breathtaking Islands
The Mason’s Travel “Cousin-Curieuse-St.Pierre” excursion offers you an opportunity to visit this conservation success story in person, and discover Cousin Island for your self!
The perfect and succesful marriage between tourism and conservation is Cousin Island.
Nature Seychelles, which manages the special reserve, is promoting the island’s eco-tourism as a vehicle to finance conservation.
Cousin Island’s slogan is “the island that belongs to birds, humans are welcome” is one of the nature reserves in Seychelles that can bring in more visitors, but because it is a reserve, the numbers are controlled through a strict measure of closing down the island in the afternoon and weekends.
“It is only through a high quality of tourism that Cousin Island can maintain its tourism reputation as one of one the prime eco-tourism destinations in the western Indian Ocean region” said Dr Nirmal Shah, the Chief Executive Officer of Nature Seychelles, who manage the island.
In their natural habitat, the “million dollar birds”, the Seychelles Magpie Robin co-exists with the Seychelles warblers, the Seychelles Blue Pigeon and countless endemic species.
Although Cousin Island is constantly receiving a high inflow of yacht charters mooring to it shores, Nature Seychelles claims that the impact from tourism is low to zero level. Dr Nirmal Shah highlighted that “no boats are allowed to land on Curieuse Island, they are all moored outside coral reefs and it is the Nature Seychelles rangers who are mandated to transfer visitors from their respective charters or yachts to and from the island.”
The impact is further controlled on the island trails and its bio diversity through guided tours by Cousin Island designated rangers, restricting visitors from roaming alone on the island.
The management and staff are all conscious of their responsibilities and they deliver for Seychelles a sanctuary for our flora and fauna and they remain an example to the world in how they are managing a nature reserve that remains the perfect marriage between tourism and conservation,” says the Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture, Mr. Alain St.Ange.
Conditions and inclusions:
- The excursion is subject to weather, and requires a minimum set of 12 pax in order to proceed. In the event of cancellation, Mason’s Travel undertakes to re-schedule the tour, offer an alternative excursion of similar value or effect a full refund.
- All the vehicles and sea fleet are equipped with the latest safety requirements recognised by international standards and appropriately insured.
Private (guided) excursion
- On our website we have detailed our most popular excursions. As specialist for the Seychelles we are also able to tailor -make any tour you may wish to experience.
- If you stay on Praslin or one of the nearby islands it’s possible to book a private guided tour for you or your group.
Activities
This tour starts with a transfer to Baie Ste Anne jetty for the 2-km crossing at 09h00 to the Special Nature Reserve of Cousin island. Our cruiser moors off-shore and tourists are taken to the island on a Reserve boat to prevent accidental introduction of pests to the island.
It is highly recommended that tourists come prepared to wrap their belongings in waterproof bags, and that they respect the safety regulations of donning life jackets and remaining seated until the craft is beached.
A warden leads the tour of the island with its abundance of species and habitats, from the coast with its protective mangroves, to the wetlands which attract dragonflies, moorhens, caecilans & Seychelles terrapins; on to the rejuvenated forest on the hill plateau which provides ideal nesting sites for large populations of shearwaters and bridled terns amongst its endemic trees - mapou, Indian mulberry and bwa sousouri.
Endemic birds found on Cousin Island are the Magpie Robin, Sunbird , Fody, Blue Pigeon and the Warbler . The tour continues with a 30-minute boat ride to Curieuse Island.
Curieuse island has a large population of giant tortoises, some can be seen next to the natural pond on the coast, whilst the majority range across the island freely and can sometimes be tracked by their vociferate calls of intimate congress.
The tour ends with an hour's snorkelling off the tiny island of St. Pierre. For the un-initiated, our crew is on hand with lightweight snorkelling vests to ensure that no-one misses the chance to view the abundant marine life.
