The atoll that time forgot: but now tourists threaten its eco-system | Education | The Guardian
The atoll that time forgot: but now tourists threaten its eco-system
Campaigners fear for future of giant tortoises and crabs
Monday 12 April 2004 10.33 EDT
First published on Monday 12 April 2004 10.33 EDT
Close
This article is 12 years old
For millennia the atoll known as Aldabra has bloomed in the absence of man. A speck in the Indian Ocean hundreds of miles from inhabited islands, it spawned tortoises big enough to knock over trees and crabs powerful enough to rip open coconuts.
White-throated rails, the last surviving flightless bird of the Indian Ocean, wandered the scrub, and in the lagoon darted sharks, ray, groupers and other exotic fish. Sailors occasionally landed but did not linger, for want of fresh water and timber.
But in the mid-1960s Britain appeared to deliver the unique ecosystem's death sentence by deciding to site a military base at Aldabra, effectively turning it into a giant aircraft carrier.
Campaigners rolled back that decision in what was feted as a landmark victory for the modern environmental movement, leaving the atoll's four main islands, Grande Terre, Malabar, Polymnie and Picard, largely untouched to this day.
Now that may change because a luxury hotel is being planned for Aldabra. The age of ecotourism has caught up with the land that time forgot. The government of the Seychelles, the archipelago east of Africa which administers the atoll, has tendered for a resort to cater for the super-rich in anticipation of charging each visitor thousands of dollars a day.
The prospect has horrified conservationists. Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP who led opposition to the military base, vowed yesterday to launch a new campaign on behalf of Aldabra, which remains part of the British Indian Ocean Territory. "I am absolutely dismayed," he said. "It would alter the nature of the atoll. The idea was to keep it as pristine as possible."
Mr Dalyell, now the father of the House of Commons, said he would raise the issue in parliament when it resumes after the Easter break and lobby the Foreign Office.
But the South African company which has tendered to build the resort, Wilderness Safaris, said its environmental record was impeccable and it would manage the world heritage site better than scientists who, it said, treated the atoll as a private playground while stationed there for research.
"Why should it be scientists that have exclusive access? They can be the worst when it comes to looking after the environment," said a company director, Russel Friedman.
Aldabra is situated in the extreme south-west of the Seychelles archipelago, 375 miles east of Africa, 250 miles north-west of Madagascar and 685 miles south-west of the main Seychelles population centre, Mahé.
It is the world's largest raised coral atoll; its last submergence was about 125,000 years ago. It hosts endemic insects, plants and mammals, including 152,000 giant tortoises, the world's largest population of this reptile. Believed to live beyond 100 years, the tortoises weigh up to 250kg (39 stones) and are known to push over shrubs and small trees when foraging for food.
Robber crabs measuring up to a metre long - the world's largest terrestrial arthropods - rove the beaches and climb palm trees in search of coconuts, which they open with huge pincers. The world's second largest population of frigate birds use the atoll for their sanctuary.
Described by Sir David Attenborough as "one of the wonders of the world", the atoll was declared a world heritage site by the UN in 1982.
The government of the Seychelles, whose beaches attract celebrities such as the England rugby star Jonny Wilkinson, wants to attract rich tourists and for Aldabra to pay its own way.
"It costs us $500,000 a year to run Aldabra," Lindsey Chong Seng, executive director of the Seychelles Island Foundation (SIF) which manages Aldabra, told Reuters. "In order to maintain the atoll, we have to put Aldabra on a sustainable footing by introducing an upmarket eco-lodge."
He said plans included building six blocks, accommodating a total of 12 people, on the western island of Picard. Visitors will be expected to pay up to $2,000 (£1,090) a night.
Wilderness Safaris is the only company to have tendered, according to Mr Friedman. The Johannesburg-based company runs 48 lodges across southern Africa, many of them in environmentally sensitive areas.
Non-governmental organisations promised funding but it never materialised, Mr Friedman said, prompting the authorities to seek alternative means.
He envisaged a maximum of 20 visitors spending a week at a time on the atoll, adding that it would be better off hosting monitored tourists than PhD students duplicating predecessors' research.
"It's an awesome place, really amazing. If you go there and don't enjoy yourself there must be something wrong with you," Mr Friedman said.
But he said the company had asked the authorities to suspend the tender process for 12 months while the tourism market improved.
A marine researcher who spent several months on the island but declined to be named said a hotel would compound rising sea temperatures and erosion which are already threatening the ecosystem.
Mr Dalyell echoed those concerns, claiming that no matter how well intentioned, a resort would damage the atoll.
Paradise being lost
The Galapagos Islands
The Galapagos archipelago, 600 miles off Ecuador, is home to giant tortoises, lava lizards and penguins. The ecosystem is threatened by fishermen demanding laxer laws and by the 2001 oil spill which killed 60% of the unique marine iguanas. The tourist trade is also a concern.
Great Barrier Reef
Off Queensland, the 1,250-mile long series of reefs is home to sharks, turtles and more than 1,500 types of fish. Concern that overfishing is depleting marine life has led to a law that will leave tourism the only permitted industry in one-third of the world heritage site. The million visitors a year bring problems of pollution.
Maldives
A chain of islands off the Indian sub-continent, the Maldives are a sought-after destination for scuba divers. But the coral reefs are being damaged by effluent by the tourist cabins. Global warming makes their disappearance a real possibility.
Antartica
Mining and mineral exploitation has been banned from the last great wilderness, which occupies a 10th of the plane. It is home to penguins, albatrosses, elephant seals and whales. But there is a also a burgeoning cruise industry. Environmentalists point out that if you leave a footprint in moss on Antartica it will take at least 10 years to recover.
Luc Torres