The bow touches sand gently, a wave pushes the hull, and there you are landed in naturalist fashion: feet in warm water, facing a beach where no jetty disturbs the shoreline's line. Cousin, a tiny granitic island set 2 kilometres offshore from Praslin, allows itself to be approached only thus. For more than half a century, it has belonged to the birds, the turtles and those who protect them.

An Island Returned to Nature

In 1968, the International Council for Bird Preservation, now BirdLife International, purchases the entire island to save one of the last refuges of the Seychelles warbler, then on the brink of extinction. The refuge becomes thus the world's first island reserve acquired by an international organization. The former coconut plantation has since recovered its original forest, and the little warbler, it does well: you will hear it sing in the branches throughout the visit.

Three Hundred Thousand Wing Beats

The reserve welcomes approximately 300,000 seabirds. White-tailed tropicbirds nest on bare ground, among the roots, steps from the trail. Noddies and terns occupy the trees, petrels dig their burrows, and the magpie-robin of the Seychelles, reintroduced here, hops without fear before visitors. The reserve's guides, who accompany each group for about 90 minutes, know the current nests and tell the conservation story with infectious passion. Giant tortoises from Aldabra sometimes cross the trail, imperturbable.

The Shore of Hawksbills

Cousin is also the most important nesting site for the hawksbill turtle across the entire western Indian Ocean. Depending on season, the broad tracks left in the sand testify to nocturnal ascents, and it happens that egg-laying occurs in full daylight, under visitors' eyes held at respectful distance. The beach, for its part, remains exactly as it was before humanity's arrival in the archipelago: clear sand, weathered granite rocks, and the sea.

A Short and Supervised Visit

The island is discovered only by guided visit, weekday mornings, between 9:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The circuit forms an easy loop through the forest and along the shore; good sandals suffice. Budget for water, a hat and camera within reach: opportunities present themselves without warning. Expedition ships organize the transhipment, with that landing on the beach that is part of the pleasure. There is no shop or café: you come here to observe, photograph and understand.

Why Are the Visits So Short?

Everything here is designed to limit disturbance. Groups remain restricted, schedules concentrate on mornings, and visit receipts directly fund the reserve's surveillance and scientific programmes. Visitors become thus, without particular effort, conservation contributors: a formula of which Cousin was pioneer and which today inspires reserves around the world.

The Essentials at a Glance

Leaving the Island

As you climb back into the boat, you cast a last look toward the forest from which rises the cry of the terns. Cousin proves that an entire island can be returned to its first inhabitants, and that half a century suffices to repair much. You leave with your photographs, of course, but above all with a new idea of what "protecting" means.