Frégate Island Private

Giant tortoises graze the lawns and cross the paths at Frégate Island Private, on a granite island of a little over two square kilometres in the Seychelles, and they have right of way. The island stands alone in the Indian Ocean east of Mahé, and the hotel is the only settlement on it, shared between a few dozen guests at a time, the staff and a population of birds found almost nowhere else.

History

Frégate takes its name from the frigatebirds that once nested here in numbers. Like other granite islands of the Seychelles, it was worked as a plantation through much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and it has its share of stories about pirates and buried treasure. The resort was built in the 1990s by a private owner with the aim of restoring the native forest and wildlife alongside the hotel, and conservation work has run with it ever since.

The best-known result is the Seychelles magpie robin. When the programme began, the species survived on Frégate alone, reduced to a few dozen birds. Habitat restoration and predator control let the population recover, and birds from Frégate have since been moved to other islands to found new populations. Frégate is also the only home of a large flightless beetle, the Frégate Island giant tenebrionid, found on no other island in the world.

Architecture and design

The villas are spread along the hillsides and above the beaches, each a group of pavilions in timber and stone with a private pool, terraces and an outdoor bathing area. They are reached by separate paths, and guests drive themselves around the island in electric buggies. Native trees have been replanted around them, so that the buildings sit inside the forest rather than on cleared ground.

Rooms and suites

There are sixteen villas, most with views of the sea. Banyan Hill Estate, a larger residence with several bedrooms, takes families or groups who want a house of their own.

Dining

There is no fixed menu and no set time. The kitchen works with fish caught around the island and with fruit, vegetables and herbs from the island's own farm, and meals can be served in the restaurants, in a villa or on any of the beaches.

Wellness

The Rock Spa sits among granite boulders and trees on the hill, with treatment rooms open to the forest, and yoga is offered.

Weddings and events

Weddings and vow renewals are held on the beaches and in the gardens, and a single party can take the whole island for a private celebration.

Location

Frégate lies about 55 kilometres east of Mahé. Guests fly from Seychelles International Airport to the island's own airstrip in a short hop by light aircraft, or come by helicopter. The island has seven beaches, among them Anse Victorin, often listed among the best in the Seychelles, and divers, snorkellers and anglers have the surrounding reefs largely to themselves. Hawksbill and green turtles nest on the beaches, and the island's nature team takes guests on walks to see the tortoises, the robins and the forest restoration.

The Seychelles sit just south of the equator, so the air stays warm all year. The calmest seas usually come in the months between the two monsoons, in April and May and again in October and November. For a luxury resort on a private island in the Seychelles, Frégate gives unusual weight to what lives there besides its guests.