The world's largest raised coral atoll — 150,000 giant tortoises on a UNESCO reef that admits no tourists
Aldabra Atoll is one of the most extraordinary natural places on Earth and one of the least accessible. The world's largest raised coral atoll (550km²), it sits 1,150km southwest of Mahé in the Seychelles outer islands and is among the last places on Earth where a major ecosystem exists in a state close to pre-human contact. The atoll supports the world's largest population of Aldabra giant tortoises — estimated at 150,000 individuals, one of only two surviving giant tortoise populations anywhere (the other is in the Galápagos). No hotel, resort, or regular tourism operation exists on Aldabra…
Aldabra narrowly avoided permanent development twice. In the 1960s the UK and US governments proposed building a joint military base on the atoll, which would have required extensive construction and permanent human habitation. The plan triggered one of the earliest successful campaigns of international scientific advocacy for an uninhabited natural site — led by the Royal Society and Smithsonian Institution — resulting in it being dropped in 1967 after scientists demonstrated the site's unique ecological value. UNESCO World Heritage status followed in 1982. Earlier, the atoll was intermitten…