EXPLORE | THROUGH THE LENS

THE FIRST TIME A TORTOISE walked through my hut

at Middle Camp on Aldabra Atoll, I was amazed. I

grabbed my camera and carefully positioned myself

to capture this wildlife encounter. The second time:

same thing. The third time: I picked up my phone

and took a snapshot. By the fourth or fifth time, I

didn’t even look when I felt something bump into

me. I knew what it was.

I was there to shoot a story about island resto-

ration in the Seychelles, far off the east coast of

Africa in the Indian Ocean. Until roughly the middle

of the past century, the small island nation showed

signs of real environmental carnage—indigenous

vegetation cleared to make way for coconut and cin-

namon plantations, invasive rats and mice running

rampant, native sea turtles and giant tortoises being

exploited. Biodiversity seemed doomed.

But then the country experienced a shift in conser-

vation consciousness—and the giant Aldabra tortoises

are among its most visible signs. These massive rep-

tiles lived on most islands in the Indian Ocean until

17th-century sailors discovered that they were the

perfect source of fresh provisions on long voyages

because they can survive for months without water

or food. The mariners filled their holds with hundreds

of tortoises at a time, flipping them on their backs to

prevent them from wandering on deck. Little by little

the tortoises on islands throughout the Indian Ocean

were eaten to extinction—except on Aldabra, which

was the only island in the entire ocean basin where

a few thousand of these tortoises survived.

Aldabra’s isolation and hostile environment pro-

tected the tortoises and does so still. Sitting more

than 700 miles west of Mahé, the main island of the

Seychelles, the island isn’t on anyone’s direct path.

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK

Where

Reptiles Rule

ON AN ISOLATED CORAL ATOLL,

A PHOTOGRAPHER DISCOVERS

A PRIMORDIAL PARADISE

WHERE HE’S JUST PART OF

THE ECOSYSTEM.

T

38 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC