We visited Aldabra for two days at the end of February with a ship going from Tanzania (Zanzibar) to the Seychelles, making several stops along the way (the other way around is also possible, we crossed our ship’s sister ship near Assumption island). Aldabra is the world's second largest coral atoll (after Kwajalein, part of the Marshall Islands we were told) and the largest raised atoll.

There doesn’t seem to be a standard plan or schedule to land on Aldabra since the expedition team had to negotiate with the Seychelles Islands Foundation (or SIF, which manages a.o. Aldabra) before we could set foot on the atoll. The SIF also visited our ship first and did a ‘bio security check’ whereby all items which would be brought on land (shoes, backpacks, …) were checked for e.g. seeds. In addition, also the weather should be ok to be able to make a visit (calm sea, …). But we were lucky and all worked out well.

The actual visit consisted of two parts: on day one our ship anchored before Picard island (one of the four main islands which form the atoll) and from here we could make a 1.5 hour zodiac tour in the lagoon by entering through the west channels. The timing depends on the tide since the lagoon is emptied in six hours turning most of the lagoon into dry land and consequently not suitable for a zodiac. During this tour, we mainly spotted birds and fish, but unfortunately no water tortoises. 

In the afternoon, we were able to go on land on Picard island where also the ranger station is located. Since there is no pier, again zodiacs has to be used. Starting from the ranger station we did a 1 hour walk with a ranger where we encountered numerous giant tortoises, coconut crabs, bats (flying foxes), birds and some reef sharks which were visible from the beach. We followed the ‘backpath trail’, but also two slightly shorter trails were available (history trail and la gigi trail). Especially the giant tortoises are everywhere since more than 100,000 of them live on the atoll (more than people living in the Seychelles).

On day two there was a second visit for a couple of hours for snorkeling or diving, or some beach time.

The cost of visiting Aldabra is quite high and more than our usual travel budget, but the total trip of approx. 2 weeks also includes two other WHS (Zanzibar Stonetown and Kilwa Kisiwani) plus one additional easy to reach WHS (Vallée de Mai) at the end of the route.

Ps: for those wanting to visit Aldabra in the future, there is also good news (although the SIF rangers were not happy with this news): on nearby Assumption island, which we also visited, a hotel and new runway is being constructed with the aim of flying in tourists who can then visit Aldabra from Assumpion island.