Denis Island through time…

Denis Island was discovered on the 11th of August 1773 by Denis De Trobriand. Noting that the island did not appear on any of his charts, old or new, and finding no evidence of prior human activity he claimed the island for the King of France and named it after himself!

De Trobriand recorded a detailed account of the island which is of great use today in GIF’s work to restore the island. In particular he recorded that the island was an approximate 50/50 mix of forest and grassland, there were huge colonies of seabird, turtle and fish abounded in the surrounding waters; there was a species of seal on the beach and giant tortoises grazed in the clearings.

The island was first leased in 1815 to a Capt Lesage who was Civil Commissioner of the colony of Seychelles at that time. It is likely the initial lease was for the purpose of salting fish, seabirds and turtle meat for export to Mahe and as such this will have entailed only a very limited and likely seasonal human presence on the island.

By 1845 however the island was cited as being agricultural land and although we do not have specific records of the activities on the island the dominant crops in Seychelles at that time were cotton and maize and it is likely that Denis reflected this. Indeed cotton can still be found growing wild on the island today. Such activity however will have resulted in major changes to the island environment most notably the extensive clearing of woodland. Cotton is also a highly labour intensive crop and would have required a relatively large labour force. These people will have lived primarily off the natural resources of the island and this would doubtless have resulted in a heavy exploitation of the turtle populations and the likely extirpation of the booby and sooty tern colonies. It is also likely that, if they had not already been introduced, this period will have seen the introduction of mammalian predators such as rats and cats to the island with the related impact on the native flora and fauna.

Transition to coconuts

By the late 1850s it is believed that the island was undergoing conversion to coconut plantation as by 1882 it was described as follows by a visitor:

“…coconut trees abound, maize is also grown. It is belted all round with shrubs and trees to a depth of about 20 to 30 feet.”

This describes an island completely altered from that discovered by De Trobriand only a little over a 100 years before.

Coconut production expanded such that by 1905, 60,000 nuts a month being produced. The copra was milled on the island and the oil exported the base of the original mill can still be seen in the old settlement. The island’s population at this time was up to as high as 44 with 38 employed in the plantation. Coconut production continued on the island until 1982 until competition from continental producers made the island’s operation no longer cost effective.

Guano mining

Aside from agriculture Denis Island was also subject to the mining of guano in the early to mid-20th century. Records show more than 16,000 tonnes of guano as being exported from the island between 1929 and 1941. This is in fact very likely a significant under declaration as guano exports at that time were subject to tax. The idea that large quantities of guano were extracted is supported by the infrastructure investment that was made during this period with railway tracks being laid across the island to facilitate the delivery of guano to the shore and two jetties being constructed on the west coast of the island to enable efficent loading of visiting vessels.

Tourism

In 1975 Denis Island was bought by Pierre Burkhardt, a Belgian industrialist, who had a runway cut on the island the following year and a small hotel constructed that opened for business in 1978. The Mason Family purchased Denis in 1997 and the hotel was upgraded in 1998 and the main complex rebuilt in 2006.
Today the hotel has 25 villas and employs more than 80 staff.

Production landscapes

Denis Island is however much more than just a hotel resort. It is a living working island with various ongoing production activities including a poultry farm, pig farm, as mall herd of cattle and varied vegetable and fruit production activities.

The island’s environmental management and restoration began with preliminary surveys in 1998.