Assomption

Assomption lies 1,140 kilometres southwest of Victoria. With an area of 1,171 hectares, it is the largest outer island of Seychelles after Aldabra (about ten percent larger than La Digue). It is situated just 30 kilometres southeast of Aldabra although the journey by sea from settlement to settlement is almost twice this distance. The limestone rock rises to a maximum of 6 metres above sea level, while dunes in the southeast are up to 18 metres high. Assomption was discovered by Nicolas Morphey on 14 August 1756 and named after the religious feast of the following day.
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History

In 1892, a species of booby new to science was collected on Assomption by Abbott. Abbott’s Booby today is one of the rarest seabirds in the world, nesting only on Christmas Island (Indian Ocean). It nested in tall trees, but these were cleared to make way for guano mining which commenced when a settlement was built on Assomption in 1908. Dupont reported that by 1909, the boobies were extinct. By 1937, the island had been largely cleared of vegetation and was covered by a thick mat of lerb payanke. Giant tortoises, endemic land birds and seabirds were all lost. Over 160,000 tons of guano was scraped off Assomption in the twenty years before 1945 and it was believed that just as much remained. Some deposits were recorded as being 50 feet thick. Guano mining was abandoned in 1984.

Conservation

Today, Assomption is one of the most devastated islands of Seychelles due to guano mining, which destroyed the natural habitat. However, coral reef life is dazzling; much of Jacques Cousteau’s film The Silent World was shot here. Apart from a race of Souimanga Sunbird, endemic birds have been exterminated, including a flightless rail. Alien birds were introduced but were eradicated by Seychelles Islands Foundation. Assomption was probably never thickly wooded; tortoise turf is dominant on cliffs and dunes. Around the settlement coconuts, casuarina and bodanmyen have been planted. There are three native species of lizard including an endemic race of Abbott’s Day Gecko. There is a small population of giant tortoises. Turtles breed in good numbers though significantly fewer in number than in the past. 

Economic Activities

​The airstrip at Assomption is maintained and operated by IDC. This is a vital link to Aldabra, which has no airstrip.