Fregate Island Private

Fregate Island Private occupies one of the Seychelles' easternmost granite islands, a twenty-minute flight from Mahé. Seventeen villas share the island with over three thousand five hundred free-roaming Aldabra giant tortoises, more than a hundred bird species, and a conservation team that has been restoring the island's native woodland for thirty years.

Thirteen villas are one-bedroom Private Pool Residences of three hundred to four hundred square metres, each with a private pool, Jacuzzi, and butler service. Two two-bedroom Twin Residences accommodate up to four adults, and a Spa Villa on a similar footprint adds a dedicated treatment room. The Presidential Villa, Banyan Hill, sits on the eastern plateau above the marina with views across the ocean and the island below.

Seven beaches ring the island, four of which give direct access to reef snorkelling. The marina runs three sports boats and two Hobie cats, a PADI dive centre, kayaks, SUPs, windsurfing boards, and a water-ski rig. Catch-and-release deep-sea fishing targets the drop-off, where Yellowfin Tuna and Striped Marlin feed. On land, eleven kilometres of trails cross the island through indigenous forest; electric buggies parked at each villa let you cover the ground independently.

The kitchen draws more than eighty percent of its ingredients from the island's own organic garden and one of the Seychelles' largest hydroponic systems. The Rock Spa sits on a clifftop plateau and uses products made from plants grown on the island.

A coral restoration project on the eastern reef, run in partnership with Coralive.org and Blancpain, uses mineral accretion technology at depths of five to seven metres. The Seychelles Magpie Robin, once reduced to fourteen individuals and the second-rarest bird in the world, now numbers more than two hundred, largely due to the island's permanent conservation staff.