Moyenne Island

Moyenne Island is a small 24 acre island in the Ste Anne Marine National Park off the north coast of Mahé, Seychelles. Since the 1970s it has been a flora and fauna reserve. In the 1960s, a former newspaper editor, Brendon Grimshaw purchased it for about 10,000 dollars. Until his death in July 2012. He was the only inhabitant of the island.

He along with his friend, Rene Antoine Lafortune, a Seychellois, operated the island as a nature reserve, charging visitors €12 to come ashore, roam the island, dine at the “Jolly Roger” restaurant and relax on the beach.

Grimshaw and his friend did an enormous amount of work to develop the island to be incredibly beautiful. They planted sixteen thousand trees, built 4.8 kilometres of nature paths, and brought and bred Aldabra giant tortoises. They also brought in 2000 birds.

Grimshaw was the quintessential islander and a devoted lover of nature who poured his love for Moyenne into the island for nearly half a century. He even refused an offer of $50 million for the island, saying that he did not want the island to become a holiday destination for millionaires, but rather a national park for everyone to enjoy.

His friend Lafortune passed away in 2007.

Finally, in June 2008, after years of struggle to protect his island from privatization, Grimshaw’s Moyenne Island was declared a National Park in Seychelles.

In 1996, Grimshaw wrote a book about himself and the island, entitled A Grain of Sand.In 2009, a documentary film was produced about Grimshaw and the island, called A Grain of Sand.It is now known as the Moyenne Island National Park and forms part of the Ste. Anne Marine National Park just north of the capital Victoria. It has more species per square foot than any other part of the world.

There is a restaurant on the beach which is a haven for tourists.