A Hundred Thousand Tortoises and a Contested Neighbour

JUL 31 2026 · 12:00

Aldabra today carries roughly 100,000 giant tortoises — about four times the entire Galápagos population — the largest frigatebird colony in the Indian Ocean, a recovering green turtle rookery and a rediscovered endemic snail, all managed by SIF under a strict permit system and a few hundred visitors a year. The unresolved question is next door: what gets built on Assomption, 27 km upwind of the most intact raised atoll on Earth.