African Banks

The African Banks are the uninhabited northernmost islands of the Amirantes group, of the Outer Islands of the Republic of Seychelles, in the western Indian Ocean.

Description

The African Banks lie about 220 km west of the main Seychelles island of Mahé. Formerly small two islands, by 1976 South Island had eroded to a small sandstone ridge exposed only at low tide. North Island is small and flat with an area of 30 ha. It has a derelict automatic lighthouse and is occasionally visited by tourists in charter yachts. It is almost treeless, being vegetated by grasses and low shrubland. It is significant as a nesting site for terns, the colonies of which are subject to frequent exploitation and disturbance by poachers.^[1]

The islands, with an associated tract of coastal marine habitat, form a 750 ha Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports populations of black-naped (10 breeding pairs) and sooty terns (5000–10,000 pairs), and brown noddies (2000–5900 pairs). green and hawksbill sea turtles nest there.^[1]

References

Coordinates: 04°54′S 53°20′E / 4.900°S 53.333°E / -4.900; 53.333