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The
deserted island of Astove is one of the most southerly islands
of the Seychelles. Astove is part of the Aldabra Group and
formerly inhabited by African slaves who escaped a Portuguese
ship in 1760. A former copra plantation, the island’s houses,
drying sheds, and other buildings are in various states of
disrepair since being abandoned in the 1980s. Astove lies 1056km
from Mahé and approximately 185km ESE of Aldabra (10 04' S, 47
44' E). It is a raised coral island with a substantial shallow
lagoon (approximately 4.5 x 2 kilometres) opening to the sea
through a single narrow channel on the south coast. The exposed
eastern side of the island is dominated by low scrub and
mangroves on the lagoon side, while the western side is quite
highly vegetated. On the western side there is an abandoned
copra plantation and an apparently healthy population of giant
tortoises. Astove is no longer inhabited but it was once
exploited for guano mining, and more recently for the production
of cotton, sisal, maize and copra. There is an abandoned
settlement on the western coast and a grass airstrip on the
north east point of the island. Astove has a gently shelving
rocky coastline to the east, an undercut coastline on the
south-western coast and a 3km long sand beach on the north west
coast.