Named for a pilot on the India run
Cosmoledo
Island · Outer atoll
Cosmoledo in short.
Cosmoledo is a remote atoll in the south west of Seychelles, a thousand and twenty-nine kilometres from Victoria: several islets around one large lagoon, a seabird sanctuary, and one of the best giant trevally fisheries on the planet.
Can you go?
Expedition only, from a mothership or a seasonal camp, with very few rods.
Photographs, under Creative Commons: NASA, Public domain
A Portuguese pilot with an Indian voyage behind him
The atoll is named after António Gonçalves Cosme Ledo, who sailed to India in 1537 as pilot of the Flor de la Mar and came home to Portugal in 1545. The names on these charts are the names of men who were running the India route, which is not a coincidence: the Seychelles bank sat directly across it.
Two of the atoll's islets, Menai and Wizard, are named after the ships of the Moresby survey that charted it in 1822.
Fishing, and what protects it
Fishing here is done as an expedition, from a mothership or a seasonal camp, with a very small number of rods and a short season. That is not exclusivity for its own sake. It is the arrangement that keeps the fishery and the seabird colonies intact, and it is getting stricter rather than looser.
How you arrive
By air and boat on organised expeditions, booked far in advance. There is no regular tourism.
The sheet.
Checked 2 September 2026 against the sources named in our island file.
- Group
- the Aldabra group
- South west of Victoria
- 1,029 km
- Named after
- Cosme Ledo, a pilot on the India run in 1537
- Islands
- several, around one large lagoon
What people ask.
Can we visit Cosmoledo?
Expedition only, from a mothership or a seasonal camp, with very few rods.
How do you get to Cosmoledo?
By air and boat on organised expeditions, booked far in advance. There is no regular tourism.
What we do arrange.
We do not sell islands, and most of these could not be sold to anybody. What we do arrange is everything that gets you to them and around them once you land.
Car hire, from €45 a day
Ten cars, no deposit, handed over at the airport, the jetty or your hotel.
Days out and excursions
Island tours, boat days, snorkelling and walks, with real ratings and free cancellation to twenty-four hours.
Airport transfers
A driver who watches your flight number and waits with your name on a board.
The terminal photograph above: Remi Jouan, CC BY-SA 3.0
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