Where is Fregate Island?
Seeing as only a measly 2% of the Seychelles foreign visitors are Americans each year, we’d be willing to bet you couldn’t find the Seychelles on a map. Or you might not have even known it’s a country. And that’s okay – I’ll let you in on a secret; we probably hadn’t heard of this island nation either until we visited the Maldives back in 2012.
After all, Seychelles – as this Indian Ocean island nation is now called – is a relatively new country. It was only discovered 300 years ago. Pirates were the first inhabitants in the 17th century and then it changed hands between the French and British up until Seychelles gained its independence and officially became its own independent nation in 1976.
Seychelles sits about 1000 miles off the coast of Kenya and northeast of Madagascar, about 4° south of the Equator. It’s made up of 115 islands, one of which is Fregate Island.
Located 35 miles and just a 20-minute helicopter flight from the Seychelles’ capital, Fregate Island is the most remote of the Seychelles Granitic Inner Islands. The island was named for the abundance of frigate birds found there on an expedition by French explorer Lazare Picault in 1744.
The Resort
When French explorers landed in Seychelles in the 18th century, they found a positively primitive group of islands inhabited by prehistoric trees, exotic birds and giant tortoises that would shrink back in to their shells. If there was a true eden on Earth, Seychelles was it.
Seychelles are the only mid-ocean granitic islands on Earth. Once part of Gondwanaland, the islands are the scraps that broke off and continued to drift when India broke off the super continent. That’s basically a fancy way of saying that Seychelles are truly unique with a plethora of flora and fauna found no where else on Earth.
Up until the 1970s, the primary economy of Seychelles was plantations and more than a third of the island’s population was employed by plantations. The first colonists, the French and their slaves, grew spices like cinnamon, chili peppers and cloves. Cotton and sugarcane would follow, then eventually coconut plantations even later.
The indigenous flora were either cut down or choked out by invasive species to create the plantations. Three hundred years of human settlement has taken its course on these islands, and some species have gone extinct while others are in perilous danger of doing so.
With the opening of the international airport on Mahé in 1972, Seychelles main economy began to change from plantations to tourism. And in the case of Fregate Private Island, tourism is a very good thing.
Opened as a passion project as a way to fund the conservation and restoration of Fregate’s native habitat, Fregate Island Private is otherwise uninhabited aside from the resort with 16 luxury villas that can accommodate an exclusive 79 guests.
One experience you can have is picking your veggies and herbs with the chef, then dining in the greenhouse
The island is basically self-sustaining. The two restaurants are supplied with the fresh catch, native fruits and spices that grow on Fregate and more than 50 other types of fruits and veggies that are grown in the island’s greenhouses – the excess is even sold to other hotels on the main islands. There’s a water plant and generators for electricity. A medical clinic serves the 150 staff that call the island home, along with any guests that may need it during their stay. A helipad and a dirt runway serve the Fregate Airport, and there’s a harbor where boats are controlled to ensure Fregate remains pest free.
The Villas
As the helicopter gently sets down on the helipad, a team of staff including your personal butler is already waving and waiting with refreshing towels and cool drinks. And before you know it, you’re being whisked off in the golf cart that will be your vehicle for getting around Fregate Island to your villa.
There are 16 villas all spaced far enough apart that you feel like you’re on an island all your own. In fact, aside from when we went to the restaurant for breakfast or dinner, we actually never saw the other guests despite all the villas being full.
Once you step foot in your private pool villa, you start to understand why. It’s a place you don’t want, or even need to leave.
A central indoor dining and entry separates the two main areas of the one bedroom private pool residences, which can accommodate two adults and two children. Our villa was tucked in to the lush jungle, with views from the sliding glass walls and terrace of the azure ocean and other islands like Praslin and La Digue dotting the horizon.
On one side, the bedroom with king size bed draped in mosquito netting sits in front of a bathroom with separate toilet room, huge double sink vanity, a bath big enough for two, indoor walk-in shower and an outdoor shower that leads right in to the indoor shower. There’s a tv with 150 channels, though we never even turned a tv on while at Fregate Island Private.
The cozy living room sits on the other side of the house, with another small bathroom and outdoor shower. The mini bar is fully stocked with sodas, water, beer and rums made locally at the Takamaka Rum Distillery on Mahé. Mix up some rum cocktails, or take the bottles of white and coco rum home – they’re your gift. And for the wine lovers, there’s a dual climate controlled wine fridge stocked with wine from France, Italy, Argentina and South Africa. Snacks like cookies, brownies and wasabi nuts are restocked daily. Plus, there’s a Nespresso and tea making supplies.
The massive terrace has the largest personal infinity pool we’ve ever had, and we’ve stayed at quite a few private pool villas around the world. A separate jacuzzi, which can be enjoyed hot or pool temperature sits at the edge of the infinity pool. An outdoor daybed sits like a perch over the swaying coconut palms on one side, and an outdoor dining gazebo on the other.
