Fregate Island Private Seychelles

Disappear from the world in our conservation sanctuary surrounded by sapphire seas. Fregate Island is a mini Galapagos in the Seychelles for the few to discover, with just 16 secluded Villas amidst three square kilometres of pristine nature.

All is designed for carefree luxury in harmony with our precious environment, where villas merge with the spectacular scenery secluded in lush foliage, and infinity pools spill into the blue horizon. Our island paradise, bursting with wildlife, invites guests to immerse body and mind in nature’s beauty.

We welcome travellers in search of new inspiration to this most beautiful of Seychelles sanctuaries. With a light touch and respect for our precious island we present our guests with all the luxuries of a first class hideaway.

PRIVATE POOL VILLA
Sleep at ease with sustainability, water is replenished from our own source, lotions are made with garden botanicals. Nature and luxury are comfortable bedfellows, and your Private Butler is at your service to arrange anything from watersports to night safaris. The large living room transforms into a second bedroom for two children in this spacious family residence.

• 400-450 m² for up to two adults and three children
• One large and one small bathroom, each with its own outdoor shower
• Spacious sundeck with large private infinity pool, jacuzzi, day bed and outdoor dining pavilion
• Telephone, wireless internet access, TV, DVD/CD player, iPod station, air-conditioning and a ceiling fan, safe and mini bar and tea and coffee-making facilities, exotic fruit

PRIVATE POOL TWIN VILLA
Your Private Butler can arrange breakfast in the branches of a Banyan Tree, lunch on your beach with white linen, and a barbecue on your terrace. Dip in the pool before cocktails, as the tropical sky envelops the scene. These villas make a special experience for close friends and family, choose your location by the beach or perched on the rocks above.

• 600-750 m² of finely crafted indoor and outdoor space
• Room for four adults and up to three children
• Two separate bedrooms, living room and dining room
• Two spacious bathrooms and one small bathroom; each with its own private outdoor shower
• Spacious terrace with large private infinity pool, jacuzzi, day bed and outdoor dining pavilion
• Telephone, wireless internet access, TV, DVD/CD player, iPod station, air-conditioning and a ceiling fan, safe and mini bar and tea and coffee-making facilities and exotic fruit

BANYAN HILL ESTATE
A haven in our natural paradise on your own private peninsula, commanding views over pristine beaches fringed with tropical forests. Your Private Butler will make every feasible wish come true; beach parties, night safaris, round the island boat races, every day will become a lifetime memory.

Your three villas are designed for relaxed luxury at one with the natural surroundings. Secluded together, in touch with nature, promises a very special time for all your family and friends.

• 1100 m² on a private peninsula
• Vast open living area, approximately 150 sqm
• Additional TV lounge and library with office
• Large terrace with private infinity pool, seating and a fully equipped kitchen
• Three separate sleeping villas each for two persons and up to one additional child on a separate bed
• Each villa has its own veranda, bathroom, telephone, wireless internet access, TV with a wide selection of channels, DVD/CD player, iPod station, air-conditioning and ceiling fan, safe and mini bar, tea and coffee-making facilities

EXCLUSIVE ISLAND RENTAL
For a truly magical stay, Fregate Island can offer you the unforgettable opportunity to have the entire island to yourself. Put together your very own exclusive guest list and share the island’s beauty and delights with those closest to you. Our team of live-in staff is here to ensure that every conceivable desire is fulfilled to the utmost perfection.

TRANSFERS
The closest international airport to Fregate Isand Private is Seychelles International Airport on the island Mahé. Our very own airport representative will greet you after immigration and accompany you with your baggage to your private transfer shuttle.

Whether you choose a 15-minute flight by helicopter to Fregate Island or enjoy the 1.5-hour boat trip from Mahé Island – subject to weather conditions – either route is ideal for a first taste of the true magnificence of our unique paradise island.

SEVEN BEACHES
With seven entirely private beaches around the island and just 16 Villas, yours can often be the sole footprints in the sand, flip the ‘Beach Occupied’ sign to ensure absolute privacy. Whenever you arrive there is always a cooler box with iced drinks, towels spread on loungers, a fresh water shower and you can call your PA for anything more you wish. This is genuinely wild beauty with delicious light luxury.

Each beach has its own special character, from Victorin there is excellent snorkelling just 15 metres off shore, Marina Beach is protected by a coral reef and always calm. To reach Anse Park you walk through a jungle trail past giant tortoises heading to their mud bath.

Bamboo is just below Fregate House and has boogie boards and a beach bar for light lunch and crushed iced drinks. Grand Anse is our wildest and loveliest, you can hear the roar of the waves before you emerge from the jungle trail, order a cocktail and watch the magnificent sunsets. Anse Victorin has been voted the most beautiful beach in the world, but is impossible to capture in words.

FREGATE HOUSE
The sapphire seaview through our open Reception is framed to dramatic effect, people always pause to catch their breath and take in the beauty of the vista. From here you can reach two resort pools, a beach bar, boutique and our library.

Fregate House is also home to our restaurant which is characterised by a plantation style casual elegance. At breakfast you are joined by scarlet red fodies dancing on the white linen, at night moon streaks silver light over the ocean below.

YACHT CLUB & SHELTERED HARBOR
We have a picturesque private harbour, four sports boats, a dive club and a flotilla of hobie cats. Snorkelling at nearby Little Fregate is like being dropped into an aquarium, there is excellent deep sea fishing,

Fregate Island is the nearest to the Drop Off, you might sight marlin and easily catch something large. Anything you catch our chef will be delighted to transform into sashimi if you wish. The Yacht Club is quiet and relaxed with views over one of the calmest bays, it is one more location to choose for private dining.

SPA & WELLNESS
The Rock Spa is a shaded sanctuary, a peaceful teak house on a granite hilltop, with views across the rain forest canopy to the Indian Ocean. Every guest receives a complimentary Yoga session and Welcome Ritual, helping all attune to the island’s rhythm.

Treatments are created bespoke for The Rock Spa and use many of the botanicals and fruits on the island, our Garden of Eden healing book found in every villa, details many of the recipes. Guests can collect their own fruit and ingredients in the gardens, to create a delicious treatment for natural beauty.

An infinity pool hangs over lush greenery; float and look up at birds soaring through the trees, all is a soothing precursor to one of the natural treatments delivered with gentle professionalism. There is an air-conditioned gym by the Rock Spa and a personal trainer if required.

PLANTATION HOUSE & MUSEUM
As you enter the veranda of the former plantation owner’s residence, the charm of the colonial architecture transports you back in time. It is a venue full of character for special events.

A museum has interesting displays of marine flora and fauna and records the island’s history which began as a pirate’s hideaway in the 17th Century. In fact it is believed the notorious buccaneer, La Buse, hid his treasure on the island and it is yet to be found.

TROPICAL ISLAND CHAPEL
Our island chapel, decorated in a simple creole style, is a special place for guests to celebrate weddings or other services. We can fly in ministers, or any professionals you may wish for.

Our Villas are beautifully romantic for couples, our Banyan Hill Estate can host you and your close family, or the entire island can be made available to host up to 44 adults and 15 children.

CASTAWAY CLUB
Kids love hanging out with the ecology team at their Castaway Club for 3 to 12 year olds. As legend has it, the notorious La Buse hid his pirate treasure on Fregate Island, inspiring many piratical hunts and games. A young guest may become very rich one day!

Our Castaway Trail leads them through parts of the jungle that are out of bounds for adults where the giant tortoises and many other wonderful animals and plants thrive. Together with our conservation manager, the young ones also get a tour of the island’s wildlife that is as educational as it is entertaining.

A sheltered shore makes for easy swimming and there are seven beaches for body boarding, hobie cats and excellent snorkeling. Each villa has its own infinity pool, they all have large sitting rooms, comfortably hosting a family of four, or there are splendid two bedroom villas, while a buggy gives you complete independence.

HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY
Fregate Island is 4° south of the equator in the Seychelles and therefore enjoys a temperate climate all year. In the 300 years since its discovery, this archipelago of 115 paradise islands has seen a host of settlers.

In the 17th century, pirates were among the first inhabitants, using islands like Fregate as a base for attacks against the British East India Company. Declared a French colony in the 18th century, the Seychelles changed hands several times between the French and British before gaining independence in 1976.

Throughout its history, the Seychelles has become home to people from all continents and is today famous for their blend of cultural backgrounds and for the warm welcome extended to guests from around the world.

Fregate Island is a unique destination where one can experience the best the Seychelles has to offer. The name recalls legends of long lost treasure chests, but today we present a conservation hideaway that is unique on this planet.

EXPERIENCES & ACTIVITIES
Lie back and let nature entertain you as giant tortoises continue on their progress, scarlet fodies dance over breakfast linen and fruit bats glide through the blue skies.

Or fill every moment with island activities; round the island races on hobie cats, diving, fishing and exploring 11 km of forest trails teaming with indigenous wildlife, or fine dining anywhere on our island. Whatever you do we promise it will be designed to offer you an entirely private view of our pristine nature.

DINING
On Fregate Island, we invite you to dine wherever you want, it is part of enjoying complete freedom and immersing yourself in the natural surroundings. Imagine breakfast in the branches of a banyan tree watching snowy fairy terns feeding their young.

Catch your own bonito and have a sashimi lunch on the sea. Step onto a soft sandy beach for a torch lit barbecue staged solely for you, amused by the hermit crabs’ shell swapping party.

Take a stroll through our plantation to choose your exotic produce and dine there in the fields. Hike to the top of Glacis Cerf and your Personal Assistant will be ahead of you with high tea, or they can prepare a BBQ for you on your Pool Villa terrace.

For a sociable evening please join us at Fregate House restaurant, where scarlet Madagascan fodi dance across the white linen, the gastronomy and ocean views are spectacular.

The flavours of Fregate Island are an inspiration for our chefs. There is lemon basil and ginger to zest up cocktails, papaya and star fruit for breakfasts, pumpkin leaf and coriander salads, coffee beans, courgettes and spices; together with an abundance of local catch.

80% of our fresh ingredients are organic products from our own plantation. Our small island is fertile and bountiful, and we host the largest hydroponics system in the Seychelles, so anytime of year if the chef makes a wish for an ingredient it could be grown in six weeks. Our organic and pure food is a delicious part of a beautifully natural stay on Fregate Island.

ECO-EXPLORATION
There are 11 km of trails criss-crossing our island, which you can walk, mountain bike or explore by golf buggy. A nature walk with our resident conservationist is an inspiring and encouraging journey into the island’s ecosystem, giving you a deeper understanding of the role conservation plays in our island life.

Find the rare Tenebaum beetle, unique to Fregate Island, or our precious Wrights Gardenia, the first to flower in the Seychelles. On a nightime safari you will see the rare fluorescent scorpion and discover that our variety with small tails, big claws can only sting. Nature is gentle on our island.

Guests are more than welcome to assist our team in their field work, searching for emerging sea turtle hatchlings or checking nest boxes for eggs and chicks, or participate in our Tortoise Adoption programme.

Stargazing is truly special as there is no light pollution, from a hilltop vantage point, a boat on the sea or a sandy shore, we will guide you around the constellations of the Southern Hemisphere.

Whales and dolphins can be spotted in the Indian Ocean from your villa terrace. Our Castaway Kids’ Club will create an especially magical experience for children, showing them natural phenomenon like the smoking fungi and how to move a giant tortoise by scratching its back.

ISLAND HOPPING 
With four sports boats at our Yacht Club it is easy to set off for an excursion across the sea. La Digue offers a glimpse of a laid back life where transport is by colourful ox cart or Praslin, the second largest island in the Seychelles where you might pick up some local arts and crafts.

WATER SPORTS & ACTIVITIES
We offer our guests four sports boats, a flotilla of hobie cats and a professional dive club, and we have our own private harbour with pontoon moorings. The marine environment around Fregate Island is truly diverse and unspoiled, teeming with colour and dramatic topography.

Scuba dive by day or night, our dive masters know all the best spots and we offer PADI certified diving courses for all levels. For deep sea fishing enthusiasts we are the nearest island to the Drop Off where the sea bed falls away to a thousand meters.

Fishing along the abyss is some of the best in the world with frequent catches. This is the feeding grounds for Amberjacks, Yellow fin Tuna and Striped Marlin. If you wish to sample an authentic taste of Seychellois lifestyle, local fishermen will be pleased to take you out.

There is sailing, surfing and kayaking equipment, with optimists for children, windsurfing boards, water skis or banana towing. For a brisk way to see Fregate and the surrounding islands, our powerboats can take you out on a day trip of your choice.

Whenever you return from your sea adventures your Personal Assistant will be there to greet you with refreshing cooled towels and crushed iced drinks.

WEDDINGS 
White fairy terns flit through the forest with their partners for life, this is assuredly an island paradise for romantic couples. Fregate Weddings Private can mean an elopement to rare seclusion, or a tropical venue to celebrate with family and friends, surrounded by the beautiful blue Seychelles sea.

Our Banyan Hill Estate is a private enclave on a hidden hilltop, with three villas, while all our 16 Pool Villas are secluded by lush greenery. The whole island could host up to 44 adults and 15 children for an exclusive event.

We have a private Creole style chapel, or ceremonies can be on a hilltop beneath a rose arch, in a rain forest canopy, or on the shores of the most beautiful beach in the world.

Fregate House Restaurant is a two tiered setting for a beautiful wedding breakfast with the hush of the Indian Ocean below. We can arrange all formalities and entertainment, flying in every special request, technology and musicians. Your wedding will be distinguished by seamless service amidst the island’s naturally romantic setting.

CONSERVATION
A splinter of the former supercontinent Gondwana, Fregate Island is home to many rare and exotic species from the critically endangered Wrights Gardenia to the indigenous giant tenebrionid beetle.

We are dedicated to restoring the natural habitat, and literally saved the Seychelles Magpie Robin from extinction, one of our outstanding successes. We pay assiduous attention to sustainability, around 80% of our food comes from our bountiful island.

Guests are always invited to participate in the conservation projects; observing free roaming giant tortoises and exotic birds, assisting turtle hatchlings and cultivating sea coral. At Fregate Island we take beautiful care of our guests and our environment.

GIANT ALDABRA TORTOISES
Young and old are delighted as they are welcomed by our charismatic Giant Aldabra Tortoises which roam freely across the wilds of the island. Bred from a population of 150 tortoises some 25 years ago to their current number of over 3,000, these ancient creatures are both symbols and witnesses of our unparalleled conservation effort.

They have watched as their island home has been progressively restored to its natural state, allowing them to flourish and grow to their present numbers. By setting up a nursery for the young ones, we can continue to monitor their development and do everything necessary to ensure they are well protected.

SEA TURTLES
The sandy beaches of Fregate Island provide a vital nesting habitat for two species of sea turtles: the critically endangered Hawksbill Turtle and the endangered Green Turtle. The Seychelles remain one of the few places on Earth where sea turtles come ashore to nest during the daytime.

Every nesting season from October to January, our conservation staff’s job is to safeguard and monitor the several hundred nests. They see to it that the young turtles hatch successfully and safely. You also have the chance to witness first-hand one of nature’s true miracles, the sight of a female turtle laying her eggs on the shore. A truly magical experience.

A BIRD SANCTUARY
Hundreds of thousands of birds find sanctuary on Fregate Island, altogether over 100 species, with thirteen species taking up permanent residence here. Every day at dusk, it is a thrill to experience the sight of large flocks of beautiful Fairy Terns and Noddies gliding across the island as they return from their fishing expeditions.

Through ambitious conservation programmes, the Seychelles Magpie Robin and others, such as the endemic Seychelles White Eye and Seychelles Warbler, have been brought back from the brink of extinction.

But as resident conservationist, Dr. Janske, says “Our work will never feel completed until the fregate bird returns to Fregate Island.” In a heart-lifting moment two fregates were recently sighted near to shore, and so the conservation continues.

THE MAGPIE ROBIN 
Fregate Island was the only remaining habitat of the “Seychelles Magpie Robin”. Almost extinct with a headcount of only fourteen, it was the second-rarest bird in the world some 30 years ago.

These charming, charismatic birds have since been restored to a healthy population by our permanent on-island conservation staff. Thanks to a program started in collaboration with “Birdlife International”, they now number more than 100.

One part of this success was the huge effort we made to keep the island and plantations free of any form of pesticides, rats and rodents, ensuring that the birds can breed safely on the ground.

Further, we are continuously restoring the habitat to its former state – prior to being used as a coconut plantation for over hundreds of years – by planting countless indigenous trees and bushes.

We also helped establish healthy and stable populations on four other Seychelles islands. With all of these efforts in place, we can proudly state that we have saved this beautiful species from extinction, a true success story.

INDIGENOUS VEGETATION
After 200 years of intensive agricultural practices during the plantation era, which almost totally cleared the native woodland, a natural balance is returning to Fregate Island. Our sizable nursery started these efforts 30 years ago, by regrowing rare and almost extinct species. Our conservation efforts have slowly but surely restored the native flora of the island.

Many indigenous species have been planted across the island, including the mighty Takamaka tree – a national icon – and the rare and beautifully scented Wrights Gardenia, as well as the Indian Mulberry, which the Giant Tortoise love to feed on.

With its regained ecological foothold and splendour, we want to share the wealth of our flora with you. We offer a wide range of fact-finding activities for you to really understand the island’s natural history first-hand and see the results of our comprehensive rehabilitation and conservation project.

MARINE LIFE
There is a wealth of marine wildlife around Fregate Island. Exotic fish, coral reefs and crustaceans make any excursion into the deep a voyage of discovery. Whales, dolphins and giant mantas make occasional visits to Fregate Island’s deeper waters.

In the shallows by the beaches, large shoals of fish are easily visible, bringing colour and wonder. Our resident ecologists are always willing and available to accompany dives and snorkel trips and share their unique understanding of the marine environment.

LANDSCAPE, FLORA & FAUNA
At 125 meters above sea level, the highest point of the island is Mont Signal where you can enjoy a panoramic view of the island’s jungle, beaches, rugged granite outcrops, the ocean and the neighboring islands.

With hiking routes all over the island you can explore its incomparable scenery and beauty. A fragment of the former supercontinent Gondwanaland, Fregate is today home to a unique assortment of exotic and precious flora and fauna.

The ongoing preservation and protection of Fregate’s ecosystem is one of our proudest achievements and is the reason why the island remains home to such an amazing biodiversity. We are fully dedicated to maintaining and sustaining a balance between the needs of the island’s natural habitat and yours.

PLANTATION & HYDROPONICS
Our plantation gardens and hydroponics house offer a fantastic variety of fruits and vegetables from the tropics and other regions. We grow more than 50 different types of fruits and vegetables which we use in our cuisine. All organically grown and without the use of pesticides, they are the best in quality and taste.

The plantation gardens also provide a superb backdrop for a dining occasion where the food is brought and prepared fresh from the garden to the plate. Our hydroponics house – where we grow a variety of tomatoes and spinach – offers insights into sustainable cultivation. Our excess production is highly sought after by other hotels on the main island.

Rooms: 16

Price: from 4.080 EUR per night

Source: www.fregate.com