Reserves & parks
Grande Montagne Nature Reserve
A guided visit at the heart of a restored endemic forest, where tortoises play a key role in safeguarding the last rare plants of Rodrigues.
The Grande Montagne Nature Reserve is one of the finest ecological success stories of Rodrigues. Across 20 hectares perched in the centre-east of the island, it recreates the primary endemic forest — the one that covered Rodrigues before the arrival of the first settlers and the deforestation that followed. The reserve is managed by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF), alongside the Rodrigues forestry service, which have carried out restoration work there since the 1980s.
A forest reborn
The guided tour, lasting 1h to 1h30, leads you through plots planted with species endemic to Rodrigues. Several of these species had only a single individual still alive in the wild — the reserve’s teams replant them one by one to bring this ecosystem, unique in the world, back to life. More than 156,516 plants have already been put back in the ground, and 40 rare plant species of the island are safeguarded there today: the Rodrigues aloe — whose last habitat this is —, the café marron, the mandrinette, the bois de fer (ironwood) and the bois puant.
A refuge for endemic species
Grande Montagne is home to the only three endemic vertebrate species still alive on Rodrigues, all listed on the IUCN red list: the Rodrigues fruit bat (one of the rarest bats in the world), the Rodrigues fody and the Rodrigues warbler. Restoring their habitat has enabled spectacular recoveries: the fody went from around thirty birds in the 1980s to roughly 8,000 individuals in 2010, while the warbler passed 4,000 individuals over the same period.
The role of tortoises
A fascinating feature of the reserve: giant tortoises are used as ecological tools. By grazing on invasive vegetation and dispersing the seeds of endemic plants, they allow certain plant species — of which sometimes only a single plant remained — to reproduce once again. Without tortoises, no new growth: the coevolution between the flora and fauna of Rodrigues stretches back thousands of years.
Practical info
- Duration: 1h to 1h30
- Guided visit mandatory
- Bring along: walking shoes, water, a hat