Seychelles and East Africa Private Islands
The Seychelles built a string of conservation-driven private islands, and Tanzania, Mozambique and Zanzibar have quietly added some of the most remote ones on earth. This category covers those true single-resort islands: how many villas, what conservation work the resort actually funds, how far the transfer runs from Mahe or the mainland and by what kind of plane or boat, and how isolated the island really feels once you arrive. Several of these run on solar power and their own water systems out of necessity, not marketing, and we call that out plainly instead of dressing it up as an amenity.
- 1
A restored five-villa private island in the Seychelles hosting a maximum of 12 guests, built on three decades of habitat restoration from former plantation. Cousine Island combines luxury accommodations with active conservation, including turtle hatchery work that's assisted over 200,000 hawksbill hatchlings to sea.
- 2
A 2,500-acre private island resort off Madagascar with 14 villas and a maximum 42 guests, accessible only by helicopter. The sole luxury property on Nosy Ankao, with strong conservation focus and immersive island experiences.
- 3
A 7-kilometer coral island off northern Mozambique with 13 villas, the island's only resort, where a fishing village and marine reserve form the larger ecosystem.
- 4
A 375-acre private island in the Seychelles with a single eco-resort, functioning as a wildlife sanctuary with rare endemic birds, giant tortoises, and protected sea turtle nesting. Denis Island has no mobile signal or internet and offers complete digital isolation alongside significant conservation programming.
- 5
A 201-hectare private island in the inner Seychelles with just 11 villas for a maximum of 22 guests, offering isolation deep in the granitic archipelago and barefoot luxury grounded in ecological restoration.
- 6
The sole resort on Félicité Island in the Seychelles, a 652-acre granitic island reached by helicopter from Mahé or speedboat from La Digue, with 30 villas accommodating a maximum of 60 guests at any time.
- 7
A remote private island lodge 400 km southwest of Mahé, surrounded by pristine marine habitat and accessible only by seaplane. Alphonse is a single resort island with just 29 rooms and bungalows spread across wild ocean territory, best for guests seeking total isolation and world-class fishing.
- 8
A small coral island 4.5 kilometers off Zanzibar's northeast coast, with 12 palm-frond bandas and a quieter alternative to the crowded Zanzibar mainland.
- 9
The only resort on Desroches Island, a flat coral atoll 230 kilometers southwest of Mahé, with 71 villas and suites spread across 14 kilometers of white sand beaches and reachable only by private charter flight through an outer-island isolation that distinguishes it fundamentally from inner-island resorts.
- 10
A conservation-focused private island and marine reserve 8 kilometers west of Zanzibar, with seven eco-bungalows and a working environmental education mission.