CONCEPTION

Before the other side of MahéThere is another island off the west coast, Conception. It lies to the south of the Port Launay Marine National Park. Conception is only one kilometre long and about 600 metres wide, but is dominated by a rocky massif up to 130 metres high that runs almost the entire length of the island, which was a coconut palm plantation until the mid-1970s. A few years ago, it was declared a nature reserve and is now the most important home of the Mahé spectacled bird, which was only rediscovered here in 1997 after it had previously been thought to be extinct.