British Journalist Transforms Deserted Moyenne Island into the World's Smallest National Park

In 1962, a British journalist named Brendon Grimshaw made a life-altering decision that would eventually redefine the concept of ecological conservation. A native of Yorkshire, England, who had previously built a successful career as a prominent editor in the East African press, Grimshaw purchased the then-abandoned Moyenne Island within the Seychelles archipelago. For a sum of just £8,000, he acquired this 9.9-hectare plot of land, effectively sacrificing his professional trajectory in the media industry to dedicate his life to a singular ecological mission: the creation of a sanctuary for local flora and fauna.

The island, which had become a dense and nearly impenetrable thicket of overgrown vegetation, required immense physical labor to restore its natural equilibrium. Alongside his close friend and local resident Rene Antoine Lafortune, Grimshaw spent several decades meticulously rehabilitating the landscape. Their monumental efforts included the manual planting of approximately 16,000 trees, including valuable mahogany, and the painstaking construction of roughly 4.8 kilometers of nature trails. This restoration project, which spanned more than twenty years of continuous labor, successfully encouraged the return of endangered giant tortoises and led to a dramatic surge in the local bird population.

As a direct result of these restoration efforts, Moyenne Island today serves as a thriving habitat for over 100 giant tortoises—a species that had faced near-extinction in the early 1900s—and attracts a diverse population of roughly 2,000 birds. Now integrated into the Ste Anne Marine National Park, the island has earned official recognition as the world's smallest national park. This prestigious status was the hard-won culmination of two decades of persistent lobbying by Grimshaw, who sought to ensure that the island's unique ecosystem would receive the highest level of legal protection possible.

Grimshaw resided on the island from 1973 until his passing in July 2012 at the age of 86. Throughout his long tenure as the island's guardian, he famously rejected lucrative buyout offers from developers that reached as high as $50 million, steadfastly refusing to allow his life's work to be sacrificed for commercial resort development. Following his death, the stewardship of the island was transferred to the Moyenne Island Foundation, an entity established specifically to ensure its long-term preservation. This foundation, currently headed by Grimshaw’s longtime friend Suketu Patel, maintains strict regulations on visitor access to preserve the delicate balance of the restored environment.

Moyenne Island is now celebrated for having one of the highest densities of species per unit of area among all national parks globally, a testament to the extraordinary success of its ecological restoration. In his final will and testament, Grimshaw dictated that the island should remain a sanctuary dedicated to prayer, peace, and tranquility. He envisioned it as a place of rest and education, open to the people of the Seychelles and international visitors of all nationalities and faiths alike. This enduring legacy ensures that his vision of a pristine natural haven remains protected against the pressures of the modern world.