The story of two men, a bunch of dogs, and the worlds smallest National Park
This is the story of two men, two dogs and an island in the Indian Ocean.
It's 1962, Brendon Grimshaw, a Yorkshire man born and bred, buys an island in the Seychelles for just £8000. The island, now infamously known as Moyenne Island, is situated just 4.5km off the north coast of Mahé, the largest of the 115-island Seychelle archipelago. At the time of its purchase, the island had been uninhabited for nearly 50 years, since 1915, and was devoid of life, bar a small but extremely dense rainforest. So dense was the rainforest, that the coconuts falling off the trees purportedly never made it to the forest floor. The island was devoid of any animal fauna, except the rats which scurried across the floor of the forest.
At age 15, Brendon already knew school life wasn't for him. He wasn't interested in anything but writing, for which he had a great love for. He dropped out of school, and was given a role at a local newspaper, quickly becoming one of the youngest newspaper editors in the country. But at 24, Brendon knew he was destined for other things, and moved to Africa where he became editor of two of the largest newspapers on the continent, one of them being Tanganyika Standard.
He quickly became a well-known and influential figure among African leaders and politicians, including the Tanzanian president. But it wasn't until 1962 that Brendon noticed that Africa was changing, political tensions were on the rise, and being able to report freely on things which he cared most about was becoming more difficult. At this point in his life, you might say fate put him on a different path, when he took a holiday to the Seychelles. When he landed in the Seychelles, Grimshaw immediately felt like this was the place he wanted to be, and spent the next few weeks looking for a property to move into. After 3 weeks of searching and find nothing he found interesting enough to move to, he almost gave up. It wasn't until the final day of his holiday that everything changed.
Brendon was visiting with a solicitor called Raul, when Raul took a phone call during the meeting. Being polite, Grimshaw stepped away from the meeting over to a window so as not to hear the call. He looked down into the street, where a young boy shouted up, "Do you want to buy an island?" and offered to take him there on his boat. Grimshaw agreed and before he knew it, he was on the Indian Ocean sailing across to Moyenne Island.
Upon arriving on the island, he immediately sensed that this was where he wanted to be, describing it as "something very special." At the time, the island was abandoned, with only a dilapidated old building and two pirate graves. However, things took a turn when he inquired about purchasing the island, which was owned by a man named Phillip Georges. Georges firmly stated he wasn’t interested in selling. Unsure of his next move, he invited Georges to dinner. Over the course of the evening, Phillip slowly warmed to the idea of parting with the island, saying he had inherited the island from his Godfather and wanted to sell it to someone who he thought would take great care of it, and had a feeling Grimshaw would do just that.
At 4 minutes to midnight on what was going to be the very last day of his holiday in the Seychelles, they shook hands and the Grimshaw became the islands new owner and caretaker. He quickly became friends with a man called Rene Antoine Lafortune, who became his best friend and right hand man on the island. Rene, 19 at the time, was the son of a fisherman who had been the guardian of the island prior to Brendon purchasing it. Over the next 2 years, they would build the main pathway to the island, and begin planting trees, some 16,000 of them standing to this day.
Over the years after 1962, the duo carved out over 4.5km of nature trails for visitors, who were welcomed to the island by Grimshaw, to explore the beauty of Moyenne as it should be. Now one of 6 islands in the Saint-Anne Marine National Park, Moyenne is the only island to remain without any structured hotels or developments. Re-introducing native species and fauna, including over 120 giant tortoises, and over 2000 birds to enjoy the over 16000 trees planted, not forgetting the two dogs, Jimmy & Bobby! The island is now a paradise, for future generations to preserve and enjoy.
Both Rene and Brendon are buried on the island, but the great things these men achieved during their time on Earth will be remembered. You can read more about Moyenne and Brendon's life by reading his book, dedicated to Rene Antoine Lafortune, titled "A Grain of Sand", published in 1996.
