Rodrigues

Rodrigues is what Mauritius might have been—108 square kilometers of island 560 kilometers east, autonomous since October 2002 and governed by its own Regional Assembly. The island lost its solitaire (the Rodrigues equivalent of the dodo) and both endemic giant tortoise species to extinction, but has emerged as conservation model: the François Leguat Giant Tortoise Reserve now houses over 5,000 Aldabra tortoises within 20 hectares, using the imported species as ecological analogues for extinct natives. Grande Montagne, Anse Quitor, and offshore islets like Île aux Cocos have been declared nature reserves, protecting the Rodrigues fody and Rodrigues warbler—both near-threatened endemics surviving nowhere else on Earth. The endangered Rodrigues flying fox, the island's sole endemic bat, represents the precarious status of species dependent on a single small territory. Approximately 44,000 residents sustain an economy distinct from main-island Mauritius: less tourism, more subsistence fishing and agriculture, stronger Creole identity preserved by geographic separation. The lagoon surrounding Rodrigues, twice the size of the island itself, provides the marine resources that traditional livelihoods depend upon. Rodrigues rejects the intensive development transforming Mauritian coastlines, instead positioning itself as eco-tourism destination where authenticity compensates for less sophisticated infrastructure. By 2026, the island's autonomous status and conservation orientation test whether small territories can chart paths independent of their larger neighbors' development models.