Part of the Amirantes Group, D’Arros is situated 255km southwest of Mahé and some 45km west of Desroches. Together with the adjoining atoll of St Joseph, D’Arros forms part of a private estate with a lagoon of exceptional beauty.

Once owned by a prominent local Seychellois family, the island was purchased by Prince Shahram Pahlavi-nia of Iran in 1975 and remains under private ownership until today.

The beautiful coralline islands of D’Arros and St Joseph and the warm waters surrounding them have recently been declared a reserve. Under this protection, these tiny pockets of pristine wilderness will provide a sanctuary for some of the world’s last remaining giant land tortoises and healthy communities of sharks, rays and nesting turtles and juvenile birds. The new legislation bans fishing within one kilometer of the islands.