Back in 1962, Brendon Grimshaw bought Moyenne Island, in the Seychelles, for £8,000 (which at the time would have been about $22,000). He started living there in 1972, and since that time he’s been the island’s only permanent resident — aside from the 120 giant tortoises for whom Grimshaw’s island is a sanctuary. The video above features an obnoxious dipwad getting fake-overexcited about everything (“oh my god, there’s a TORTOISE on your PORCH!!!!”), but ignore his capering: Grimshaw is genuinely cool.
Grimshaw brought tortoises to the island himself, giving the endangered giants — who have been hunted to extinction in a lot of the Seychelles — a place to roam unmolested, and a master bedroom to lay eggs in. The island is only 0.3 square miles, but that’s enough space for Grimshaw, his tortoises, and the 16,000 trees he’s planted. (And you, if you have means of getting there and a €12 entry fee.)
Supposedly there’s buried treasure on Moyenne Island, but Grimshaw hasn’t found it, and now he’s not likely to; he’s successfully lobbied to make his island the world’s smallest natural park, which ought to keep treasure hunters from digging up the tortoise habitat. With more species per square foot than any other park in the world, though, Moyenne has plenty of treasure out in the open.
