12,000 Land Tortoises and Us in the Middle: A Morning at the Rodrigues Tortoise Reserve
The Rodrigues tortoise reserve is home to over 12,000 land tortoises — and some of them will walk right up to you. With the caves included, it's one of the most genuine and unexpected experiences on the island.
DESTINATION
6/12/20264 min read
I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting. Maybe something like a zoo — fences, signs, that slightly melancholy feeling some places have where animals exist purely to be looked at. But no. The land tortoise reserve in Rodrigues is something completely different. I realised that within the first five minutes, when a tortoise walked straight towards me, entirely unprompted, clearly looking for attention.
I needed a moment to process.
Getting to the Reserve: What to Know Before You Go
The visit takes about an hour and a half, and it's worth every minute. It's one of the experiences I'd recommend to anyone coming to Rodrigues, regardless of how much you love (or don't love) reptiles. It's not about being an "animal person" — it's just a place that works on a different level.
The reserve is home to more than 12,000 land tortoises. Twelve thousand. That number doesn't feel real until you're actually inside and you realise tortoises are everywhere — on the path, at the edges of the path, still in the sun, slowly making their way somewhere only they know.
The Caves: The Hidden Side of the Island
The route also includes the caves, and this is one of the lesser-known parts of the visit. Rodrigues has fascinating geology — the island is volcanic in origin and beneath the surface there's a network of cavities well worth exploring.
The caves add a completely different dimension to the morning. You move from full sunlight and heat into these cool, almost silent spaces where the rock tells a story far older than anything on the surface.
Tom knows this reserve well — he's visited many times with his grandmother. I kept stopping to look at the rock formations, wondering how long it takes for certain things to happen.
The Moment with the Tortoises: The Part You Don't See Coming
This is the part that makes the visit memorable.
The land tortoises of Rodrigues are used to human presence. Not in the sense that they passively tolerate it — in the sense that some of them actively seek it out. They come closer, stretch their necks towards your hands, and wait. It's a behaviour so different from what you'd expect that it takes a moment to recalibrate.
Our guide had mentioned it at the start: we could stroke them gently, being careful.
And that's exactly what happened. One came towards me — slowly, with the calm of something that has no reason to be in a hurry — and in that moment I understood I was experiencing something quite rare. Not rare as in hard to find, but rare as in genuine. Not built for tourism. Just an animal that had decided my presence was acceptable.
Tom laughed because according to him, the tortoise had chosen me. Probably right.
The most beautiful part of this reserve is that you can adopt a tortoise — and we came partly to visit Tom's. His grandmother is a great admirer of this place and is among the donors who help keep it a protected sanctuary, full of respect for these creatures. At the birth of each grandchild she adopted one, and Tom's was born on the exact same day as him: 14 February.
The Emotional Side of the Visit (Which I Didn't See Coming)
There's something strange about spending an hour and a half among twelve thousand tortoises — and I mean that in the best possible way. The pace shifts. You can't move quickly, you can't look at things quickly, you can't do anything quickly. The tortoises impose their own time, and their time is much, much slower than ours.
At some point I sat down on the edge of the path and just watched. Tom was taking photos. The tortoises were doing tortoise things.
It's one of those moments when you realise that travelling isn't always about seeing things — sometimes it's about being somewhere and letting that place do something to you.
Practical Notes for Visiting the Reserve
Duration: around 1 hour 30 minutes — don't rush. This is a visit that rewards the slow.
Footwear: closed shoes or sturdy sandals — the terrain near the caves isn't always even.
The caves: if you have mild claustrophobia, mention it beforehand — some sections are narrow and the light is very low.
The tortoises: don't chase them, don't disturb them when they're resting. If they come to you, you can stroke them gently on the neck or shell. No sudden movements — they startle easily.
Photography: light inside the caves is limited, so bring a phone or camera that handles low light well. Outside, the morning light is perfect.
Best time to visit: morning — cooler, less crowded, and the tortoises are more active.
Why It's Worth It
Rodrigues has a gift for offering experiences that don't need to be sold. The tortoise reserve is one of them — it's not spectacular in the glossy sense, not immediately Instagram-friendly. It's something quieter and more lasting: the kind of experience you find yourself telling people about weeks later, and every time you tell it you realise how much it meant to you. It's immersive in the truest sense — you feel like you've stepped into Jurassic Park, because this corner of the world is suspended in time and tended with real care.
Twelve thousand tortoises. An hour and a half. And at least one tortoise that chose to come closer.
Have you visited the reserve? Any questions about planning your day in Rodrigues? Write to us — and if you have photos to share, even better.
