Cargados Carajos

Cargados Carajos Shoals (also known as the Saint Brandon Rocks) are a group of about 16 small islands and islets on an extended reef in the Indian Ocean northeast of Mauritius. The islands have a total land area of 1.3 km². The reef measures more than 50 km from north to south, and is 5 km wide, cut by three passes. The reef area is 190 km². The islands have no permanent population, but are rich in flora and fauna. The islands are classified as a dependency of Mauritius, which is more than 300 km further south, and are administered from Port Louis. The islands are part of the Mascarene Islands.

The formation might be considered a mostly submerged atoll. Individual islets on the reef include, from North to South: Île Raphael, Avocaré Island (Avoquer), Mapare, Verronge, Coco Island (^Ile aux Cocos), Île du Sud, and a number of unnamed islands and sand cays. The total number of islands on the reef is close to 40.

Siren Island, Pearl Island (Ile Perle), Frigate Island (Ile Frégate) are west of the reef, while North Island (Ile du Nord) is about 4 km Northeast of the northern tip of the reef.

Albatros Island, which is about 18 km further North, is geographically a separate single coral island.

Albatros Island is the highest (6 m) and largest of the islands in the group, with an area of 101 ha, followed by Raphael, Avocaré, Cocos Island and Ile du Sud.

The main settlement is on Raphael, comprising a privately-owned commercial fishing station (with a minimum of 35 resident employees), coastguard and meteorological station (with eight residents in 1996). Smaller settlements exist on Avocaré, Cocos and Sud; the settlement on Albatros was abandoned in 1988.

There are coconut trees on a few islands.

Sources

• Districts of Mauritius
• Map of Mauritius
• Dispersal of the Genus Phelsuma in the Mascarenes