Eden Island in Seychelles. (Image: Getty)
A beautiful artificial island in East Africa is home sprawling £2million properties, and is located within one of the continent’s richest countries.
Eden Island was built upon 138 acres of reclaimed land in Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, and opened in 2006.
In a huge project bankrolled by a group of investors, a series of islets were sculpted which are home to hundreds of high-end properties, now enjoyed by some of the country’s richest people.
It’s connected to the country’s largest island Mahé by a bridge and is conventiently located between the capital city of Victoria and the Seychelles International Airport, as per island estates broker .
According to , it is “the most expensive gated residence community here in the Seychelles”.
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Steven says the property prices are out of reach for locals, saying that a three-bedroom apartment in Basin Three starts at $600,000 (£463,571), while a sprawling five-bedroom villa is available for $3million (around £2,317,855).
He visited the site and filmed the rows of boats and yachts owned by residents that line the marina, and explained the island is also home to a small mall, “a recreational centre filled with bays and beaches, so residents don’t have the need to step out of this paradise”.
Various multi-million-dollar homes are listed for sale online, including a five-bedroom oceanfront villa for $4,000,000 (around £3,090,473).
The country itself had a GDP per capita of $21,290 in 2024, making it the continent’s most prosperous nation and island by that metric, according to , which cited International Monetary Fund data.
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Mauritius came a distant second with a GDP per capita of $12,601.
However, according to , the nation is highly dependent on tourism, which makes it vulernable to global disruptions affecting the sector. It cited the recession of 2008-2009 and the ,during which GDP fell by almost 8% in 2009 and 2020.
It’s geography also makes it particularly at risk from the impacts of climate change, like water scarcity and flooding, as per .
It also benefits from its strong fishing industry, with both sectors attracting large amounts of foreign investment, as per .
Seychelles is made up of 115 islands, with a population of around 120,000 as of June 30, 2024, according to .