Seychelles

Seychelles

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to dream up a place as idyllic as the Seychelles. Located off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, the Seychelles is comprised of numerous small granite and coral islands.

Most of the islands are uninhabited, and those that do support year round populations have only done so for the past 150 to 200 years. Arab traders were the first to visit the islands, followed by pirates who used the islands as a base of operations to prey on nearby merchant shipping, and then finally by small colonies of mainly French, Indian, and African nationalities who set up plantations and fishing operations. After gaining independence in 1976, Seychelles has slowly developed a very understated tourism industry.

















We were fortunate enough to spend four days in May mainly on Praslin island, the second largest of the nations islands. It didn't take us long to realize that this was not nearly enough time. After a quick four hour direct flight from Dubai we landed on the main island of Mahe where we quickly caught our connecting flight to Praslin on Air Seychelles.
















Our hotel, Chateau de Feuilles, was a small hotel of about a dozen bungalows perched on one of the points jutting out towards La Digue island, the third largest island of the nation.



















One of the best parts about the staying at such a small hotel, of which most are in the Seychelles, is the solitude. It was almost as if you had the entire place to yourself!











While we could have spent the entire visit happily loitering around the pool or jacuzzi taking in the fresh air and sounds of the waves crashing below, we managed to muster the strength to head out for a day on the hotels private island.


After a stroll down to Praslin's jetty, we were aboard the hotel's yacht and on our way out acorss the waters of the Indian ocean to Big Sister Island.



















After arriving, the group of maybe eight total spread out across the island giving us the feeling that we had been marooned on this picture perfect island with our only company being the wild tortoises!



















The island was just amazing in every sense, with the huge granite rocks creating a striking contrast against the turquoise waters, white sands, and lush palm tree groves.























After a morning of relaxing on the beach, we had a lunch of freshly caught fish followed by even more relaxing! Eventually, this perfect day had to come to an end and we made our way back aboard the yacht for the ride home as the sun set across the island.

On the higher elevations of Praslin Island, unique rain forests exist that are home to the Coco de Mer. The Coco do Mer is the largest nut in the world and is only found on Praslin. Whats unique about this nut is its shape (see picture). When Arab traders brought back the nuts, they were prized posessions by the Sheiks and Sultans of Arabia as they were believed to hold special fertility powers.

We spent one day on La Digue Island, where we spent the majority of the day biking around and seeing some of the sights. La Digue is where Robinson Cursoe was marooned, carving the number of days he was stranded onto a tree on the island. One of the most interesting sights was the islands taxi system....ox carts!

Our last night was spent on Mahe Island, the largest island and home to the world's smallest capitol city, Victoria. Pictures below of the port in Victoria as we approached from Praslin....there are not many ports in the world this picturesque!

This last night in the Seychelles we stayed at the Hilton resort, which even though it was a bit more crowded was definately a place we would return to.

So with that it was back to the heat and chaos of our home town.....Dubai. We are already planning our next trip back to the Seychelles!