Now for some island time. We’d been hearing about the beauty of the Seychelles for some time now, and just had to see what the fuss was about. And we discovered the fuss is quite warranted.
ahhh
a little history
Welcome to Jurassic Park. The Seychelles are located in the Indian Ocean, east of Kenya and north of Madagascar. It’s an archipelago of 115 islands that separated from Africa sometime in the late Cretaceous period. Research has indicated that a land mass including India/Madagascar/Seychelles broke off about 150 million years ago. Madagascar was abandoned first, then the Seychelles were deposited in the ocean at about 64 million years ago before India continued on its journey and crash-landed into the Asian continent.
Right away, one sees the ancient beauty of this place – turquoise waters, tall lush greenery and white sandy beaches are easily spotted from all angles. And don’t forget those giant tortoises that call these islands home. Like the Galapagos of Africa, these islands have been isolated for millions of years and are home to a variety of species found only here including the world’s largest seed the Coco De Mer. But more on that here.
These islands are relatively new as far as settling is concerned – the French came in the late 1700s and ruled until the British took over in 1814 after the Treaty of Paris. The Seychelles became an independent country in 1976. English and a mix of French and Creole (known as Seychellois Creole) are the main languages.
semi-budget travel
Given its location and need to import a majority of foods as well as goods, Seychelles is not for the super-budget backpacker. So save up your benjamins in advance of coming. If you’re into resorts and not watching your pocketbook this place is absolutely no problem for you, but as we had a few months left on our round the world tour, we found some ways to make things affordable.
this beach alone is worth the cost of travel
Staying at a “self-catered” accommodation is key. These are basically beach bungalows complete with kitchens, living rooms and a bedroom or two with a bathroom. Not being connected to a hotel, thus no onsite restaurants, is where the self-catering bit comes in. We hadn’t cooked a meal ourselves in 4 months so we were very much looking forward to prepping our own food. And given the island restaurant food was immensely expensive (like $30 for 1 lunch entrée, $20 for a boring salad) we stocked up on supplies and had a cook-off.
The local grocery stores carry a decent selection of fruits, veggies and wine, and some even had excellent stock of gluten free goodies for all you celiacs out there. And taking a trip to the local fish-monger is also very cost-effective as we were able to get 2kg of fresh Job fish (snapper) that fed us for about 4 meals, costing the equivalent of $10 USD.
island transport
mahe island
A catamaran-type boat ferries people to the 3 largest islands (Mahe, Praslin and La Digue). The main island of Mahe hosts the airport, with direct flights coming from UAE as well as other parts of Africa. We had plans to make it to Praslin Island upon arrival in Mahe, so after touching down we made our way to the ferry terminal across town to catch the boat for an hour and a half journey to Praslin. Just be sure to pop some Dramamine if you’re motion-sick prone, we experienced rough seas on our boat ride back and some sickie folks.
Well, you’re probably waiting for the fun to begin so here we go.
Wow! Gorgeous!