The Seychelles is a tropical archipelago paradise. Think of some of the mountainous Caribbean nations and transport them almost a thousand miles off the East coast of Africa just a few degrees south of the equator. Mahé, the largest island, and other islands close to it are mountainous granite islands—the tallest peak on Mahé is almost 1000 meters. The outlying islands are coral atolls. There are about 115 islands, but they are not all inhabited. We were docked at the industrial port about a mile from downtown Victoria, claimed to be one of the smallest capital cities in the world. The archipelago was uninhabited when discovered by Vasco de Gama. It took the French to populate it in the mid-18th century.
One of the country’s claims to fame is the Coco-de-Mer palm, which produces the largest seed in the world weighting up to 40 pounds. The nut was known for a long time before anyone knew where it grew because it would wash up on shores around the western Indian Ocean. Of course there developed all sorts of stories, especially because of the nuts shape: reminiscent of the human female’s external genitalia.
Coco-de-Mer Nut
Once Praslin Island, Seychelles second largest island, was discovered, the Coco-de-Mer mystery was solved. As it turned out, there are separate male and female trees. Appropriately enough given the shape of the nut, the male tree produces a flower reminiscent of the human male’s genitalia.
Female Coco-de-Mer Palm
Male Coco-de-Mer Palm
On the first day we had a morning tour that took us on a brief circuit of town—past the clock tower (a silver replica of the one outside Victoria Station in London erectd in 1903 to “celebrate” becoming an English colony), Hindu temple, market, and the traffic light—then south, over the central mountain range to the remains of a mission school (a school run by the missionaries for the local boys) with a beautiful view to the west.
Westward View
On to the west side of the island and a tea and pee stop at a tea plantation (with no significant view). Back over the mountains , the last stop was a brief one at a botanical garden where we got close up to the Coco-de-Mer trees for the first time. They also had some island tortoises.
Tortoise Looking for a Handout
After lunch on board, we thought about taking a taxi across the island to one of the many beaches but opted to explore Victoria on foot instead. Since it was Saturday afternoon, most of the stores were closed so we just wandered around to get closer looks at the things we had driven by in the morning.
Victoria Highlights: Clock Tower, Temple Detail, Temple, Bird Detail, Market
The second day’s excursion started with a catamaran ride from the ship to a reef by a near by island in a protected area. Janice and I snorkeled 50 minutes while John just floated in a life vest. (The cat had a long set of stairs in front that once lowered provided easy access to the water.) Lots of brightly colored fish, not much color in the coral. Janice has a water-proof case for her camera, so I again tried to take some pictures.
Fish Seen During Snorkeling
We sailed further south along the coast past beautiful beaches, the airport, the mountains, etc. They shuttled us on to shore in a zodiac, then bussed us to the Jardin du Roi a spice plantation where we saw more Coco-de-Mer, several spice plants, and another group of tortoises. The garden is near the site of the original French spice plantation. The French burned down the original after ten years to prevent the English from capturing it. Unfortunately, the ship bearing an English flag that the French saw coming to take the island was actually a French ship sailing in disguise to avoid being attacked by the British! By the time they realized their mistake, the plantation was history. The British did eventually take the island. A new spice plantation was built in 1860, about 80 years after the end of the original plantation.
We can see why the Europeans like the Seychelles, they are beautiful. From an American standpoint though, they are far away. For a northerner, they are too hot and humid, but if I were in the neighborhood again, I’d stop in.
Seychelles Beach
As we sailed away from this tropical paradise, the captain announced the long anticipated decision about Madagascar: because of the civil unrest (and recent coup) we would not visit the island nation. Nor would we visit Zanzibar (one of the favored alternatives). Instead we would spend a extra day in Mombasa, Kenya.