Mahé

Mahé is the main island where over 80% of the country’s population lives. Only 30kms long and a surface area of 154 square kilometers, Mahé boasts 68 beaches, with the Beau Vallon beach longer than Hawaii’s Waikiki.

The Intendance beach has been hailed by various travel magazines as one of the best in the Indian Ocean. Because of its remoteness, you’re completely alone with nature. No other man made noise can be heard apart from those of the few picnickers. A small restaurant and snack bar is situated not far from the beach.

Victoria, the world’s smallest capital, is located on Mahe island. The tidy capital boasts several banks, two cathedrals, its own mosque, a Hindu temple, a superb library building and two stadium.

The lively and colourful Victoria market, where housewives face the fishermen and farmers to bargain prices, also sells spices especially packed for visitors.

Other spectacular beaches of Mahe which are a must are the Police Bay, Anse Royale, Anse Soleil, Baie Lazare and the famous Beau Vallon Beach for water sports. Beau Vallon is the playground for the annual Regatta during late August.

Mahe, with its many hills and mountains, has several well-marked nature trails for people who wish to walk up into the cooler air of the mist forest. The view that awaits the adventurer who has sweated a little to reach the top is worth the climb.

Praslin

Praslin is the second largest island located 25 miles from Mahé. It 15 minutes away by plane from Mahé. The traditional schooner takes 3 hours to cover the distance. A fast ferry service does the trip in about an hour.

Praslin is fast becoming a popular holiday alternative to Mahé and many visitors are spending their whole stay there. For a modest $5 you may visit the famous Vallée de Mai reserve where the world’s strangest fruit, the coco de mer, grows. Nature lovers will be delighted to learn that the Vallée de Mai is also home to a range of exotic plants and rare birds.

Like Mahé, Praslin has a number of beautiful beaches but Anse Lazio has been voted by various magazines as the best in the World. You are invited to see for yourself and cast your vote. The longest beach is Cote-d’Or but the most frequented corner is Anse Volbert. Most hotels are found there and water sports is available. For snorkelling, the nearby islet of St. Pierre is a treasure trove of corals, fish and turtles.

La Digue

La Digue is the third major granitic island with a population of around 2000 inhabitants. It has no airstrip and can be reached by ferries in 30 minutes from Praslin or by helicopter from Mahé.

Life on La Digue is somewhat at a slower pace than Praslin. The use of motor vehicles are strictly controlled, leaving bicycles and ox-carts as the prominent means of transport. La Digue is famous for its brand of creole architecture, boat building and cultivation of the aromatic vanilla pods.

It is the only home in the world for the very rare Paradise Flycatcher bird for which a special reserve has been built.

But perhaps what fascinates visitors most is the tranquillity it offers. For amateur photographers Anse Source d’Argent is a paradise for matching the contours of the shaped boulders to the beauty of the human body. For swimmers Anse Patates is ranked as the best beach.

Curieuse

Curieuse which offers good snorkelling and scuba diving used to be in the 60’s a leper colony. A few buildings, now renovated into national heritage sites, stand as relics of this colony. Today the island is home to giant tortoises, turtles and coco de mer.

The island of Cousin, owned by Bird-Life International, a British Conservation Organisation, is a nature reserve for many rare birds among them the brush warblers which is near extinction and now found nowhere else in the world, and animal species namely the ground doves, giant millipedes.

For statistical data on Seychelles click here

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