An eight-strong youth group from Devon, U.K., left the country on Thursday after seemingly adapting well with the Seychelles environment and greatly appreciating the places of interest on the island.

The group were here on an exchange visit and had a packed programme of activities which brought them across Mahe and on to Praslin and La Digue.

Besides their many site visits, they also held talks with various youth groups, engaged in community work and exchanged other information about youths in their country and common problems they encounter.

During their three-week long discovery of Seychelles, the Devon youths were shown around by two Youth Department staff as well as two President's Award Scheme participants.

According to principal youth officer Mr Wesson Joubert, they have an active exchange  programme with all countries of the Commonwealth and this is the second year running that they are hosting participants from the U.K. after the visit of a group from Bradford last year.

He said the programme of activities was tailored in a way so as to give the visitors ample opportunity to really discover Seychelles, be it the environment, people, culture or food.

Participant Lorna Rose, who was in Seychelles last year as a guest of the Youth Festival, said the visit was a good learning experience for the group because "Seychelles is completely different from U.K."

"It's been like a lifetime opportunity for all of us and we have met a lot of people with whom we have shared our experiences," she said, adding that she was personally awestruck by the many beautiful places notably on Praslin and La Digue.

"I've been really impressed and from the moment you land on Mahe, Seychelles actually looks like it does in the pictures. It's an exceptionally beautiful country and we've also been hosted very well," she commented.

On her part Sarah Aston, who is a youth worker back home, said she had personally been struck by the friendliness of the people.

"People kind of wave to each other quite a lot here," she observed.

"The food is so wonderful and I've eaten more here than I do back at home," she remarked, adding that the exchange visit had given her the chance to do things that she enjoyed most which are swimming, snorkelling and discovering the underwater world.

As for the exchange programme, Ms Aston said the visit had been planned with an incredibly high level of professionalism.

"Seychelles is a relatively small place but there is so much to do and discover here," she said.

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