Yes, it just routine in the Seychelles lifestyle embedded in nature's beauty. With such a dreamlike setting, the Seychelles is unsurprisingly a choice place for newlyweds.
But for those looking for more than a suntan or romance, this archipelago offers a number of high-energy distractions. There are jungle and coastal walks, boat excursions, and diving and snorkelling to keep you buzzing.
Ecotourism is big – there are marine parks and natural reserves filled with endemic species that are easy to approach.
After going a couple of times in and out of Victoria — the capital of the Seychelles — on the main island of Mahé , I began to feel like Noddy in Toyland: Victoria’s picturesque charm is heightened by its smallness, up-hill-down-dale vistas of forested hills and granite peaks, boats bobbing on sparkling marinas, and winding streets opening on to sea views. There is one central square with a toy clock tower, one GPO, one big bank and one large vegetable market.
There is a single row of kiosks selling crafts along the esplanade and an elegantly-preserved French Colonial mansion, Kenwyn House, purveying precious jewellery from South Africa. The most famous restaurant, housed in an old convent, is called Le Grand Trianon Marie-Antoinette after the marble palace at Versailles, though there is no resemblance whatsoever. End to end, a tour of the entire town takes an hour. That is because the main pleasures of the Seychelles, the hedonistic paradise of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, 1,500 kilometres off the coast of southeast Africa, are an outdoor oceanic life of island-hopping.
A string of luxury resorts, often with long private beaches of bone-white sand, an array of water sports (sailing, diving, snorkelling and surfing), and spicy Creole cuisine, make the archipelago a lotus eater’s dream. A short boat trip northwest of Mahé is Silhouette Island, the third largest in the Seychelles, where the Hilton’s Labriz Resort & Spa is a cluster of private sea-facing cottages set around a large central open-air loggia.
Hammocks slung on coconut palms and lazy lunches of grilled fresh snapper and tuna steak make this a honeymooners’ special. One of the memorable snapshots that visitors take back is of efforts taken by hotels to make wedding parties a once-in-a-lifetime occasion. Often there are only the newlyweds, in all their nuptial finery, clinking champagne flutes at a flower-bedecked table on a private stretch of sand — with only a handy photographer to memorialise the event.
The islands have polyglot names, mostly French and English, but there is also a group known as Amirantes (‘Admiral Islands’), named by Vasco da Gama after himself, when he passed by here in the early 16th century on his way to Goa, before the French and British jockeyed for control over this strategic stopover between Africa and India.On traffic-free La Digue Island (named after an 18th-century French fleet), transport is restricted to traditional ox carts or bicycles, which carry you deep into its forest reaches and high peaks, home to the rare Black Paradise Flycatcher, of which only about a hundred exist, and a coastline dotted with green sea turtles.
Down by the quayside is the Le Domaine de L’orangeraie Seychelles Hotel, its shaded, elegant poolside restaurant offering a combination of Creole and European dishes. Here, as in many Seychelles hotels, a large proportion of expatriate managers and wait staff are Indian — spoken Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati and Punjabi add flavour to the attention that Indian visitors receive, a comforting sense of being simultaneously home and abroad. The Seychellois themselves are ethnically mixed, of European, Indian and Chinese ancestry and more deeply assimilated in their pan-Creole identity than in the Indian Ocean’s smaller archipelago of Mauritius.
If you ask a Seychellois where his forebears came from, the answer may be vague but the assertion of being Seychellois is paramount.One of the most visited destinations is the Vallée de Mai, an Eden-like natural forest reserve and Unesco site on the second largest island of Praslin. With its winding pathways and dense planting of exotic species, the 19.5-hectare hidden mountain valley is best-known for its rare coco de mer palms, which produce the largest seed in the world — the erotically-shaped, double-lobed nut which can weigh as much as 42 kilograms.
The growing of the coco de mer palm, a rigorously protected plant species, is carefully monitored. The palm’s beautiful fruit, when grown to fullness and polished to a gleaming chocolate brown finish, is coveted the world over as a treasure. As a result, the sale of coco de mer seeds is restricted and, depending on their size and perfection, some can command prices of thousands of dollars.
The Seychelles has always been a magnet for seafaring adventurers, romantics and treasure hunters. A long-haul visitor in 1958 via Bombay was the journalist Ian Fleming, famous creator of James Bond. Fleming became convinced that he could prospect for a vast hoard of treasure buried by Olivier Levasseur, an 18th-century French pirate, in the islands. But other than eating a local dish of fruit bat (still a widely-served delicacy) and improving his harpooning skills, the intrepid writer’s search came to naught. All his stay produced was a series of adventure articles for The Sunday Times, and a spell in hospital when he cut his shin on a piece of coral and the wound festered badly.
In a bilious mood, he wrote that he longed to return home “where one doesn’t pour with sweat all day long, and where one isn’t constantly being bitten by something.”Fleming was prone to exaggeration. Like tropical islands anywhere, the Seychelles’ island weather can vary, but generally temperatures are seasonably warm throughout the year. Being close to the Equator, rainfall can be heavy, usually between October and March, but monsoon spells seldom last longer than an hour or two.
Our November visit was blessed with balmy days and cool evenings with the islands glowing in their natural glory. It was peak tourist season, but because many of the islands are spaced apart, with the resorts built like leisured private enclaves, it never felt crowded.The most luxurious way to experience this would be at the Banyan Tree Seychelles Resort. Situated on Intendance Bay with spectacular ocean views, its 60 villas, with private infinity pools, living and dining pavilions, sunken baths and courtyards are perched on hilly terrain in a forest plantation. The high-end resort is a gracious amalgam of colonial and contemporary architecture, with airy verandahs, high sloping ceilings, discreet antiques and unobtrusive service.
With a choice of three restaurants, a cocktail lounge and a breathtaking spa in a nearby building, the Banyan Tree will customise the Seychelles to each visitor’s needs — from beach picnics to specially grilled meals on the sands. They even provide a personal wedding coordinator, a master of ceremonies and a civil officer to perform ‘a premium ceremony’. It is the ideal way to say “I do” in magical Seychelles. But then, there is more to the Seychelles than lazy sundrenched days on the beach, afternoon siestas in shuttered rooms, and vivid sunsets that spatter the horizon in paint box colours.The information
Getting there
Air Seychelles and other carriers like Emirates and Etihad offer round-trip economy-class fares from Delhi to Mahé for about Rs. 50,000. Buses (especially within Mahé and Praslin), cabs (or car rentals), ferries (efficient services between Mahé, Praslin and La Digue) and domestic flights (about 20 flights a day between Mahé and Praslin; about ¤60 each way) are the ways by which to get around within and between the islands.
Visa
Regardless of the nationality of the visitor, Seychelles has no requirement of a visa for entering the country (different rules apply for citizens and visitors from notified Ebola-affected countries based on a revisable advisory). A one-month Visitor’s Permit is issued free of charge at the airport after the required documentation is provided (a valid passport, round-trip ticketing, details of where you are staying, and adequate funds for the trip).
Currency 1 Seychellois Rupee = Rs. 4.4
Where to stay
In five days of an island-to-island sojourn, five resorts stood out for their exceptional locations, architectural design and hospitality. There is, of course, the romantic Hilton Labriz Resort & Spa (from Rs. 17,000), the only hotel on Silhouette Island.
On Praslin island, the Hotel Paradise Sun (from Rs. 28,000) is located on a pristine beach and serves excellent bistro fare, including salads, pizzas and European dishes.
Le Domaine de La Réserve (from Rs. 13,000) is a sheltered hotel with a belvedere surrounded by lapping waves on the same island, with Jean-Paul Barallon as the warm-hearted, entertaining general manager who treats visitors as personal house guests.
On Mahé , the Le Meridien Fisherman’s Cove (from Rs. 20,000) overlooking a popular beach, has stylish contemporary French décor and a laidback charm for travellers who want to be close to town, and won’t settle for less than international standards in comfort.
But the ultimate luxurious getaway is the Banyan Tree Seychelles Resort (from Rs. 50,000), a scenic half hour/19km drive from Victoria.
Things to see & do
Victoria’s outdoor market is full of colourful, fresh produce (the lively Wednesday evening market at Beau Vallon is also worth a visit; the bay here is famous for its sunsets). The verdant Unesco heritage site of Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve, also called May Valley, is a great place to sight indigenous flora and fauna.
A Seychelles vacation is generally resort-based and sea-centric (sunbathing, swimming, snorkelling, scuba diving) but hiking in the woodlands of the Morne Seychellois National Park can be just as rewarding. Cycling is the easiest and most idyllic way to enjoy scenic La Digue.
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