Seychelles Globetrotter Travel Pack

Introducing Seychelles

The soaring mountains of Seychelles, covered with lush jungle, emerge from deep blue seas and a hundred glistening reefs. These Indian Ocean islands, numbering 115 in all, stretch in a jewelled crescent from the equator to the tip of Madagascar.

Many of the islands are tiny palm-tufted coral specks where yours may be the only yacht to weigh anchor in a year.

Aldabra, the world’s largest atoll and a World Heritage Site, is home to 150,000 giant tortoises. In the high mist forests of Maché and Silhouette, there are bats that eat mangoes, pitcher plants that gobble insects, and pygmy piping frogs the size of an emerald. The extraordinary beauty of the islands is such that nearly half of the Seychelles landmass has been proclaimed as a national park.

Ocean & Reef

The Indian Ocean dominates the Seychelles, whether by the immense depth of water just beyond the reefs, the influence of the oceanic weather patterns, or simply in the vast distances between the little specks of islands.

Most visitors will come into contact with the ocean in some way or another: swimming in the warm protected waters, or sailing on a schooner between the islands. Where meeting the ocean really becomes special, however, is underwater, diving and snorkelling on the edges of a vast world of coral, waving polyps, fish and overwhelming silence.

Off some shores in the islands the reef is close to the shore and exposed at low tide, which makes for fascinating exploration, while along the beaches, you will always be able to find the scattered delicate artistry of shells and dead coral.

Climate

Seychelles lies in the tropics between 4⁰ and 10⁰S of the equator. The average daily temperature is 29⁰C, and the average humidity a steamy 80% and there are about seven hours of sunshine daily.

The refreshing southeast trade winds blow from April to October, when the weather tends to be cooler and drier, while the lighter northwest monsoon winds arrive during the Christmas period. At this time the rain can fall in torrential downpours, but there are short, showery spells any time of the year.

However, being small islands in a wide ocean, Seychelles’s many microclimates ensure conditions are very localised – it can be raining on one beach, sunny on the next and misty up in the mountains.

The islands are at their windiest from April to September, which are the best sailing months. The coral islands are drier, warmer and being at sea level, usually catch refreshing sea breezes.

The People

Western writers have always described the Seychellois as smiling, happy-go-lucky folk straight out of a Gauguin painting. Nonsense. The Seychellois certainly know and take advantage of the paradise in which they live, and the climate and beauty make them fairly laid-back, but they are not beaming, brown-skinned natives in sarongs singing love songs as the long boats ride in on the surf. They are canny, wily, island folk with one thousands virtues and a few hundred vices.

The Seychellois can be welcoming, quick to offer help or to invite you home for a meal, and happy to share their knowledge of the islands. Tourism has changed their lives, but has not trampled their spirit. At the least hint of arrogance or condescension they will freeze you out, but the welcome in hotels, initially a touch hesitant, is soon exuberant and tinged with humour.

Island Cuisine

With a heritage drawing from French, Indian, Chinese and Kreol roots, the quality of the cuisine in Seychelles could only be wonderful. Few menus fail to be mouth-watering. The staples of the Seychellois diet are koronneyen fish, rice, coconut, breadfruit, chillies, spices and mangoes, each of them cooked in a hundred different and delicious ways.

Other delicacies of the islands are satini rekin (dried shark chutney), smoked sailfish and fruit bat, but perhaps nothing beats the simplest rice and salted fish in a banana frond pouch, fisherman style.

Sport & Recreation

People tend to wake up with the six o’clock sun, so wild all-hours revelling is not common, though hotels with their discos, casinos, coffee shops and barbecues have replaced much of the home entertainment, which is usually folksy accordion singsongs and dancing.

Sitting on an upturned bucket in a village back yard to the ferocious slapping of dominoes is a regular rite all throughout the islands. It is universally addictive among men, along with football (35 teams) and athletics (long jump) the two main sports in which Seychelles competes, with distinction, internationally.

Diving, swimming, running, weight lifting and an annual 40km (25 mile) windsurfing race to Praslin are also popular with many.

Golf is played at the Reef golf course – where the hazards include falling coconuts and crabs with a reputation for stealing balls. You can also ride horses at Barbarons and La Digue, paraglide or jetski noisily at Beau Vallon, and find all the regular water sports at most big hotels.

For more information on Seychelles, purchase your copy of Globetrotter Travel Pack: Seychelles (including a detailed map) from www.mapstudio.co.za or call our telesales consultants on 0860 10 50 50.