Our new adventure and port is Port Victoria, on the main island of Mahe’, and the capital of Seychelles. We had a comfortable private tour of this island with 8 other passengers in a 15 seater van, totaling 10 passengers, driver and guide.
The night before arriving in the Seychelles we had to turn the clock back an hour to align with our passage travelling west. It is very easy to take an extra hour every few days. In total if think we have gained 5 and half hours since leaving Adelaide. So when we need to be up at 6.30 am, and the clock has been turned back an hour, we are waking up at 7.30 am, so sweet.
I am unsure if I should use this phrase but here goes. I think I have found the closest country to Utopia. I really have only one day’s experience but what I saw and encountered really left me with the feel that Seychelles is pretty well an ideal country to inhabit. Firstly it seems like a tropical paradise surrounded by shimmering beaches hugged by vegetation up to the shoreline, or rocky granite boulders nestling the waterline. Abundance of fish, even John West has its tuna factory here! The local’s main diet would be fish, though in the market we saw trays of eggs and chickens which would supplement.
Social Housing
In the mall before market place
Fresh tuna anyone?
This is where the pirates came to bury their treasure; apparently a French Pirate (La Buse)’s treasure is still to be discovered. Mentioning pirates, there are several Somali Pirates imprisoned here, the last lot were caught and trailed in 2012 and are serving their 15 year sentences.
Pirate Le Buse
Our guide was Creole, an example of the legacies of European colonists blended with African slaves and subsequent settlers from Arabia, India and China. I had the feeling everyone is content with their heritage.
The government supplies social housing to its citizens with the understanding that after paying 15 years of rent the house is handed over the occupant. Our guide explained the only homeless are the drug users who wish to live on the ‘streets’. (Apparently there is a strong drug taking culture here, though not mentioned by our guide). Health Care and education is free. There is a fiber optic cable which travels over 3,000 kilometers from Africa, so every house has access to internet. Power and water is also connected to all the homes here. We did not see any graffiti.
When we drove into Victoria, the capital, the roads were jammed with tourists and locals. We were heading to see Victoria Clock Tower, a replica of Big Ben in London and a testament and tribute to Queen Victoria’s reign, then traveled into the Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market to explore the various stalls featuring fruit, vegetables and fish cleaning. The place smelt fresh, especially the fish cleaning area, surprising me, especially considering the warmth and nature of the product. The reason for the busy roads happened to be a yearly Hindu Festival where devotees paraded through the streets with various statues, making their way to the temple. Our guide decided to high tail it out of town and into the countryside.
Clock Tower; a gift from Queen Victoria
Countryside, did I say countryside? More like hillsides’ or mountainsides’. The little narrow, well maintained roads wound their way up and around the steep mountains. OMG, there was little room the pass in some areas and the side of the road sometimes dropped away hundreds of meters. Other times the dense foliage crowded the edges. Coconut, paw paw, mango, cinnamon, avocado, banana and lime trees grew, uncontrolled and accessible to all who wanted to pick. Then there is the imported weed Morning Glory, which is smothering most of the natural vegetation and locals are trying to rid.
View of Sun Princess from mountain
Some stunnibg views of coastline
Very steep, winding and narrow roads
It seemed the local vehicles were all short wheel based and small. Understandably the long ones would not be able to traverse the sharp and narrow bends in the roads. So no 44-52 seater buses here!
Our tour over the mountains took us to breath-taking vistas through the stunning natural scenery to coastlines and tiny islands all surrounded by various shades of blue waters. The sheikh of Abu Dhabi has his holiday house (castle/palace) built on top of the highest mountain. It seems such an enviable picturesque location, though I would helicopter there and back in preference to driving up what would be a steep and windy road. Apparently a lot of wealthy Russians have their holiday houses here as well. There are 15 international flights to Seychelles daily, two being Emirates.
We stopped at a local tea plantation for a break. Although the factory was closed (as it was Saturday), we enjoyed its amenities and vista. Then off to the ruins of Venn’s Town Mission. It was built to care for the children of the slaves around 1878 to 1889 when it closed down. A lot of children died (as I presume would be many adults) of dysentery, diphtheria and other ailments which modern medicine has prevented. In 1972 Queen Elizabeth visited.
Ruins from Venn's Town
Car park challenge, all the tour buses, including
Princess Tours seemed to be here all at once.
The trunk of a cinnamon tree where the bark has
been scratched off to show it can be used in cooking as well.
Once on the other side of the island we visited many idyllic beaches, saw the famous double coconut, ate a yummy fish curry, a local dish, then traveled along the beaches to see a historic plantation house build during the colonial times when the coconut industry was a fundamental pillar of Seychelles economy.
Coconut Plantation homestead of the 1800's
Seychelle's famous double coconut.
Rescued tortoise about 150 years old
Lastly we visited an old creole style house which is now used as a restaurant and a haven to a group of rescued tortoises.
To top off our visit DH and I sat on the back deck as the Sun Princess sailed out of the harbor and the last rays of the sun exposed the heavy rain clouds hugging the island ridges.
I hope I manage to remember this remarkable country in years to come.
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