Seychelles

Annette Allmond on 05 September 2008
This was some educational and we were all to meet at Terminal 2 at Heathrow for our overnight Air Seychelles flight to Mahe. After finding Caroline, our group leader, and other Travel Agents lucky enough to be on this trip we headed for the bar for a little light refreshment (as you do!). The flight was on time and we boarded, I was pleasantly surprised at the leg room and the configuration was 2/4/2 which means if you are on an inside seat at least its only one person to try and clamber over! The flight was good and the service attentive, it takes approximately 12 hours to fly and because there is a small time difference of 3/4 hours you rarely suffer with jet lag.

Seychelles has the perfect year round climate; it rarely drops below 24C or rises above 30C and is outside of the cyclone belt. We were there at the beginning of September and never saw one drop of rain, which is surprising when you consider how lush and green the islands are. Our home for the next week was the truly wonderful Sainte Anne resort and when we arrived into Mahe the hotel had sent its own boat to fetch us – what a way to arrive!

Oh my word what a hotel, the rooms are enormous, beautifully decorated and have an outside shower as well as inside as standard. There are a number of room categories including full suites and some have a private pool. There is a nightly turn down service and gorgeous goodies left in your room daily, mmm!

The service is exemplary and the food just out of this world. With a huge infinity pool and 5 restaurants to choose from, you wouldn’t want to move from this fantastic resort. However, we were there to experience the Seychelles and every day we did something different from treasure hunts around the resort to helicopter trips. We also travelled to Bird Island, where from May to October part of the island is home to millions of nesting sooty terns and with a year-round population of at least 20 other bird species, it is an ornithologist’s heaven. Bird Island is also an important nesting site for turtles and boasts the world’s largest land tortoise, Esmeralda. Esmeralda is very friendly and huge! On another day we travelled to Mahe and picked up cars for a rally around the island. It’s very easy to get around and they drive on the left as we do so that made it even easier. The capital, Victoria, is really quaint. This was a real fun thing to do and we met lots of local people who cut down fruits from their garden, which we had to collect en route, as well as other items and they invited us in for cooling drinks – how welcoming is that! Needless to say, the team I was in won!

After our exhausting rally the day before, we were treated to a relaxing massage. The spa at Sainte Anne’s is set in a peaceful tropical garden and is a sanctuary of saunas and steam rooms offering soothing massages, indulgent therapies and beauty treatments. Many of the treatments they use are exclusive Clarins products. This was just heaven! This was an amazing educational and our flight back was as good as the outbound. Back into Heathrow and time to say goodbye to some lovely friends I had made but will never forget, and thank you to everyone who had made this trip possible!