Beautiful Seychelles
Well we did, we travelled out with Qatar Airways via Doha in the Middle East. We were attending a friend's wedding which I had organised for them, I felt we had to go as I did play matchmaker and set them up on a blind date.
We flew into Mahe and then got a small Twin Otter - twenty seat aircraft, which was great fun, over to the island of Praslin. This takes about fifteen minutes and you get a great view of some of the other islands. We then transferred onto a catamaran over to the smaller island of La Digue.
We were taken on very short transfer to The Patatran Hotel, which had stunning views from the pool and restaurant area. We were then taken up a very steep hill to our room, which we later found out was one of their honeymoon suites. It was pretty amazing, we had a large bedroom with a four poster bed and panoramic views of the turquoise sea, a large lounge area, his and hers sinks and dressing area, a jacuzzi bath, large shower area and a lovely balcony.
The next day we hire bicycles from the hotel and cycled around the island, which is quite easy to do in a day. We went to visit some great beaches and even saw a giant tortoise in one of areas called La Union Estate, it is a lovely peaceful island and we would go back there again without any hesitation.
After a couple of days we took the ferry back to Praslin and stayed at the Coco De Mer - Black Parrot Suites. Again we had a fabulous suite high up, overlooking the ocean and lots of space too. We went to the wedding at a hotel called La Reserve on the other side of the island; we had a great day there. Another day we took the free hotel shuttle bus to the fantastic beach of Anse Lazio, what a stunning bay with more turquoise waters and a few waves.
Hire a car and drive or take a trip to Valle de Mai; it is on the list of World Heritage Sites because of the rare coco de mer palm tree. This type of palm grows in the wild only here and on nearby Curieuse Island. Your entry fee to the park goes towards preserving the area, which is a real gem! This slice of paradise is considered by everyone from artists to wildlife enthusiasts to be one of the best spots on earth for experiencing tropical perfection. There's a black parrot that lives only here on Praslin, whose habitat is preserved by the park's existence. Visitors to Valle de Mai should keep to the trails of which there are three. You can enjoy the park for hours on end on these trails, one of which takes several hours to traverse.
Our final destination on the way back was Mahe, we stayed in the Berjaya Beau Vallon Hotel. The Beau Vallon Bay is another lovely large bay with a couple of hotels, the 4.5 star Le Meridien and the 3 star Berjaya Beau Vallon. From this area you can walk to local shops and amenities, there is a pretty good bus service and the hotel also offers a free shuttle bus in Victoria known as the smallest capital town in the world. We did this on one of the days and went to the lovely Botanical Gardens, with hundreds of species of trees and plants. We didn’t hire a car on this occasion as we had done this on our previous trip. I would recommend car hire for at least two days, travel around the island and up into hills where there are some spectacular beaches and views to be seen.
We had a great trip and would love to go back there again, for your information there are two weather systems that affect the islands; from May to October the south-east tradewinds can cause the sea in certain parts of all the islands can be choppy and from November to March the north-west monsoon creates the wetter months. April is the calmest month, but temperatures are very good all year round usually between 24C and32C.
An amazing trip!!!
