An Active Holiday in the Seychelles
13/14 May 2019
Emirates flight from Zurich to Dubai, followed by an onward flight from Dubai to Victoria (Mahé).Silhouette: 14–17 May 2019
Accommodation: La Belle Tortue
14 May 2019
After around 3 hours’ sleep on the flight from Dubai to Mahé, we had a 1-hour boat crossing to Silhouette Island. Lovely accommodation, a wonderful bay for swimming and delicious food.15 May 2019
An adventurous hike through the rocky jungle, first around 2 hours uphill, then 1 hour downhill. At Anse Mondon, we went snorkelling and explored the beautiful ‘underwater world’. When a thunderstorm suddenly began brewing and we still had the long, strenuous return journey ahead of us, it seemed like a miracle that a catamaran was anchored further out in the bay. The passengers came into the bay in a small motorboat. This gave us the chance to strike up a conversation with the Swiss woman and the South African man. Monique and Simon then took us back to our hotel in La Passe in the rain! How lucky we were!
16 May 2019
Today we hiked to Anse Lascars - Silhouette and Anse Patates - Silhouette, wading through the water in trainers on the way back (because of the high tide). We were out for around 2 hours in 29°C heat. Afterwards, we went snorkelling off the beach in front of our guesthouse. First photos with the underwater camera. Delicious food: fish fillets prepared in all sorts of different ways.Praslin, 17–20 May 2019
Accommodation: Guesthouse Beach Villa Guesthouse· After arriving by boat in Mahé, we had to wait 4 hours in Victoria for the crossing to Praslin.... We visited the market and had lunch at the restaurant right next to the Hindu Temple - Arul Mihu Navasakthi Vinayagar (although around 80% of people in the Seychelles are Catholic).
18 May 2019
We took the public bus to Mont Plaisir, the final bus stop in the north-west. This is where the approximately 45-minute hiking trail to the snorkelling bay at Anse Lazio begins. With the underwater camera (a birthday present from my husband Michael), I tried to capture photos of fish and sea turtles. For lunch, we ate a delicious vegetarian curry at the beach restaurant. The almost 1-hour horror trip on the public bus back to our accommodation at Grand Anse really took it out of me. After some yoghurt and grapes over a game of Scrabble, I recovered!
19 May 2019
A taxi took us to Anse Marie-Louise, from where we climbed up to Fond Ferdinand. Unfortunately, we had to join a guided group. Coco de Mer palms grow in this wonderful jungle (these giant coconuts grow only in the Seychelles). As the bus service is very infrequent, we hitchhiked. We were lucky, as the Norwegian couple were heading to the same place as us. They drove us past our accommodation, Beach Villa Guesthouse at Grand Anse, and all the way to Anse Kerlan. There, we had lunch at the beach restaurant of the upmarket golf hotel. Then we hiked to the charming Anse Georgette and went snorkelling in the rain. For the return journey, we once again had to wait 30 minutes for the public bus. An impressive day! Grand Anse actually has a wonderful, long white sandy beach. It is just a shame that short pieces of ‘shredded’ seagrass are constantly washed ashore.
La Digue, 20–23 May 2019
Accommodation: Villa Creole20 May 2019
After a boat trip of around 20 minutes, we arrived on La Digue. I was amazed by the sheer number of tourists getting on and off the boats, being collected by cars, walking or cycling. The difference compared with La Digue 15 years ago, when I was here with my son Lorenz, can also be seen in the paths: sandy tracks have been paved for cars. Unfortunately, the island is no longer car-free!
21 May 2019
In the morning, we went on a 3-hour hike, climbing very steeply to the panoramic Snack Bellevue restaurant. After a refreshing tonic water, we even climbed to the highest point, at over 300 m. From there, we could look west towards Praslin, as well as down towards the east. I was amazed by how well my husband Michael could climb like a mountain goat or ibex despite his health problems. It really pushed me, as I lose an enormous amount of fluid! In the afternoon, we wanted to walk through the nearby nature park and go snorkelling at the world-famous Source d’Argent beach. As we did not want to enter the park or pay the CHF 15 admission fee, we swam around 300 m along the coast to the idyllic bay. Here too, there is a restaurant, stalls selling drinks and juices, and quite a lot of tourists. This is very different from before (15 years ago), when there was no admission fee and nowhere to buy anything. As the swell was high, we made our way back along the flooded beach and finally ‘swam’ the last stretch!22 May 2019
We cycled across the island to Grand Anse, where we left our bicycles by the restaurant. After a rather strenuous hike up and down through the rocky jungle, we reached Petite Anse and the beautiful Anse Cocos. There, we took some wonderful photos and swam in a natural pool, where we could also spot beautiful fish with our swimming goggles. Thank you for this paradise! Now we humans just need to do our part!Cerf, 23–26 May 2019
Accommodation: Small hotel Fairy Tern
24 May 2019
In the morning, we joined a guided ‘snorkelling trail’ around 50 m offshore, where corals had been attached to ‘baskets’ to help them grow. We saw a few fish, but the water was rather murky. In the afternoon, we spent around two hours rowing around Cerf Island. At the tiny island of Ile Cachée , we took the boat onto the sandy beach. From there, we snorkelled around several rocks and enjoyed seeing all the colourful fish.
25 May 2019
We had actually planned to hike across the island, but heavy rain forced us to shelter in the beach bar. We then followed the poorly signposted path only as far as the viewpoint before having to turn back. In the afternoon, we rowed back to Ile Cachée and enjoyed the ‘underwater world’ there. From the kayak, we spotted two enormous rays – rather frightening creatures!
Mahé, 26–29 May 2019
Accommodation: Savoy Resort & Spa26 May 2019
Transfer, checking into the hotel and exploring the hotel grounds. We also enjoyed the hotel’s wellness facilities, including massages, a steam room, sauna and the adults-only 20 m swimming pool.27 May 2019
We drove our hire car back to Victoria, which took around 20 minutes depending on traffic, and then took the first mountain road across the island. The road wound through dense forest in countless bends. It was not until shortly before Port Glaud that we could see the sea and Thérèse Island. At Port Launay North Beach, we drove as far as the road went. We would have liked to hike to the easternmost tip of the island from here, but the rain meant that we had to abandon the idea. Instead, we decided to make it a road-trip day. We drove all the way down to Anse Takamaka, with frequent views of sandy bays both large and small. The detour to Anse Intendance was the highlight of the day: completely deserted, with wild surf. At the southernmost road crossing the island, we drove to Anse Marie-Louise, then followed the coast past the international airport and back to our hotel.
28 May 2019
As driving is very tiring and also dangerous, we decided on this second rainy day to drive only around the northernmost tip of the island. Almost all the roads are narrow and built 10–50 cm above the surrounding ground. As a result, many people drive over the centre line. This creates a dilemma: risk clipping another vehicle or risk a sideways ‘drop’ off the road!? We hoped to find somewhere to go snorkelling. The coast around Beau Vallon has countless sandy coves separated from one another by large rocks. However, they are not easy to reach because there are no car parks. In the afternoon, we planned the roughly one-hour hike from Danzil to Anse Major, which is apparently a fantastic snorkelling spot. We drove to Belle Ombre and continued until the road ended. However, the path was closed, probably because of landslides. It also started raining again.29 May: Journey home
We leave our footprints behind!
