Up Close with the Tortoises

The reason for our trip was our wedding, along with our long-held wish to finally see a giant tortoise up close. So it had to be either the Galápagos Islands or the Seychelles.

As we also felt a natural longing for miles of idyllic beaches, the Seychelles were the obvious choice. One thing up front: the Seychelles truly have an abundance of dream beaches. However, as these have already been covered extensively in other travel reports, ours will focus on another of the Seychelles’ treasures: the tortoises.

With SeyVillas’ help, preparing for the trip was very straightforward in principle. However, we had to change our plans several times because our preferred accommodation had been booked at short notice. It is therefore advisable to plan and book well in advance.

Mahé

After arriving on Mahé, a friendly Creole staff member took us straight to our accommodation, Choice Villa. In general, the Seychellois are an incredibly hospitable and warm-hearted people. As everywhere in the world, there are bound to be exceptions, of course, but we did not encounter any throughout our trip. Both our host and the night watchman were exceptionally polite, helpful and attentive, whether arranging a hire car or joining us in the evening to sample freshly harvested coconuts.

Our first tortoise encounter took place at the beautiful Seychelles National Botanical Gardens on Mahé. Here, we were able to admire well over a dozen giant tortoises and, for a small fee, feed them too. An unforgettable experience.

Giant tortoise in the botanical garden on Mahé

La Digue

After two days on Mahé, our journey continued to La Digue, where we stayed at Chez Marston. Compared with our other accommodation, it felt slightly less personal, but it was still far from uncomfortable. In any case, this hardly mattered, as we spent most of our time at Anse Severe, snorkelling or sunbathing at Anse Source d'Argent .

What do Anse Severe, snorkelling and Anse Source d'Argent have in common besides crystal-clear water? Tortoises, of course! We encountered the first free-roaming tortoise of our trip at the southern end of Anse Severe:

Tortoise at Anse Severe Although it roamed around completely freely, it seemed to belong to the nearby house, whose owners it was only too happy to let spray it down with a hose in the evening. We did not have to wait long for our next tortoise encounter. This time, it was a smaller sea turtle that we spotted while snorkelling around a small reef.

Until then, although we had already fed the large Aldabra tortoises, we had refrained from touching them because we were not sure whether they would appreciate it or whether it might even be unpleasant for these gentle giants. That changed completely after a local told us that giant tortoises do not mind being gently stroked and scratched at all. Quite the opposite!

Friendly tortoise on Curieuse A snorkelling trip with the crew of Simplicity also comes highly recommended on La Digue. We were rewarded with an enormous variety of fish and another tortoise:

Sea turtle at Anse Cocos

Praslin

After 5 days, we continued to Praslin, where we stayed at Hide Away for 8 days. Our hosts were exceptionally attentive and took wonderful care of us, which included serving us a variety of fresh coconut drinks. Praslin’s beaches are also beautiful, especially Anse Lazio.

One particularly memorable highlight was a snorkelling excursion aboard one of the large Creole catamarans to Curieuse Island, located just off Praslin. Curieuse is a protected nature reserve, Curieuse Marine National Park, and is home to one of the few completely free-roaming colonies of Aldabra tortoises.

Giant Tortoise Farm, Curieuse It was an unforgettable experience, not least thanks to our fantastic tour guide, Jimmy, whose passion for the flora and fauna of the Seychelles is second to none. To top it all off, we even had the opportunity to admire and stroke baby tortoises at the Giant Tortoise Farm’s breeding centre! They already love it just as much as the fully grown tortoises do.

Baby tortoise on Curieuse

Mahé

We then spent the final two days of our honeymoon back on Mahé, where we stayed at Coco Blanche and received the warmest of welcomes from the most warm-hearted host imaginable.

Décor at Coco Blanche One final note: as described here, the natural beauty of the Seychelles is an absolute dream, but it is unfortunately under acute threat from rising sea levels. For this reason, among others, it is certainly worth considering offsetting the CO2 emissions caused by the flights – just over 4 tonnes per person, already almost twice a person’s environmentally sustainable annual allowance – so that future generations can continue to enjoy the Seychelles. Considering that the trip costs several thousand euros, less than 100 euros per person to offset the CO2 is a small price to pay.

At the time, we chose to offset our emissions through atmosfair gGmbH, as it received by far the best rating from Stiftung Warentest. Just for the record: we are, of course, not affiliated with atmosfair gGmbH and receive no money or other compensation for mentioning it. Thank you if you have read this final section too, even if it may sound a little preachy. We hope you have a wonderful time in the Seychelles and wish you a safe journey. Stroke as many tortoises as you can. You will miss them.