After three weeks of roughing it in Afghanistan and Iraq, I decided to reward myself with a lonelymoon in Seychelles with me, myself, and I.
I’d never been to the Seychelles before, meaning it was still on my list. So when I found a direct, three-hour flight from Dubai, it was a pretty obvious choice. The vacation worked out wonderfully since after the Shells, I had to spend a bit of time in Dubai for business and errands pertaining to my residency there.
I was really looking forward to this vacation, it would be the first time in a little while where I was travelling completely by my lonesome; with no girlfriend, no crew, no tour guide, no business partners or friends. Just me and my internal compass.
During my vacation in Seychelles, I visited the three main islands of the archipelago.
Seychelles 101
If you don’t already know, Seychelles are a group of 115 islands, however, only a very small percentage are actually inhabited. They occupy the Indian Ocean, lying off the east coast of Africa, to the northeast of Madagascar.
This island conglomerate has a very short human history. The first human settlement came only at the bottom of the 18th century. Before then, the entire archipelago was completely deserted.
The French were the first to colonize the islands, then came the British… and along with the settlers came numerous slaves from various parts of Africa. This mix of nationalities birthed a multicultural and multi-ethnic island nation.
Originally, Seychellois culture was an eclectic mix of French, British, and African influences. In recent decades, this melting pot has been infused with some Chinese and Indian flavours.
The islands achieved independence from the British in 1976; though, the first free elections occurred only over a decade later, in 1993. The politics of these islands remain in flux, luckily as a tourist on vacation, you don’t really notice anything but peace and wealth.
Fun Fact: Today, Seychelles can brag about having the highest GDP per capita among all African nations. Furthermore, it has the second-highest HDI of any African land after Mauritius. As a result, it is one of TWO countries in Africa classified by the World Bank as a high-income economy – the other being Mauritius.
The vast majority of Seychelles’ population lives on the granite islands, also where the vast majority of the resorts in the nation are located.
A little geographical breakdown:
There is the Outer Seychelles, which are coralline landmasses and mostly uninhabited. These islands rarely see visitors. Venturing to these islands requires a yacht charter, a private boat or using the remote airstrips made for small local planes.
Then there is the Inner Seychelles, this group is mostly made up of the Granite Islands.
There are 42 granite islands in the archipelago, they form the heart of Seychelles and they are the only remote oceanic islands in the world that originated from a single continental mass, meaning no coral or volcanic origins; they were a part of mainland Africa and eventually broke away.
During my time in the Shells, I visited the three main islands of the archipelago: Mahé, Praslin and La Digue.
I flew from Iraq to Dubai, had a long stopover in Dubai, but that same day I was on my way to Mahé Island with an overnight flight.
Forst stop: Mahé
Mahé Is the largest island of the Seychelles, and as such, it is also the most populated of the bunch. Close to 90% of the Seychelles people reside on Mahé. The island is famous for its white-sand beaches, and its colonial architecture. Victoria, the capital of Seychelles, is also located on this main island.
Just of its coast, there are these 6 tiny little islands, this group forms the Saint-Anne Marine National Park. These islets are surrounded by clear waters, which are filled with coral and thriving marine life; a wonderful place to go snorkelling and beach hopping.😉
I arrived on Mahé early in the morning, allowing for a full day of exploration straight off the bat. As simple as picking up the rental car and getting on my way. For the 2.5 days I had on Mahé, my plan was to road trip across the island, driving on every little street, every little village, doing some hikes and stopping by all the viewpoints along the way.
On the first day, I visited the south of the island. I went to some really remote beaches, and even though the weather was a bit nasty, I still got to enjoy their beauty. It was rainy and really windy, consequently, there were no humans in sight and pretty cool high waves were building in the ocean.
What I did see all over the island were tortoises! 😍🐢
At some point, I stopped at a roadside shop to grab some Indian BBQ for lunch before continuing to the mountains, where I’d booked my hotel. I was staying at this nice property which is set on a plantation, high up in the mountains.
A truly great spot overlooking the valley. The only thing, the internet was a bit shit; good enough however to still do some consulting work, so in the end, it was ok.
During my time on Mahé, I made some long hikes, one of them to Sauzier Waterfall, which was really nice. This waterfall is not super easy to reach and the hike is a bit hard, but it’s worth it.
It’s pretty big and well known as one of the most spectacular waterfalls on Mahé. The water up there was pretty cold, yet nice and refreshing after an arduous hike.
The next day I did some more hiking and visited some more beaches. First, I went to do the Anse Major trail, it’s supposed to be one of the best hikes on the island. It leads to a remote and secluded bay with stunning views along the way.
Before starting the hike, I went to the other side of the bay to see a famous ghost. It used to be a popular holiday destination and it’s now abandoned. I walked around the town for a little bit, visited the local beach and had a coconut by the water before driving all the way to the opposite side of the bay to start the trek.
I could have taken a boat there, in fact, the area is a well-known destination for boat charters and as an anchoring spot for private boats; but I opted for the hike instead. The trail circles around the incredible coastline for about 2.5 km to finally end at a secluded, pristine beach.
The hike was hard work, it’s mostly uphill but again, worth the effort. I started the hike a bit late, it was already mid-afternoon and it looked like it was about to rain, but I still made it to the bay. It was just about to rain, so I didn’t have time to go down to the beach, it looked really nice though.
From there, I drove the Victoria – the capital. I was happy to get some sightseeing in before sunset. Turns out, I didn’t need much time there, the main tourist site in the capital is the Navasakti Vinayagar Temple.
Did you know that Hinduism is the second-largest religion in the Seychelles after Christianity?
The Navasakti Temple was really nice to visit. It’s pretty big and colourful with lots of icons of Hindu deities.
I also visited the famous clock tower in Victoria, One of the most iconic historical features of Seychelles.
The Victoria Clock Tower has been around for over 115 years. The landmark dates back to the colonial era when it was created in memory of Queen Victoria. I was a little underwhelmed when I got to see it in person.
All in all, it took me about 10 minutes to visit all the noteworthy sites in the capital, I kid you not.
Good Bye Mahé
On my last day in Mahé, I still had the morning to do some sightseeing before taking an afternoon ferry to the next island. So that day, I went to the mountains and got a few last hikes in.
I went to this old plantation which apparently was the first settlement of Seychelles. It’s up in the middle of the mountains and it was a great spot to see all across the island.
I took some final photos from there and made my way down to the harbour to catch my ferry to La Digue, which is about 1.5-2 hours away by boat.
During my time in Mahé, the weather was less than perfect. Lots of clouds up in the mountains and rain at the beach. After my two days there, I was very much looking forward to a change of scenery and a change in weather patterns! Stay tuned for stories of my remaining time in the Seychelles on the islands of La Digue and Praslin.
