Seychelles
 
 The Seychelles (11. September 14:00 - 22. September 2007 01:00)
 
 Ever since i was 15 and saw a movie filmed in the Seychelles (forgot the title), I have wanted
 to go there. So when I decided that I was flying around the world, there was no question,
 the Seychelles had to be in the route that I chose.

 The Seychelles was the first destination I had on my long journey. The flight over was
 via Oslo, Frankfurt, Quatar and finally Mahe island in the Seychelles. The whole flight
 took approximately 16 hours, including transfers.

 I flew with two airlines. SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) from Bergen-Oslo-Frankfurt, and with
 Quatar airways to Frankfurt-Qatar-Seychelles. Quatar airways is in my opinion one of the
 best airlines in the world. On the flight from Frankfurt to Quatar you are served free hot
 and cold drinks the whole flight and you have your own in flight entertainment system, where
 you have a little screen in the seat in front of you where you can watch live television,
 watch movies, play games and listen to music.


 Mahe Island

 When I got to the Seychelles I ended up on Mahe, the main island, and of course
 on the wrong end of it, which is the vacinity around the airport, approximately half
 the part of that side is nothing worth seeing except of course Anse royale (see image)
 a beach at the South East side of the island. So after a couple of days of exploring the
 island and getting pretty fed up with all the traffic that goes day and night by the
 hotel, I decided to leave Mahe and go to a neighboring island, Preslin Island instead,
 which is an island that is a little more quit with a little less cars and stress
 and also the people are a little friendlier. But it was not a complete waste of time
 being there, I did get some pictures from there:

  
     Palm tree with coconuts
Anse Royale beach Mahe The beach that you see on the picture above is from Anse Royale. Praslin island Praslin has a lot more to offer then Mahe in my opinion and there you can explore the rainforest, and it also has (supposedly) one of the nicest beaches in the Seychelles Anse Lazio. From Praslin it is easy to get out to some of the other island, like Curiouse (taxi boat) and La Digue (ferry). My recommendation is, skip Mahe and go strait to Praslin. Mahe is not that nice, at least the part I saw of it. The flight over from Mahe cost 122 Euros return and takes about 20 minutes.
   Praslin national park sign  
Anze lazio Praslin La digue The ferry (catamaran) over from Praslin cost 20 Euros return. The island has very few cars and is much more quit then the other two islands I visited before, and it is in large dominated by bikes and ox carts. You can even hire a bike at the docks. I did not take advantage of hiring a bike, but walked around the island instead and explored. I am glad I did because I got some good pictures of green and brown geckos along the road. If I had been on I bike I would have missed those all together.
     
   Green gecko  
Seychelles straw roof houses Brown gecko Seychelles rain forest Curieuse Island This is the only island I visited where there were no cars. The only way to get out here is to hire a taxi boat. There is a fee when you come out here of 10 Euros or 15 USD. You can pay with credit card out here, but they use the old style payment machine because they don't have a wire to the mainland. The whole island is designated a national park. As a photographer being on this island is great, because it is crawling with geckos and of course the giant tortoises that live on the island. There are guided tours around the island twice a day, where you get a lot of information from about the plant and animal life etc. of the island.
   Curieuse marine national park sign  
     Brown gecko / lizard in sand
Land crab Seychelles nature Baby tortoises / turtle Approximately 1 year old tortoises. Fragile - Soft shell Approximately 3 years old tortoises Full grown tortoises Full grown tortoises approximately 80 / 90 years old Tortoises: Mail are concaived under so it can lay on the female. Facts about Seychelles Temperature are stable at about 20-30 degrees year round. Most of the taxies on most of the islands did not use a meter, some did not even have a meter, and therefore charged you whatever they where feeling like that day. So if you are ever going to the Seychelles, you have to insist on them put the meter on, otherwise you might get ripped of. One example is 5 minute drive 100 SR. Take the bus whenever you can, it only cost 3 rupies most routes. The hotells down here vary in price and quality, and is cheapest in the low season. In the low season you can get hotels for 90 euros and 50 euros on the guest houses. Some of the guesthouses near the airport at Mahe is not recommended because they are right by the main road and the traffic goes all night there, so try finding out which ones that is and avoid them all together. In the high season the prices on hotels and guest houses goes up in the air and it is also difficult to get a room then. I was lucky that I was there in the low season (September). The food that is served is mostly chicken, pork, beef, with rice. Some serve with curry. A meal in a restaurant will cost you around 80 SR and water around 15-25. In a takeaway restaurant you get the same meal for 25-35 SR. Water cost between 5-10 RS. The breakfast if you have a bed and breakfast arrangement includes toast with butter and jam, and some fruit, like banana, and juice and coffee / tea to drink. Most of the people down here have a distinct african look. A lot of the stores down here are run by people that originate from India. A few have a pacific look. Bring plenty of Euros. You should think that since this is the Seychelles they use the locale currency to pay everywhere, but no, there are a lot of places that only excepts Euros, that includes guesthouses, hotels and ferry. If you run out of Euros when you are there, there is no way to get more Euros out, that includes in the bank! There you can exchange Euros to Rupies but not the other way around. The traffic is awful in Mahe, and to some degree in Praslin, and its left hand side driving (not that there is anything wrong with that). The food stores and bus system is old fashion and looks like something out of a 60's movie. This is the only country I have been (article edited in bali) to where my phone card did not work. There where no provider coverage. But you can buy prepaid phone cards in any store and put the card in the phone and you have instant phone with a local number and it of course works calling globally. Buying prepaid cards can also be a good idea even if you have coverage on your phone. For me it was much cheaper to call with this prepaid card then what it would have been if I had coverage. Summing up I have heard from several people that they have left the Seychelles disappointed. The islands where not what they expected and are therefore disappointed when they leave. Mahe is dominated by traffic and is quite noisy. The prices are high no matter what island you end up. On the good side you have some very good beaches, nice rainforests and a flourishing animal life, all in all a very very beautiful country. So how much did I spend in the Seychelles in the 11 days I was here? Well approximately 1885 USD in 11 days, that includes the accommodation, taxi, transportation between islands, food and drinks etc. 100 Seychelles rupies is about 12.5 USD. Top of page
All images and text on these pages are copyright © 2007 Alexander Sewe