May 23 – Mahe, Seychelles

Aldabra land tortoises

coco de mer

Weather – 30º

Steps – 8,630

Humidity – 75%

Arriving in Seychelles is our 88^th country!

Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa, an archipelago of 155 islands in the Indian Ocean just south of the equator. It is mountainous with beautiful beaches dotted with huge boulders similar to what we saw in British Virgin Islands. In fact, much of Seychelles reminded us of some of the Caribbean islands we’ve visited that are super mountainous, with narrow steep roads – Granada, Guadeloupe. Because of these narrow roads what was only a distance of about 2Km took us about 15 minutes to drive. There are very few traffic lights,

Aldabra land tortoises

mostly traffic circles. This was in Victoria, not everywhere on the island.

hanging ginger

Today’s tour started on small island busses
(capacity of about 20, 2 on one side 1 on the other.) We get a 2er, not on the wheel hump…fool me once. Not that we need to learn that we don’t want to be on the hump but know to look and sit elsewhere on tiny busses like these. What we did have the misfortune of sitting near were LOUD TALKERS. This grinds my gears, especially when the guide is explaining something. Today’s guide didn’t say a lot, but I still didn’t need to hear Harold telling his wife his thoughts on just about everything.

hibiscus

It was only a 15-minute ride to the Seychelles National Botanical Gardens where

starfruit

we followed our guide, Anika as she pointed out various plants and trees. The most interesting was Seychelles coco de mer. The coco de mer is endemic to Seychelles an has the largest seeds in the plant world. There is a male tree and a female tree- see the pic to determine which is which. This
was a very pleasant visit. The whole places smelled divine, there was beauty all around us, and the temperatures at this time of day was just perfect.

Victoria clock tower

Anika also pointed out fruit bats, which I thought were nocturnal. A quick google tells me fruit bats are in fact nocturnal, but these were very active at 10 in the morning.

coco de mer seeds

Our last stop in the garden was to see giant Aldabra land tortoises – also endemic to Seychelles. Although these can live to over 200, these were between
50 and 60, sounds familiar.

admiring the beauty

Any time a market is included on a tour I’m interested. Today’s market was one of the least interesting we’ve visited. It was bustling with locals, so that was interesting, but I was hoping for some interesting fruits and veg…not really – a lot of fish, and very typical fruits and veg – oranges, bananas, coconuts, bell peppers.

Indian Ocean!

Our last stop was at a beachside hotel for a drink and a dip in the Indian Ocean.

dipped in the Indian Ocean

We came prepared with towels and swim gear, but decided just to walk along the
edge only getting our legs in.

It’s always interesting to watch port activity. While not the most beautiful scenery, an

Sey Brew

interesting prohibition

active shipping port is always a hive of activity.

The bus today had the most interesting sign I’ve even seen on a bus…or maybe even anywhere!

another tortoise shot