The Seychelles seemed like the perfect destination for our honeymoon – romantic beaches, palm trees, turquoise seas and wonderful snorkelling plus a few birds for me. In mid-July we headed off with high expectations and a greatly reduced bank balance for a 2 week visit. I’m pleased to report that the Seychelles did not disappoint.
We stayed on the main islands of Mahe, Praslin and La Digue. These are granite islands (granitic) as compared with the outer islands, such as Aldabra, which are made of coral.
For our first 6 days we stayed on Praslin and visited the Vallee de Mai, Cousin island and Curieuse island. The Vallee de Mai nature reserve is a world heritage site and holds the majority of the world population of the Coco de Mer palm. Yes, that’s the one with the erotic nut and catkin! The nut is the largest and heaviest seed of any plant and the catkin is the longest of any plant. Besides the impressive Coco de Mer palms we also saw Black Parrot here. A visit to Cousin island was essential to see some of the rarest endemic birds such as Seychelles Warbler, Seychelles Fody and the enigmatic Seychelles Magpie Robin. However, it was also memorable for the large number of breeding seabirds including Lesser Noddies, Fairy Terns and White-tailed Tropic Birds and for encountering several Giant Tortoises including 200 year old George.
A short boat trip took us to La Digue for 3 days. This was our favourite island as it was small, had few cars and we were able to explore on foot and by bike. We stayed at the La Digue Island Lodge which was conveniently close to the pocket-sized reserve established for the rare and endemic Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher. Also within easy reach were 2 of the most beautiful beaches in the world - Anse Severe and Anse Source D’Argent. We were able to snorkel within metres of where we stayed and also took a boat trip to Coco Island where the snorkelling was superb. On the way back from Coco island we were joined by a small group of Bottle-nosed Dolphins.
All too soon it was time to retrace our steps to Mahe on a day of torrential rain. The following day the sun had returned and we headed to the capital of Seychelles - Victoria. We spent the morning wandering through the botanic gardens on the edge of the capital. Our walk produced a cloud of Flying Foxes circling over their roost site, a selection of the common endemic birds and once more the sad sight of penned Giant Tortoises. In the afternoon we wandered around Victoria itself; highlights included the mini ‘Big Ben’ monument and Cattle Egrets stalking across the fish counter in the market. We hired a tiny car for our last full day. Our first stop was in the hills at La Misere. Here our efforts to find a Seychelles White-eye were unsuccessful, but we did see our only Seychelles Kestrel here. We then continued to the west coast for some excellent snorkelling at Port Launay and watched the sun set over Baie Ternay.
On our last morning there was enough time to stop the taxi for ten minutes of birding as we approached the airport. A quick scan of a spit in the lagoon a few Crab Plovers, Terek Sandpipers and other waders which gave the bird list a late boost.
Many thanks to everyone who gave us advice and help. We would particularly like to thank Adrian Skerrett for lots of useful birding information and everyone at Elite Vacations who organised the holiday for us.