Seychelles

The most striking difference between the Maldives and Seychelles was the mountainous terrain. I exhaled relief with the knowledge that I would be hiking, drinking alcohol, and wearing temperature appropriate clothing.

Mahe – first stay

We spent one night on Mahe to orient ourselves and to have a spot to store our big bag for the rest of the trip. We had a lovely view over the island but I was disappointed that the state gray sky followed us to the Seychelles.

La Digue

The next day we took a 1+ hour ferry to La Digue, one of the inner islands. The water was rough so much puking occurred by the other tourists.

The primary mode of transportation on the island was bicycle so we rented a pair and traveled 2/3 around the island until the road ended. Unfortunately most of the trip was done in the pouring rain. We did run into these adorable Aldabra giant tortoises.

The next day we took a bike ride and hiked to a beach.

Then we rode through a plantation of vanilla orchids, parked our bikes, and walked from cove to cove. There were little bars set up at the coves; as well as swings and photo op locations.

Praslin

We had 24 hours on Praslin so we headed out immediately and gave the day 100% of our energy. We took the obligatory public bus to Fond Ferdinand. There was a long guided walk through a jungle landscape of native coco de mer, with lookouts over hills & islands. We saw a Tailless Tenrec (hedgehog family) and the geckos that are part of the palm fertilization process. The palm spiders look terrifying but they don’t hurt you.

We hitched a ride with a German newlywed couple to a trail head and hiked a wild trail. We barely caught the bus back down into town. The red bird is a Red Fody.

Mahe – second stay

We rented a car and it was wild. They drive on the left, we turned the wrong way onto 1-way roads, and there were deep ditches with no railing just off the pavement. I hyperventilated several times.

We toured a tea farm, drove around the island and stopped at a rum distillery. That evening we went to a restaurant that served native food. YUM!

The next day we hiked. It had hand-rails in some places and at the top of the official trail, the wind was howling at 50mph. We then started on the unofficial trail until we couldn’t find the way. BF’s goal was to see pitcher plants which we found a grove of! It was steep and slippery so sadly on the way down, I fell maybe 10 times.

For our last day, we went to the museum and the Victoria Botanical Gardens. The garden specimens were not well labeled nor was it interesting. We then drove around the north side of the island. We saw our only sunset.

Side note: when we left the Maldives, we couldn’t exchange our final $50 so we bought a bottle of high end rum. We had purchased a bottle of passion fruit squash on Malé, so once in the Seychelles, I started mixing those two ingredients daily. Perfect.