Seychelles

Spending (ten) days in Seychelles is the best experience you can have. It’s idyllic and tropically magnificent, stimulates your senses and intrigues your imagination for the places you haven’t yet visited. Everything you see, smell, hear and feel is unique, raw and unprocessed; a valuable experience everyone should have to appreciate what life really is about – living with your full senses, experiencing consciously what is around you.

The whole island(s) is covered in tropical forests

Living among palm-trees, with a view on the beach

Walk among nature

Enjoy the sky changing colours when the sunset comes! A blend of orange, grey and different shades of blue is beautiful, the sea is calm and the breeze is a refreshing change to the day’s humidity and high temperatures.

Sunset

Fresh fruit and vegetables from the local markets

Enjoying a fresh (!?!) mango juice

The fruit is so fresh, sweet and tasty – you should have a fruit-only diet! Try the mango juice, the pineapple juice and the coconut juice – or a combo! Buy the huge avocado from the market, the papayas which pleasure your taste buds and the weird kiwi-like fruit which tastes weirdly nice. Be adventurous – it’s the best attitude to have in a country that gives you so many things to explore and try. If you don’t try them, you will later regret it greatly.

Walk on the beach, feel your toes sink in the sand and enjoy the rain when it comes – there are not many places in the world where you can enjoy swimming in a warm sea with palm-trees and tropical forests surrounding you, while around it’s raining – you won’t get cold.

Feel the toes sink in the golden sand

If you are lucky, you will experience first hand the locals’ primary source of income – fishing! And it’s done the traditional way: the men go in the deep-ish sea with two fishing boats and throw the nets, each end attached to a long rope which is then attached to each boat. Then the boats come out, and manpower is used to pull the nets out. If it’s a good catch, it takes time but the result is totally worth it.

Pulling the nets out of the sea

Almost there…

After an hour -literally- of pulling, the nets are finally out.

And then you can taste the fish at one of the restaurants that overlook the beach, freshly fished and cooked.

Try the fish platter…

..or king prawns…

..or some of the traditional dishes, such as octopus in carry sauce.

You can even experience the thrill of fishing yourself. Many families run their own business from their fishing boats, where they take tourists out into the sea for a full day of deep-sea fishing. They provide you with all the fishing equipment.

First time fishing – successful! Catching the biggest fish! 😀

I would suggest you choose one which also offers snorkeling in any of the marine national parks (there are many around the Seychellois islands), where you can see a number of different colourful fish, corals, shells and sea-sponge in their natural environment, with no human interference and therefore minimum destruction of the ecosystem.

Feed the fish – they are hungry

For lunch, your hosts may be so kind to cook the fish you just caught, so that you can have a picnic on the beach.

Beach feast

Visit the Botanical gardens in the capital, Victoria, to see the famous coco de mer – the largest coconut in the world – the giant tortoise, the water lillies and the bats.