Victoria, Mahe in the Seychelles 94f sunny with rain showers
The Seychelles is an African Island country. The smallest African country, it consists of approximately 150 islands and coral atolls. Most are not inhabited, and many are designated as nature reserves. It is located near Madagascar in the Somali Sea section of the Indian Ocean. Victoria is the capital city, located on the island of Mahe with a population of around 30,000. Not only is it the smallest African country but also the youngest. The median age of the population is the mid 30’s. Land mass is approximately 176 sq miles with a population of a little more than 106,000.
The Seychelles remained uninhabited until the mid 18th century when the Europeans arrived with Indians and African slaves. Having no indigenous population, the Seychellois population is a multicultural mix of French, British, Chinese, Indian and African.
It was a British Crown Colony from 1814 until they achieved independence in 1974. After a coup and several attempted coups, the Seychelles is considered a democracy, has the least corrupt government in African and ranks high in a variety of lists such as adult literacy, democratic government, human rights and environmental protection.
The economy started as agriculture as part of the plantation era (vanilla, cinnamon, coconuts) but has grown to include tourism, fishing, processing and banking among others. There is a canned tuna processing plant in the harbor.
Tourism increased in the 1970’s as the Seychelles became the place for the rich and famous to play. There are many 5 star resorts around the island as well as smaller locally owned hotels, B&B etc. Tourism has helped to grow their economy but has brought several problems that the country is trying to address. The 5 star resorts obtaining tax breaks will generally bring their own workers to staff the resorts so the increase in job opportunities for the Seychellois have not always appeared as expected. As wealthy individuals and countries buy land and build mansions, the Seychellois are being priced out of the market of land and home ownership.
We docked pretty close to the downtown area. Here are some port pictures as well as a picture of some of the wind turbines in use. I believe they were a gift from China.
During my tour, we first popped into the Botanical gardens. I was told the must ‘sees’ were the indigenous Coca de Mer palm and the Aldabra giant tortoise. The Seychelles is also home to a number of indigenous birds living on some of the other islands in the country.
The Coca de Mer indigenous to only 2 islands in the Seychelle is nicknamed the ‘love nut’ as it produces a double coconut seed that looks like buttocks. It produces the heaviest nut in the world which has prevented the spread of the tree by either water/waves (it sinks) and it is too heavy for a bird to carry in flight.
One can envision the reference to buttocks in the dried seed.
As the fruit stalk grows from the tree, multiple nuts are produced. There are male and female species of the palm. If you look closely at the top of the nodule there is a small yellow opening at the top. When this opening occurs, the nodule is ready to be pollinated and if that occurs, another coconut will form. The fruit can take 7 years to mature and can weigh more than 30-50 lbs.
I realized my photos of the tortoises do not give a good impression of their size. The females will reach 300 lbs and the males can reach 400 lbs reaching 36/48 inches in length. We were able to enter their area and feed them.
My guide looks at me and says ‘did you know these tortoise love having their necks scratched?’ I watched him for a minute and was all in. Similar to petting a dog and finding the ‘right spot’, not only did they stretch their neck out so you could scratch all of it but, they raised up kind of like on tippy toes to encourage you to continue. It was raining a little and her shell and head were a little splotchy.
Back in town there were a few interesting buildings from the planation era in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. They do not have a long history to have an old town. Here are a few buildings. It was a Sunday so the main markets weren’t open either. First is the main government building from the late 1800’s
The statue was a drinking water fountain dedicated to Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1900. I was told that on top of the fountain is the smallest statue of Queen Victoria in the world.
The clock tower in the main roundabout is modeled after Big Ben in London. Fun fact – it was originally painted black but so many people were driving into it at night that it was repainted silver.
The main draw to the Seychelles is their beaches and they certainly have pretty views and nice beaches. All the beaches are considered public.
For lunch, I asked to stop at a restaurant that my guide would take his family or visitors to - no resorts. We stopped at small local restaurant that was across the street from the sea. A light breeze, the sound of the waves and a plate of shrimp curry in coconut milk with shredded papaya salad, rice and creamed lentils was a combination of various cultures found on the island. Very tasty- the curry sauce was well spiced but not hot, very creamy. The papaya salad was unripe fruit so is was crunchy and like a coleslaw. The lentils were cooked to a creaminess but still retained some of its bean shape.
The islands are mountainous and are granite, not volcanic. We traveled through some mountains as we travelled back to port. Very nice lookouts, the temperature was noticeably cooler the higher we went. The undergrowth was extremely dense due to all the rain. And there were tea farms and cinnamon trees all along the way with some nice overlooks. First is an overlook of Turtle island - the large island in the middle. The head is on the right, then the shell and finally the tail on the left.
Bonsour tale !
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