Mahe, Seychelles

Paradise! Simply Paradise!

Victoria Harbor, Mahe, Seychelles

My first sighting of a Seychelle island. Perfect for one who really wants to get away from it all,

One of thousands of majestic palms

Dedicated monument to the children of Venn'stown

An almost ready to harvest field of tea.

Tea, Anyone?

A shot of turtle island from high atop another mountain peak.

Along the pathway to see the tortoises

My excursion of choice on this most glorious of days on undoubtedly the most beautiful of all islands in the world was "Botanical Gardens & Mission Lodge" described chiefly as scenic drives along various roads. The other choices were mainly snorkeling and/or beach, not my thing. Did I ever make the right decision here!

Victoria, located on the island of Mahe, Seychelles is the capital city of Seychelles, a former British province and still proudly British. (Translation: we would be traveling on the wrong side of the road all day. Not going to be comfortable with that.) Our guide for the tour was a beautiful woman perhaps in her fifties who was born on the island, the oldest of eight children. Once she had determined all her charges for the day were on board, she said "Welcome to my island paradise!" The pride she took in her homeland was evident and she wanted all of us to love it as much as she does. She sold me! Unmatched splendor was at every turn. Any shot was picture postcard quality. I simply cannot imagine that the Garden of Eden was any more spectacular. Our first stop was to be the mission lodge via Sans soucis road, after navigating our way through downtown Victoria and Seychelles version of Big Bend - a carbon copy of the original in London only downsized. The capital city was relatively small, clean, prosperous looking, well maintained streets, liter & homeless free. A nice introduction to her homeland. In no time at all we were out of the city enjoying breathtakingly beautiful scenery. Located near the equator, there are no seasons other than rainy and not rainy. We were in not rainy season yet we were sprinkled on several times throughout the day. The mist merely added to the beauty. Our gracious guide whose name I did not hear informed us that 90% of the cinnamon trees in the world were in Seychelles. Further, that for some two hundred years or so, cinnamon exportation was their primary source of revenue. Now it is tourism except for the Covid years when they reverted back to cinnamon. "As soon as Covid is over, we forget cinnamon again." Education is free and mandatory until University where one must pay to persue four courses of study: Tourism, accounting, law and for the life of me I cannot remember the fourth. By the time she got to the fourth, I was still pondering the fact that she had started with tourism. Interesting! No medicine, engineering, technology, science? Perhaps one of these was the fourth. I cannot say.

We were all captivated by the views as we traveled up this narrow switchback road when our bus slowed to a stop in the midst of a curve. Our guide pointed out a substantial mahogany gate with the numbers 1 7 7 6 attached. This was the home of Seychelles' first US Ambassador. After all too short a time we arrived at Mission Lodge where we all happily disembarked for a short climb up the peak to what remains of the viewing lodge where Queen Elizabeth had tea March 20, 1972. At least according to the sign posted thereby. Her reason for visiting the site was not for the view, although she could not possibly have failed to enjoy it, but to visit the mission - as was ours. The history of the mission is that in the 17th and 18th centuries Portuguese and Dutch trading ships captured young African children as they were playing along the beaches of the Mediterranean and brought them to Seychelles where they were sold. Neither these children nor their descendants were taught to read or write until the Anglican missionary built this school for 37 children of the recently liberated slaves in 1886. The school operated for thirteen years at this location. Work is currently underway to recreate the actual school/mission.

From here we continued our travel up this step granite mountain to a tea plantation, passing fields and fields of tea plants which had just been harvested, harvested a couple of weeks previously, and almost ready to harvest. Ultimately we arrived at our destination, "Tea Time Gift Shop and Restaurant" but alas they were closed. Totally undeterred we proceeded to help ourselves to a refreshing drink from the ice chest our guide had brought along, pose for pictures pouring tea into a giant cup, and of course more picture postcard shots of the panoramic view. We saw several apparent employees around, but all pleas to open the gift shop fell on deaf ears. Or perhaps we simply were not speaking their language. English, French, Creole in addition to numerous local dialects are spoken in Seychelles. Sorry, Becki, I was unable to purchase any exotic teas for you.

Back aboard our bus we travel safely down the mountainside to the Botanical Gardens. Everything in Victoria seems to have the same operating hours, 9 to 5 weekdays. Oops, we arrive at the gate at exactly 4:59. The gate was locked. At least until our guide proceeded to have a serious conversation with the gatekeeper who graciously awarded us with 20 minutes to visit the giant tortoises. A short hike along a bricked pathway lead us to the tortoise habitat where we found a dozen or more of these creatures tucked in for the night. Amazing creatures but not as large as the free range ones on Galapagos Islands. Lush gardens surrounded us at every turn with some very pretty foliage and flowers. I could have spent hours and hours here.

I shall be eternally grateful for the very skilled driver who negotiated those hairpin turns on very narrow, sometimes slippery roads without a bobble! Thank you, sir! And to our gracious hostess who shared her love of her homeland with us this day. Viva, Seychelles!!!!!

Today Is Someday! Plan a trip to Seychelles SOON!