Our port of call for today was an island of the Seychelles called Mahe. The city was Victoria, the world’s smallest capital in the world. The population of the 115 islands comprising the Seychelles is 87,500 people. Since there is a blend of British, French, Indian, African, Chinese, and Arab, the main languages are English, French, and Creole. Many of the foreigners were brought over as slaves to work in the spice, sugar, and cotton plantations. So today, the influences of these cultures are reflected in the music, food, and architecture.
The Seychelles are considered a tropical paradise in the Indian Ocean with white sand beaches, intoxicating waters, swaying palms and exotic fruit. The best time to visit is March to May and September to November. What you will find here is the rare coco de mer palms that produce suggestive fruit. More about that later. The Aldabra Atoll is home to 150,000 giant tortoises, and the entire area is famous for abundant seafood. Besides diving, snorkeling, boating, and spending time on the most gorgeous beaches, it is recommended to do “nothing” if you wish. As long as it is sitting on lounges on one of the remote beautiful beaches.
What is there to eat? Two items called trouloulou and teck teck are local varieties of shellfish. Trademarks are giant tortoises, coco de mer palms, fairy-tale beaches, and coral atolls. The local drink is called calou, a potent palm wine.
Five tours were offered through shore excursions today. Three of them were island tours, while the other two were boat excursions. They ran from 3 ½ to 7 ½ hours for $115 to $200. And we have taken most of these over the years. We had a good idea where we wanted to spend most of our time today. but we would do it on our own.
The Amsterdam sailed into the port off Victoria somewhere around 9:30am. Nice, because we were able to watch the sail into the harbor from the lower promenade deck for a change. Seems like we were just here, although we think the last time we stopped here was in 2014. Not much had changed, except for more communities built near the water.
Greeted by a band and a team of island dancers, we went off of the ship right behind the first groups that were going on an all day tour. There was no shuttle today, because the downtown was a favorable distance from the dock location. The bad thing was that it was going to be a most humid and hot day, and a shuttle bus would have saved the folks at least a mile of walking in that heat. There were a number of taxis to take the independent guests anywhere they wished.
Taking two bottles of water with us, we headed for the Botanical Gardens, turning left at the roundabout. It was perhaps a ¼ mile up the road and through a gate. The fee to get in was 100 Seychelle rupees, or $20 USD, or 15 euro for both of us. At 13 rupee to the $1 USD, we feel that the fee taker took advantage of that transaction. Or the rate for the rupee to the US dollar had changed since they printed our port guide. Compared to what people were paying for the tours that included this garden, we realized that we were getting a bargain.
The Botanical Gardens is built on a steep hillside and has well over 200 species of indigenous plants and trees. Some of the unusual ones has to be the elephant apple tree, the octopus tree, and the coco de mer palms. Some of the animal life we saw were white-tailed tropicbirds, fruit bats, a hawk, terns, and geese. We did spot a few interesting lizards. But the best sighting was the group of tortoises in a new enclosure up higher in the park. At the old tortoise site, a handful of them were in a pit. We were welcomed to walk among them, and even feed them. We remembered that well, since if you were not quick enough to hand them a leaf, they would chew on your clothes, or even nip at your legs. Today, we watched the males “chase” the females to mate with them. When motivated, these large tortoises can move pretty fast. When they connected, they would let out a grunt that drew laughs from the crowd. No privacy at all. If you wanted to hand feed these animals, you had to pay 50 rupee (about $5USD) to do that. Otherwise, you could not go into the enclosure with them. We did get some good photos of the man that did go in.
Following the map of the layout, we went up as high as we could go, then worked our way down to each segment of the park. By the time we spent over an hour here, we were totally soaked from the heat. Seriously over-heated was more like it. There were many benches everywhere, so we took advantage of most of them just to cool down. We passed by many people we knew from the ship, as they were led in groups of 20 by a guide. Many were struggling as this part of their tour was not for wimps. Considering the age and ability of some of the guests, the guides took them on the easier paths. We were so glad to be here with time to explore and take any path we chose, Even of it turned out full of steep and uneven stairs or tree roots. We saw it all.
A few things stood out among the sites. It had to be the birds we saw. Although they were small in number, we did spot a couple of white-tailed tropicbirds. They are so pretty and graceful in flight. So are the white tern, which are more abundant. One tree that was the highest in the canopy housed dozens of large fruit bats, most of whom were cooling their bodies with spread wings while hanging upside down. One hawk soared overhead, and we saw two dark chubby lizards under our feet. The heat was so intense today, even the lizards barely moved out of our way.
The thought of cold beer and perhaps a pizza stood out in our minds. So we made our way downhill towards the center of town. Passing the National Library Building, we noticed several cruise passengers talking on their cell phones. Not so much on computers though. Later we learned that they did get some free internet, however, after ½ hour they were cut off. This is the area that has a row of wooden shacks offering a variety of island souvenirs. Treasures like pareos, hand bags, t-shirts, and everything “seashell”, we could have been in the middle of Honolulu, and be seeing the identical items. And just about as expensive.
We came upon the Clock Tower (1903) called Little Ben, as it is a replica of the clock tower outside the Victoria Station in London. This conservative clock was erected to celebrate the Seychelles becoming an English colony. All of the streets in central downtown house some of the pastel-painted wooden houses with corrugated tin roofs and wrought-iron balconies. Walking further, we saw the Old Courthouse and the Museum of Natural History. Many modern buildings dwarfed the old structures.
The biggest disappointment of the day was finding that the second-story restaurant/bar we had found pizza and beers was closed. There was no sign suggesting that it would open later in the evening either. Looking up and down every street, we found no cafes or bars anywhere. Darn…….
Following the map we get from the ship was a waste of time. Where a pub with food was listed, there was a new construction going up, fenced for an entire block. And since today was a Saturday, most all of the shops had closed for the day at 12:30pm.
At this point, we decided we needed more to drink than the two bottles of water we had brought with us. Remembering there were a couple of places near the small boat marina near the Jardin des Infants, we located one quayside bar to get a Seybrew beer. They were ½ liter size and cost 5 euro each. The only food available was take-out Chinese, and only the locals were ordering it. In fact, the only guests here were local fishermen.
We made our way back to the ship and the wonderful cool air-conditioning. But not before going through the few tented tables of Seychelle souvenirs. The vendors had a few t-shirts left, but mostly in all of the wrong sizes. Seeing a cotton pareo with the print of tropicbirds on it was also a possibility. But when seeing at closer inspection that it had a hole in it, the vendor would not go down any more than $1 less. She added that she had dyed the fabric from beige to turquoise, because it was soiled. Really? Once it was washed, the color would probably fade once again. Nope, she was welcomed to sell it to someone with less than perfect eyesight. So we walked away with nothing. By the way, the very same silk-like poncho tops were being sold here for $16USD. These were $5 in Phuket.
The best bet for lunch was an order from the Dive-In Grill. It was a burger and hot dog for us again, eating in the coolness of our room, and catching up on photo sorting.
Going up to deck nine at sunset, we found it had cooled down a tad, but the breeze had stopped. Not one of the eight wind generators were operating now. Guests were arriving back from the all day tour, and heading straight for the souvenir tents. Few folks were walking towards town, mainly because most everything was closed for the day. While we were taking the last of the photos of the day, we heard a nearby mosque sounding their minarets with the daily prayer. A reminder of the varied religions of this region.
All aboard was 10:30pm, so there was no sail away festivities. Dinner found only five of us present. Brenda had returned from her epic journey to the Taj Mahal, but did not come to dinner. Understandable, she had been traveling non-stop by bus and plane for 6 days. It’s hard work traveling.
There was a local performance called Creole Cultural Cabaret in the Queen’s Lounge at 9:30pm, one show only. It showcased the culture and tradition of the Seychelles. Nice again, we had not finished dinner, so most of us missed it.
The message of the evening read: Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport. Author: Unknown. This may have to be amended since with the introduction of electronic scanning, most stamps in a passport book are not stamps anymore.
Bill & Mary Ann
Coming into the Seychelle Islands
Possibly Praslin Island in the distance
Islets near the island of Mahe
Island in the distance
Good place for snorkeling
We were still an hour away
Coming into the harbor of Victoria
Wind generators are fairly new to Mahe
A mountainous region
