Tag Archives: Seychelles

Culture of the Seychelles – exemplary story

Let me show you how men and women tick on the Seychelles

First of all there are two to three times more women than men. This leads to a fight for being the Gorillas wife. One can imagine how pleased men are to see that they are such a high quoted human capital. They sometimes walk around proud, aware of their power and the possibilities they have. Nevertheless they are nice and handsome and it’s not their fault being educated like that, encouraged by current circumstances.

Another good point is, that most of the Seychelloise are Catholic, but don’t transfer their belief into daily life. This affects values regarding family and relationship. 50-60% of all born children are without married parents. Often the father doesn’t even know his child. Their openness and relaxing view on bonds, commitments and exclusivity make it a fascinating and colourful situation shown here:

A 50 year old, wealthy businessman is married to a US lady since 20 years. During his marriage and before he had several mistresses, but this is public and known by his wife. He had one child with a lady before he got married and still “makes love” with her. This lady is still involved in his business. During his marriage he had another 3 children with his different mistresses. Now what happened? He is father of 6.5 children, two with his US wife. Continue Reading →

3 Recommendations for Praslin, Seychelles

Praslin is the second biggest island of the Seychelles. Funnily it’s naturwise and from the infrastructure in the middle between Mahé and La Digue. On Praslin one needs a rental car to discover the Bacardi beach or the Nature Park. The busses stop sometimes far away from the main spots and you should like to walk, if you choose this way of transport. Continue Reading →

La Digue on the Seychelles – let’s have a cycling tour

The Seychelles consist of many different islands. One of the calmer ones is La Digue. Only 3x2km big it’s easy to orientate yourself. A broad diversity of hotels and guesthouses with varying prices make it easy for everyone’s budget. Although the Seychelles and especially La Digue are not a budget friendly destination. Nevertheless La Digue on the Seychelles is the perfect place for enjoying time on the beach and do cycling tours. There are only taxis or construction trucks. And many many bicycles.

The bike rental companies rent also children bikes. Nevertheless we took 2 bikes with baby seat to be flexible enough if the older one complains. It happened that we locked her bike on a fence and she went on on my back seat.

Unfortunately you can’t surround the whole island La Digue, but you can go until a certain point to the east. On mostly plastered streets through tropical forest, jungle and directly next to the sea it is awesome to cycle around. Rarely hills make it even easier.

On our way to the east via La Passe we made some discoveries: giant turtles and bats just next to us. In the forest we saw lizards and giant crabs, common animals on the Seychelles. Continue Reading →

Overview La Digue Seychelles

When you arrive in La Digue, Seychelles, it’s only via ferry. So the port became the center. All signs saying “Jetty” lead you the way there. But please don’t compare this port to the ones you know from other islands. It’s more or less one landing stage, some nice catamarans in the water and few speed boats. Under the trees there is the main meeting point. Locals and tourists enjoy the shade and have a chat.

Directly at the port are several bike rentals. A normal bike is 100SR per day, one with a child seat at the back 150SR. But there are also bikes with 3 wheels for those who’d like to have it more comfortable. Most of the bikes are equipped with a basket at the back or front to store you’re beach utensils. We made very good experiences with Neddy, 254 6193. [email protected]. On our third day I had a puncture in the wheel. He came immediately to the port, although he wasn’t working on that day. After 15min the wheel was changed and we’ve been on the road again.

Other transportation possibilities is the Ox cart. Surely an adventure, driving slowly in an ancient way over the island.

The most modern way is a taxi. It’s about 150-200SR. Unfortunately they drive very fast for a mostly car free island. At the times when the ferry arrives it’s a nightmare having the taxis going 20 times from the port to the hotel and back.

Continue Reading →

Boat trip to Ile Coco and Ile Felicite Seychelles, La Digue

Boat trip to Ile Coco and Ile Felicite on the Seychelles

La Digue is well known for its rich underwater world. Many divers come here to spend their days in the big aquarium called Indian Ocean. Different diving schools are located, one of them just 50m next to the Port. One dive is about 55€, but they often go out for two dives in a row weather you booked one or two, you need to wait.

A more family oriented trip is a half or full day trip to Ile Coco and Ile Felicité. We did it with Belle Petra Catamaran Tours. They were really relaxed and very friendly. The half day trip is 50€, the full day trip including lunch 110€. Children are free of charge. One trip starts at 9am, one at 1pm. The contact details are: +248 423 43 02 or [email protected]

Ile Coco

We have been on the speed boat with four other persons. There was a lot of space and we didn’t feel like on a crowded tourist boat. First the cruise goes to Ile Coco to spend 1.5h there. It’s only 15minutes away. One can snorkel or wander around the island. We had some biscuits with us and fed the fishes wile standing in the water. Unbelievable, but there even came a small shark around to see why all the small fishes spend their time with us.

Ile Coco is a very small island without any inhabitants. It is mostly visited by day guests who come around to spend relaxing time there. There’s no reef around so the waves might make it a little difficult to walk into the water. Nevertheless everyone there enjoyed it and we were snorkeling with the kids. Luckily we brought snorkeling equipment for our kids with us. They provide only for adults. For our 2year old daughter we even had a life jacket with us, on the boat are ones but starting only as from 4year old size.

Ile Felicité

After a 10minute drive we arrived in front of Ile Felicite. This island is known for its turtles living there. According to the skipper they are always here. And so it was not surprising that we saw one:

The water is maybe 2.3m deep and the visibility is just unreal. Even from the boat you can watch the colourful fishes. Our 2 left packages of biscuits were eaten by these fishes. Laughing little daughter made it impossible to eat them by ourselves. She had so much fun watching purple-turquoise-striped fishes.

So my recommendations after this day are:

Take enough suncream and sun protection clothes with you.
Have bread with you for feeding the fishes.
Get some food and drinks for yourself (at a half day cruise)
Choose which time is more convenient. If your child takes a nap maybe the morning is better.
Train your children above 4 to use snorkel equipment or at least goggles and take them with you.
Go only on sunny days. The visibility is much less when it’s cloudy or rainy.
Enjoy your time!

Boat trips are tiring. We needed to have ice cream afterwards, soon dinner and bedtime was early.

Anse Source d`Argent La Digue, Seychelles, one of the best beaches worldwide

There’s one must see on La Digue (Seychelles): Anse Source d’Argent. If you see a picture of the Seychelles the probability that it’s this beach is quite high. Located in a nature park it costs 100SR (approx. 8€) to get in. Preferably by bicycle, as the way from the entrance to the beach takes at least 3minutes. In our traveller mind a nature park is a bit different from a Domaine where Vanilla is planted. Nevertheless: It’s like this, one rides through the Domaine on sandy streets until he reaches the beach. There the bike has to be left. We haven’t locked it, as everyone rides anyway his bike and stealing on such a small island won’t be very successful. Continue Reading →

Seychelles: Ferry from Mahe to La Digue

We arrived late evening on Mahe, the biggest island of the Seychelles. Our one night stay had to be at Chez Batista, which has the perfect view to wake up in a good mood. Having breakfast with the feet in the sand and only 30m away from the sea is wonderful. They provided yummy fruit salad with Passionfruit, Mango, Papaya and several others. Not to forget the omelet and pancakes.

The location is breathtaking!

Next morning we took the ferry via Praslin to La Digue. It is 1060 SR for adults and 570 SR for children. No need to book in advance. In Praslin one needs to change the ferrys and unfortunately carry their luggage from one ferry to the other. Not so convenient organized if you travel with two small children and a lot of luggage. After 1,5h we arrived on La Digue. The ferry itself is of high standard. One almost feels like in a plane. There’s a small cafeteria inside, selling drinks.

Another option is to fly from Mahé to La Digue or Praslin. Tickets are even bookable 1h before take off online at Air Seychelles.

La Digue island is only 3kmx2km “big”. Taxis are allowed there, otherwise everyone rides bicycles or walks. There’s no far distance 😉 For children it is perfect here! Being safe all the time and having the beach to play makes it relaxing for everyone. The best beach is Anse Source d’Argent. It was many times the best beach worldwide.

The Seychelloise know that they live in Paradise – this is reflected in their prices. Accommodation and food is far away from western standard or price level. We rented a 120sqm house, called Kaz Ladouceur, on a small hill with seaview and 3 bedrooms. As a befriended family accompanies it was important to have enough space for 3 children, a own kitchen and 3 bedrooms. At our arrival the owner had prepared the whole villa very friendly and showed us around to make us feel comfortable. Nevertheless it feels a bit odd to stay in someone elses house who didn’t tidy up his belongings. The washing is still on the terrasse, medicine lying around and no key to lock the front door. For over 300€ per night we expected a bit more, as a cleaner in the hotel earns only 250€ per month. Anyway, today we drove around on our rented bikes (6€ per bike per day) and explored the island. We had the impression that other houses are still worse and don’t provide the space and convenience than ours.

Where have you made similar experiences? Share in the comments.

Ants in our pants

A family travel blog