Travel to The Seychelles – Episode 563
categories: africa travel
Hear about travel to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jennifer Dombrowski of luxeadventuretraveler.com about her recent trip to this island paradise.
Jennifer says, “The Seychelles is a really interesting destination. People who know of the Seychelles tend to group it together with the Maldives and Mauritius. All of these destinations are really known for stupendously gorgeous beaches. That’s absolutely true, but the Seychelles has a lot of unique things that I discovered on our trip and so much more beyond the beach.”
The Seychelles is home to the 2nd largest tortoise population on the planet (after the Galapagos Islands). These are a different breed and slightly smaller. They come from an island called the Aldabra island which you won’t be able to visit. But on Fregate island they have a population of 4,000 Aldabra tortoises.
Fregate Island is a private luxury resort where one of the beaches was recently named one of the best beaches in the world. It was also one of the places that Jennifer and her husband stayed during their visit.
While she loved the resort on Fregate Island, Jennifer also describes more affordable accommodations on the main island of Mahé, especially on man-made Eden Island.
Mahé also has a UNESCO World Heritage site: the Mission Ruins of Venn’s Town. Much of the native population of the Seychelles came from Africa. Their ancestors were brought as slaves to the Seychelles. When slavery was eventually abolished a mission was founded at Venn’s Town to prepare the slaves for life after slavery.
Jennifer describes some of her favorite beaches as well as some of the diving around the Seychelles. She recommends a couple of day trips from Mahé to nearby Praslin Island and the Vallée de Ma Nature Preserve as well as to the island of La Digue. Both can be reached by ferry.
Come hear why the Seychelles often makes the list of best beaches, but also hear what to do apart from the beaches on these beautiful islands.
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Show Notes
luxeadventuretraveler.com
The Seychelles
Travel to the Maldives – Episode 500
Travel to Bordeaux, France – Episode 536
Aldabra giant tortoise
Fregate Island Private
Fregate Island Private: Unique on Earth
5 Reasons to Skip the Beach in Mahé, Seychelles
Beach “Grand Anse”
Big Blue Divers
Eden Island
Hotels Near Eden Island, Seychelles
Eden Bleu Hotel
Bravo Restaurant
Mission Ruins of Venn’s Town
Praslin Island
Vallée de Ma Nature Preserve
La Digue
Seychelles giant millipede
Community
Hello Chris!
This is my first time writing to you, and it is long overdue. I started listening to The Amateur Traveller about this time last year while preparing for a trip to Poland. Your episodes on Poland in general, but especially Kraków where highly informative, and I saw many of the sites and traditions that were referenced. I have been a big fan of the show ever since!
Later this year (October) I am planning a five day trip to Cancun, Mexico; and I have just started planning a trip by rail to the major European capitals and cities for next summer. Do you have any episodes in the archive that I could reference before finalizing my plans on these trips? I have listened to episodes on individual cities, such as a recent one on Geneva, Switzerland, but I was hoping you might have something more specific.
Thank you again for the exciting and tantalizing episodes that help me pass the time while I’m at work, in the garden, or jogging down the road. The only “problem” with your podcast is that it constantly gives me new ideas of where to go next!
Sincerely,
Caleb
Driving the Ruta Puuc in Mexco’s Yucatan Peninsula
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by Chris Christensen
Chris Christensen is the creator of the Amateur Traveler blog and podcast. He has been a travel creator since 2005 and has won awards including being named the "Best Independent Travel Journalist" by Travel+Leisure Magazine.+Chris Christensen | @chris2x | facebook
2 Responses to “Travel to The Seychelles – Episode 563”
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Tags: audio travel podcast, podcast, scuba, seychelles, snorkel
Cindy
Says:June 18th, 2017 at 9:17 pm
Hi, Chris!
Just listened to your show on the Seychelles – what a treat to take a trip back to these beautiful islands, if only in my mind!
Jennifer did a great job of covering what to do on the two islands she visited. For example – she is TOTALLY correct about not driving across the mountains at night. It is a LOT farther than it looks and all of it is on steep, poorly graded roads with blind curves, switchbacks, and startling drop-offs. We did it because, hey, how bad could it be? The answer is “pretty bad.” Of course that’s the sort of experience that makes for great travel stories if it doesn’t kill you. (And we got to meet a few characters as we tried to figure out exactly how to get the car back on the road again.)
A few things to add to Jennifer’s comments:
• For those who can’t afford to stay at Fregate Island, day trippers can get up close and personal with lots of Aldabra tortoises at the nature reserve on Curieuse Island. (There is also a great beach here.)
• Bird watchers can make a day trip to protected and undeveloped Cousin Island (not to be confused with Cousine Island, which is a private luxury resort island). It’s not quite the Galapagos, but you can get pretty close to many of the birds.
• The Vallée de Mai on Praslin is a UNESCO World Heritage Site most famous as the home of the coco de mer (an ancient form of giant palm that only grows in the Seychelles). It’s an interesting mountainous jungle.
• Besides its fabled beaches, La Digue has a fun little town and a few historic sites. Everyone gets around by bike, and it is a great place to spend a few days. (This was my favorite island and I can’t tell you how fortunate – smug – we felt in the evening as we drank our sundowners while the day trippers boarded the ferry back to Mahe.)
• There are some smaller, more affordable hotels on Mahe and La Digue. We found a lovely spot for not much money on Mahe – it even had a wonderful restaurant. You do have to look harder and you’ll probably need a car. (Driving isn’t bad if you aren’t crossing the mountains.)
• Speaking of cars, when renting a car on Mahe always check the gas immediately. Rental cars are sent out and returned with an empty gas tank and there are only a couple of gas stations (one of which never seems to be open) on the entire island. When the rental agent tells you where the gas station is, pay attention or you may have a few more of those misadventure stories to share.
• The best way to see the islands is via boat. As Jennifer said, the ferry system makes it possible to move between the most touristed islands. There are also lots of sailboats available for charter in the islands (with or without captains, depending on your sailing skills) and occasionally there are bareboat sailing tours (that’s how we visited). There is also a company that does reasonably priced week-long sailing tours of the island using classic tall ships.
As usual, a great show about a wonderful place.
Cindy
ExplorationVacation.net
Nwaoduh Ezinna
Says:June 10th, 2018 at 9:55 pm
Seychelles like most of Africa’s top travel destination is unique from the breath-taking beaches to the amazing hospitality, you immediately just fall in love with the continent. I have been to Kenya and most of Africa and I realized that travel when well planned is not as expensive as it seems. Thanks Chris 🙂