by Carolyn
There are lots of islands around the world. So it is not surprising that we land on more islands than continents for this particular circumnavigation around the Southern Hemisphere. Of all the landmass on earth, 68% is in the northern hemisphere, so much of the Southern Hemisphere is ocean. Early explorers were convinced there must be a missing southern continent to balance the land up north, but of course there is not.
However, The Seychelles are considered a micro continent, now sitting on its own tiny piece of continental plate that was first pried off the Gondwana supercontinent with India some 167 million years ago, and then separated from India 100 million years later. Today this collection of 115 islands sits 200 miles northeast of Madagascar. It was essentially uninhabited (save a few random pirates) until the 1700’s when the French took control. In 1794, the British took over in a bloodless war when the French administrator declined to fight back. Independence from Britain was granted in 1976 and after some socialist experiments/coup attempts in the 1980’s the parliamentary Seychelles today boasts the highest nominal per capita GDP in Africa.
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| Seychelles International Airport |
We enjoyed a very leisurely three days of pampering at the Four Seasons. The setting for this property, only 10 years old, was dramatic. Imagine a giant amphitheater, with the bay serving as the stage. Up the granite hillsides were the villas, positioned to ensure perfect views and total privacy. We did go “off campus” one morning to visit Le Jardin du Roi, but mostly enjoyed the beach, snorkeling, and a creole cooking class.
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Enjoying the beach
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| Every villa has a view |
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| Cooking class: octopus salad, creole fish curry, banana fritters |
One thing that never ceases to amaze me in tropical locales is the abundance of huge tropical fruit trees. You could live surrounded by avocado, mango, banana, citrus, papaya, coconut, passion fruit, and breadfruits. I mentioned that possibility to a local woman and she laughed and said “it’s great until the fruit bats fly in to fight over the ripening fruit or until it’s dropping on your roof all night.” Speaking of bats, there are loads of them lumbering back and forth across the sky all day. I described Austin’s bats and she was shocked at their small size and asked “so how do you eat them?” I was shocked at that question, but apparently bat is a delicacy in Seychelles. We didn’t see it on the menu at Four Seasons, however.
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| Papaya |
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| Mango |
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| Coconut Palm |
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| Breadfruit |
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| Seychelles fruit bat |
Le Jardin du Roi is a small private spice garden, scratched into another steep hillside overlooking another turquoise bay. It was well marked and the long established spice trees and plants include nutmeg/mace, clove, curry, lemongrass, vanilla, cardamom, ginger, etc. The most famous garden entry is the Coco de Mer, or sea coconut, the Seychelles’ endangered endemic palm which has the world’s largest seed, a buttock shaped monster that weights up to 50 pounds. Since it was Sunday, there was a lunch special of local salads, chicken curry, grilled fish and rice.
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| 200 year old Coco de Mer |
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| Lunch time! |
Seychelles is leading the way in environmental protections, and it shows. They have banned import and use of many single use plastics (straws, bags, take-away boxes, etc.). Forty seven percent of the land area is under legal protection. And, in 2016, through an innovative debt-for-nature swap, the government will increase the country’s marine protection from 0.04% of their Exclusive Economic Zone today to 30% by 2020. Money that previously had to service debt can be placed into a national trust fund disbursing over $600,000 per year to help with marine management. Seychelles' “blue economy”, based on tuna and tourism, depends on a healthy ocean.
