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Seychelles

Eastern Africa

An archipelago of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, split between the granitic inner islands clustered around Mahe, Praslin and La Digue and the low coral atolls that scatter south toward Aldabra. The inner islands hold sculpted granite headlands, calm reef-fringed bays and endemic palm forest, while the outer atolls guard giant tortoises and seabird colonies. Victoria, on Mahe, is one of the smallest capitals in the world.

5 activities · 6 pairings · 10 verified providers

What you can do in Seychelles

Sailing

Inner IslandsApr May Jun Sep Oct NovThe inner islands are built for sailing. Forty-one granitic islands sit close together in warm, sheltered water, so you navigate by sight from one anchorage to the next rather than crossing open ocean. A week under sail links Mahe, Praslin and La Digue with quieter stops at Curieuse, the Sisters, Silhouette and the Sainte Anne marine park, dropping anchor off beaches that have no road to them. Both bareboat and skippered catamarans work here: a Seychelles licence lets qualified crews take the helm themselves, while a hired skipper opens the same route to anyone. The reward is the version of these islands most visitors never see, reached from the water and largely to yourself.

Scuba Diving

Trekking / Hiking

Morne Seychellois National ParkMay Jun Jul Aug SepMorne Seychellois National Park is the wild interior most beach visitors never see. Covering more than a fifth of Mahe, it climbs from mangrove and cinnamon-scented forest to granite ridges and the 905 metre summit of Morne Seychellois, the highest point in the country. A dozen trails thread it, from the short Copolia path that ends on a granite plateau above the Sainte Anne marine park to the demanding, root-tangled scramble to the main summit through dripping mist forest. Along the way you pass endemic pitcher plants, jellyfish trees and the birdsong of the highland forest. The summit trail is steep and easy to lose, so the park authority requires a licensed guide on it, which also turns the walk into a running commentary on the island's plants, history and birds.

Wildlife Safaris

Bird IslandMay Jun Jul Aug Sep OctBird Island is wildlife at close range on an island barely a square kilometre across. From May to October a breeding colony of around 700,000 pairs of sooty terns covers the northern grasslands, a wall of noise and motion you walk straight into, joined by nesting fairy terns and common noddies. Green and hawksbill turtles haul up the beaches to nest, and giant tortoises graze freely across the island, among them Esmeralda, a male once weighed at 298 kilograms and recorded as the heaviest free-roaming tortoise on earth. There is one small lodge and no crowd, no television and no day-tripper traffic, just the tide, the birds and the tortoises. This is the accessible face of Seychelles wildlife, the atoll of Aldabra being far harder to reach.

Witness / Attend

Vallee de MaiMay Jun Jul Aug Sep OctThe Vallee de Mai is a pocket of primeval forest that feels older than everything around it, and for good reason. This 19.5 hectare valley on Praslin is one of only two places on earth where the coco de mer palm grows wild, the species that bears the largest and heaviest seed in the plant kingdom, a double-lobed nut that can top twenty kilograms. Under the canopy live five other endemic palms and the Seychelles black parrot, the national bird, which nests almost nowhere else. General Gordon once argued this was the original Garden of Eden. You come to witness a forest that has changed little in millions of years, walking gravel paths in an hour or two while the endemic palms creak overhead. The Seychelles Islands Foundation, which also guards the far Aldabra atoll, manages the reserve and funds its wardens from entry fees.

Best months at a glance

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Sailing
Scuba Diving
Trekking
Wildlife Safaris
Witness / Attend