After a tiring week creating the universe, the earth and us, God rested. And being God, he foresaw that one day there would be war and high-rise buildings and traffic and technology that would speed up human life beyond endurance. And he said: “Let there be the Seychelles.”
These 92 islands and islets, spread over a wide area of the Indian Ocean, have a number of cunning design features to force type-A personalities to relax. The air wraps you in a steamy blanket as you get off the plane, physically slowing you down and sapping your will to do anything except nap, swim and laze on the beach. Then there’s the sea – prerequisite turquoise, lukewarm and gently rocking. Watersports abound.
Mahe, the main island that houses the capital, Victoria, is hilly, green and leafy, and the other islands are sandy strips, sometimes just a stroll long, or coral reefs. Early explorers thought the islands were the Garden of Eden, obviously basing this theory on the fact that they have no poisonous snakes or stinging, biting insects, not even the ubiquitous mosquito. Today they are largely crime-free and the biggest cause of death is coconuts falling on unwary heads.
The downside to this is that there is nothing else to do except go to the beach or rent one of the little Noddy cars that tool around Mahe and drive to a tea plantation and back.
The Seychelles has styled itself as a package-tour destination at the upper end of the European market, so there is a great gulf between the tourist world and the subsistence existence of the largely Creole population. This results in little accessible “culture”, apart from the odd performance by Creole groups at the hotels.
Be warned: the Seychelles is not a backpacker destination. The plane gets in late and, as one unwary German student found, there are no tourist bureaux or taxis to take you to a convenient pension or hostel.
However, tour operator Seyunique does quite a nice selection of packages, usually featuring a guest house with shared kitchen and breakfast, or self-catering accommodation.
Avoid hotels, unless you can stomach paying R8 for every coke or mineral water – and you’ll drink a lot of them in that heat, believe me. Also, you may inadvertently choose one that believes no holiday is complete without a disco pumping out Eurovision song contest favourites at hundreds of decibels every night.
Also check that you are near to local restaurants and the mini-stores that serve as supermarkets to the locals. Mahe’s Beau Vallon Bay fits the bill – a long palm- treed beach, restaurant planted in the sand a few feet from the sea, delicious Creole fish dishes and the moon rising in just the right position, over the sea. Certainly God had a little help from Sol Kerzner. – Lesley Cowling
Runion
This an island that offers a lot as a tourist destination – if you can afford French francs.
Being an overseas dpartement of France, the island is going as a little piece of France in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The prime tourist area, round Saint-Gilles on the east coast, offers all the pleasures of the Cte d’Azur, from calm beaches protected by coral reefs to active pursuits such as snorkelling, paragliding and big- game fishing.
Going beyond Saint-Gilles and the capital, Saint-Denis, one gets a different sense of the island. The majority of the population is Creole, mixed-blood, though there are also significant Indian and Chinese groups.
All these have influenced the island’s cuisine, whether in the form of the spicy rougail dishes or the candied fruits on sale at the markets. (Don’t expect eggs and bacon at your hotel for breakfast – this is France, remember, and croissants are the rule.)
The island’s centre is fascinating – the valleys high up in the mountains, formed three million years ago by volcanic eruptions, are stunningly beautiful. You can also visit an active volcanic area, taking a few hours’ walk through a landscape of volcanic rock to a large extinct crater, from where you can see the smaller volcano that erupted in March this year.
You can get a sense of the whole island in an hour if you can afford to take an expensive (about R1 200) helicopter trip. It whooshes you from Saint-Gilles over the volcanic valleys and deep ravines with some breathtaking manoeuvres.
There is always something happening in Runion, from film festivals to music jamborees. If you speak no French, however, you may find travelling there a little stressful. – Shaun de Waal
Mauritius
Mauritius is still the island of choice for most South Africans, and package tours abound. Very few packages include guest houses and self-catering accomodation, and 98% of the packages taken are to resorts or hotels. Travel agents say that sometimes people want to use their Voyager miles to Mauritius and book a hotel or resort separately, but this works out to much the same price as a package that includes airfare.
However, there are alternatives to the sanitised resort bristling with activities and other South Africans. Visiting Mauritius by cruise ship, for example, allows you to disembark at Port Louis and bus around with the locals. Or travel agents can help you find the rare self-catering deal.
Every year the Hindu festival of Maha Shivarathee draws visitors on pilgrimage to the beautiful temples in Grand Bassin. The festival takes place at the end of February.