The Real Seychelles: tips & stories

I believe in the power of words and storytelling. This is why I like to write about what I see and what I have experienced.

When I travel, I love to go to where the locals go, talk to people, and listen to what they say, their experiences, and their way of seeing life.

For this reason, I decided to write a short tale about the real Seychelles and my life there.

1. Pace of Life

Most of all, what I really found incredible in the Seychelles is the slow pace of time; they do not rush anywhere, just live life day after day.

I want to relay to you one of the experiences that made me think a lot and show me how the rhythm of life really is.

I stayed in one of the nicest hotels in Anse Kerlan. As mentioned previously, all these places are public and have no fences to delimit a specific space. Next to the hotel, there was a small little house, a bit derelict, so I thought it was used as storage for surfers.

On the second day of my stay, I went closer, I saw some clothes hanging out to dry, and I realized that an entire family was living there. Then, from the house, an old man came out carrying a young boy by hand, and they sat on a wooden bench in front of the sea. I heard the man talking while the child was sitting and walking around on the beach. They spend half a day there sitting and enjoying the scenery.

Every day of my week, I went there, and every day of the week, the scene was repeated. I spent some time looking at these two people, how they were relaxed, and how time had no importance for them. They were out, the weather was good, and they needed nothing other than that. It is a scene that is imprinted in my mind and of which I often think of in the chaos of London where everyone is rushing somewhere……..

2. Community Strenght

Another impressive aspect is the strength of the local community and how they are close to each other.

In a bus, I saw an old man inquiring about the stops, as he did not know where he had to get off. A lady sitting next to him, a perfect stranger, tried to help, talk to him, and ensure that he was getting off at the right place.

Another example is a bust stop while I was waiting for the bus. It was a very hot day; a lady with a kid and an old man sat with me at the bus stop in the shadow. The lady had a bag with some food and biscuits; she opened the biscuit package, and she offered them to all of us. I was touched, she did not know me, I was a perfect stranger to her, and I thought it was a very nice thing to do. I thought that the next time I would have done the same with other people.

Community feeling is very strong, and you always see people going around and spending time together. Families enjoy a lot of time outside, and children play and enjoy themselves together at the beach. they do not need much supervision. This is simple and real life. Families are numerous, homes are full of people, and they help each other. It happened to me many times, especially during the week end, to see families having a barbecue at the beach. The adults listened to music and chatted while the children played in the water.

3. Beautifully not crowed beaches

Another thing that impressed me a lot is that the beaches in Seychelles never seem to be busy. I have been around a lot and spent time on many different beaches in  Mahé , Praslin, La Digue and Silhouette, and often I found myself totally alone at the beach. The only places that were busy – I have to recognise that – are Beau Vallon in Mahé and Anse source d’Argent in La Digue on a Sunday. However, even if the beaches are so long that people can easily spread out, you cannot compare the crowd of these with others I have been in Italy or Spain in the middle of August. The climate helps as well as you can go to the beach for 12 months a year (wonderful!) In the Mediterranean area, summer is only from June to September, so people tend to go to the beach during those months.

4. Mahe’ and Praslin: impressions

Mahé and Praslin are the first and second biggest islands of the Seychelles. They are beautiful, similar and different at the same time. Mahé is the biggest island with about 80,000 inhabitants, an International airport connecting this small island with entire the world. Mahé has also the smallest capital in the world, Victoria, which is a biggest centre with a busy city market, shops, banks and offices. The island has plenty of beautiful beaches, sandy, rocky, with or without coral reef for you to choose the best one according to your needs. The island is very busy and i found it amazing going around, discovering different places and meeting and talk with locals. Everyone is very friendly and they are all happy to help.

Praslin is a bit different and much more quiter, expecially on the west side of the island (Grand Anse). The east side (Cote D’Or) instead is much more alive and plenty of hotels, b&b, shops and bar on the beach. However I can say that, in general, Praslin is quiter than Mahé, much smaller and with a slower pace of life. One of the thing that surprised me in Praslin and is useful to know is that, for some strange reasons (they told me this is related to some legal issues) the north part of the island does not have a paved road. This means that if you want to go from Anse Kerlan on north-west of the island to Anse Lazio, nort-east of the island, you have to travel the entire island anti-clock wise. This is quite important to know especially if you book a cab to do so as it will be very expensive.

For more information about Mahè click here.

5. La Digue: impressions

All islands are beautiful and special in their own way. However, I would like to write a few words in La Digue, which greatly impressed me.

I spent nearly three weeks there, and learned to love the place, pace, and life of the island and its inhabitants. Seychellois are really very used to tourists as they see many of them every single day coming, going around the island and leaving so they don’t pay so much attention to them. They have a sort of labelled tourists, and that is it.

But I was an exception…..after seeing me go around for over a week, they started stopping me and asking for how long I was going to stay there. They were really impressed that I had decided to stop there for so long and they could not really understand the reason (come on…how you cannot understand that? that is a paradise and I would have really loved to stop and live there forever- please Minister, give me a unlimited visa for the islands!!!! 🙂

Well…so, I started meeting people, going to their events, and meeting them after the beach. I knew their names, had some drinks with them, and were a bit closer to their lives. It was amazing; they had many life stories to tell, many experiences so far from my experience, but interesting and unique. This represents the life of a tropical island.

For more information about La Digue, click here.

6. All that glitters is not gold

I understand that there are problems everywhere, and Seychelles is no exception. I heard of drug problems, alcoholism, and an increasing number of smugglers. Things are the same all over the world and perfection does not exist. The world is made of good and bad people, with no expectations, even on a paradisiac island. However, in my experience, I have seen more positive than negative things in a country where my way of life is still simple and real.