Seychelles
 
 The Seychelles (11. September 14:00 - 22. September 2007 01:00)
 
 Ever since i was 15 and saw a movie filmed in the Seychelles (forgot the title), I have wanted
 to go there. So when I decided that I was flying around the world, there was no question,
 the Seychelles had to be in the route that I chose.

 The Seychelles was the first destination I had on my long journey. The flight over was
 via Oslo, Frankfurt, Quatar and finally Mahe island in the Seychelles. The whole flight
 took approximately 16 hours, including transfers.

 I flew with two airlines. SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) from Bergen-Oslo-Frankfurt, and with
 Quatar airways to Frankfurt-Qatar-Seychelles. Quatar airways is in my opinion one of the
 best airlines in the world. On the flight from Frankfurt to Quatar you are served free hot
 and cold drinks the whole flight and you have your own in flight entertainment system, where
 you have a little screen in the seat in front of you where you can watch live television,
 watch movies, play games and listen to music.


 Mahe Island

 When I got to the Seychelles I ended up on Mahe, the main island, and of course
 on the wrong end of it, which is the vacinity around the airport, approximately half
 the part of that side is nothing worth seeing except of course Anse royale (see image)
 a beach at the South East side of the island. So after a couple of days of exploring the
 island and getting pretty fed up with all the traffic that goes day and night by the
 hotel, I decided to leave Mahe and go to a neighboring island, Preslin Island instead,
 which is an island that is a little more quit with a little less cars and stress
 and also the people are a little friendlier. But it was not a complete waste of time
 being there, I did get some pictures from there:

  

  
  
  
  The beach that you see on the picture above is from Anse Royale. 
   


 Praslin island

 Praslin has a lot more to offer then Mahe in my opinion and there you can explore the
 rainforest, and it also has (supposedly) one of the nicest beaches in the Seychelles
 Anse Lazio. From Praslin it is easy to get out to some of the other island, like
 Curiouse (taxi boat) and La Digue (ferry). My recommendation is, skip Mahe and go
 strait to Praslin. Mahe is not that nice, at least the part I saw of it. The flight
 over from Mahe cost 122 Euros return and takes about 20 minutes.
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  


 La digue

 The ferry (catamaran) over from Praslin cost 20 Euros return. The island has very few
 cars and is much more quit then the other two islands I visited before, and it is in large
 dominated by bikes and ox carts. You can even hire a bike at the docks. I did not take
 advantage of hiring a bike, but walked around the island instead and explored. I am glad
 I did because I got some good pictures of green and brown geckos along the road. If I had
 been on I bike I would have missed those all together.
 

 
 
    
  
  
  
  
   


 Curieuse Island

 This is the only island I visited where there were no cars. The only way to get out here is
 to hire a taxi boat. There is a fee when you come out here of 10 Euros or 15 USD. You can pay
 with credit card out here, but they use the old style payment machine because they don't have
 a wire to the mainland. The whole island is designated a national park. As a photographer
 being on this island is great, because it is crawling with geckos and of course the giant
 tortoises that live on the island. There are guided tours around the island twice a day, where
 you get a lot of information from about the plant and animal life etc. of the island.

  
   
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  Approximately 1 year old tortoises. Fragile - Soft shell
  
  
  Approximately 3 years old tortoises
  
  
  Full grown tortoises approximately 80 / 90 years old

 Tortoises: Mail are concaived under so it can lay on the female.
 

 Facts about Seychelles

 Temperature are stable at about 20-30 degrees year round.
 
 Most of the taxies on most of the islands did not use a meter, some did not even have a
 meter, and therefore charged you whatever they where feeling like that day. So if you are ever
 going to the Seychelles, you have to insist on them put the meter on, otherwise you might get
 ripped of. One example is 5 minute drive 100 SR. Take the bus whenever you can, it only cost 3
 rupies most routes.

 The hotells down here vary in price and quality, and is cheapest in the low season. 
 In the low season you can get hotels for 90 euros and 50 euros on the guest houses. Some of the
 guesthouses near the airport at Mahe is not recommended because they are right by the main road
 and the traffic goes all night there, so try finding out which ones that is and avoid them
 all together. In the high season the prices on hotels and guest houses goes up in the air and it
 is also difficult to get a room then. I was lucky that I was there in the low season (September).

 The food that is served is mostly chicken, pork, beef, with rice. Some serve with curry. A meal
 in a restaurant will cost you around 80 SR and water around 15-25. In a takeaway restaurant you
 get the same meal for 25-35 SR. Water cost between 5-10 RS. The breakfast if you have a bed and
 breakfast arrangement includes toast with butter and jam, and some fruit, like banana, and juice
 and coffee / tea to drink.

 Most of the people down here have a distinct african look. A lot of the stores down here are run
 by people that originate from India. A few have a pacific look.
 
 Bring plenty of Euros. You should think that since this is the Seychelles they use the locale
 currency to pay everywhere, but no, there are a lot of places that only excepts Euros, that
 includes guesthouses, hotels and ferry. If you run out of Euros when you are there, there is
 no way to get more Euros out, that includes in the bank! There you can exchange Euros to Rupies
 but not the other way around.

 The traffic is awful in Mahe, and to some degree in Praslin, and its left hand side driving (not
 that there is anything wrong with that).
 
 The food stores and bus system is old fashion and looks like something out of a 60's movie.
 
 This is the only country I have been (article edited in bali) to where my phone card did not work.
 There where no provider coverage. But you can buy prepaid phone cards in any store and put the card
 in the phone and you have instant phone with a local number and it of course works calling
 globally. Buying prepaid cards can also be a good idea even if you have coverage on your phone. For
 me it was much cheaper to call with this prepaid card then what it would have been if I had
 coverage.
 

 Summing up

 I have heard from several people that they have left the Seychelles disappointed. The islands where
 not what they expected and are therefore disappointed when they leave. Mahe is dominated by traffic
 and is quite noisy. The prices are high no matter what island you end up. On the good side you have
 some very good beaches, nice rainforests and a flourishing animal life, all in all a very very
 beautiful country.

 So how much did I spend in the Seychelles in the 11 days I was here? Well approximately 1885 USD in
 11 days, that includes the accommodation, taxi, transportation between islands, food and drinks etc.

 100 Seychelles rupies is about 12.5 USD.


 

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