The panorama view over Praslin island, taken from neighboring La Digue. A peaceful, almost magical morning that got it´s only stain from a hung over, bad humoured café owner! Honestly the Seychellois in general are very nice to get along with!
Tag Archives: seychelles
Kind of blue!
But by no means the blues.. Oh no, this is the Seychelles.
As you see I have done some street photography and visited the fish market in the capital Victoria.
One picture shows the old chinese store Sham Peng Tong that’s “been around for ages”
The photographer himself also gets the opportunity to pose beside the blue rental jeep
The three ladies with umbrellas is on the island of La Digue.
There is a green version as well
Thank´s Miles for giving me inspiration for the title!
You shouldn´t!
pick your nose.. even if you are a Fruit bat!!
Anse Soleil, Seychelles
Driving around the island of Mahe one day. This is an astonishing place on earth!
Shades of green in Praslin!
…And some red dots. Most of the pictures from Vallee de Mai..
One of the “must see” recommendations in the guidebooks about Praslin/Seychelles is to visit Vallee de Mai. It´s a palm rain forest consisting of the endemic Coco de Mer.
It is also declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I wanted to see the place and luckily I could coordinate with Pierre from the capital of the Seychelles and his Nikon to accompany me. He was the perfect guide!
Thank you Pierre for a nice excursion!
All photos from the Seychelles are taken with a Canon Powershot S-100.
Going for octopus!
I met Adrian Willington a couple of weeks ago when taking a bicycle tour around the Seychelle island of La Digue. He was walking along the sea-shore carrying a big octopus and of course my curiosity was awaken
He told me that he was working as a security guard at night but during the day he used to go fishing for octopus and had done so since he was young.
After chatting with him for a while I asked if I could go with him the next time he was going fishing. That’s okay, he said. Two days later he came by the guesthouse where I was staying and a little later we took off by bicycle towards the beach where he usually goes fishing.
His tools are a bit dated. The flippers are not in best shape and there is a big hole in his wetsuit. He uses a couple of metal sticks to dig out the octopuses! It’s a great experience to accompany and observe the Seychellois diver. We are swimming around a pretty extensive area during more or less 3 hours!
When Adrian spots his prey he is capable of diving down to ten meters depth and stay down for a couple of minutes.
The area where we hunt is also a superb snorkel spot and the place is steaming with fishes of all colors and shape. I see a couple of sea turtles, stingrays and so on.
Adrian says that he almost daily sees sharks when his out but makes no drama about that!
Congratulations.. you´re alive!
Everything is not sunshine and eternal smiles even if you are in the Seychelle paradise.
First of August 2011 a 36 years old French tourist was eaten alive by a shark in the famous Anse Lazio beach in the island of Praslin. He was swimming about 50 meters from the shore.
The reaction from local authority’s and tourist sector was apparently to talk with a whispering voice about an eventual boat propeller accident.
No warning signs was put up!!
16 of August, two weeks later, the second tragedy occurred, same place, now a British tourist. His wife sins ten days stood screaming at the beach while the blue waters turned red. The hush-hush strategy from officials and other affected sectors showed to be a fatal mistake.. the story exploded on world media.
3 policemen were assigned to watch at the beach, a warning sign and a shark protection net was put up (still no mentioning about sharks though)
Now the big hunt begun!
A number of boats with machine gun crews ordered to shoot on sight were called in to catch the “beast”, most likely a Great White shark. One of the boats a 90ft trawler had the name “Amity”. Those who have seen the Spielberg film Jaws understand the irony in that.
The local Seychellois are still somewhat in shock.. I have personally heard the expression
“foreign sharks in our friendly waters” repeatedly. and talks about “Great whites from South Africa”
Trying hard to clear my mind from these disturbing facts I was walking the very very very narrow road on the Praslin island that leads to Anse Lazio.
Just a minute earlier I had passed a curve (those of you who have been in the Seychelles understand the magnitude of the word curve in this nation) and spotted the bus stop I was looking for.
Then suddenly a terrible, loud crash on the spot where i just had walked, palm trees cracking like toothpicks…. I immediately understood it must have been a car crash of some kind. Ran back towards the curve and saw a big truck upside down beside the road. Screamed at some nearby persons to call an ambulance. I was absolutely convinced that nobody could have survived that type of accident!
Filled with anxiety about what I was going to witness and of course that I would have to do whats necessary to help injured people!!
One guy had climbed down before me to aid the driver (and passengers??)
The miracle occurred when I observed the driver in shock get out of his truck cabin and as far as I could see with no fractures no blood.
He just stood there pale, (thats him on the photo) with an empty look on his face for a long while staring at his big truck with the wheels in the air and gasoline leaking out of the tank. Lots of people approaching screaming loudly.
After a while when it was evident that no one else had been in the “camion” I put my hand on the drivers shoulder and said “congratulations.. you´re alive!”
Ten minutes later the bus towards Anse Lazio arrived. I entered, asked the driver if he had seen the accident (obviously!) and muttered something about “please take it slow” found an empty seat and as the only passenger on the bus I fastened my seatbelt!
!!
Made three magnificent dives during my visit to the Seychelles.
As a guest in another world that belongs to its inhabitants we are to show respect to their environment. Some of the creatures in this world are predators by instinct. They are not “beasts”. The risk though of being attacked is minimal unless you are behaving in an ignorant or provocative manner.
In nearby future posts I will share some of the beauty I saw in the big blue!
And yes I dipped myself in the sea that day at Anse Lazio, inside the protection net. The day after my visit the net was removed!!
Drive carefully and fasten your seatbelt!
Indian Ocean encounters.
The difference between a nice journey and an extraordinary adventure is the persons you meet!
Thank you Pierre, Adrian, Fadette, Michell, Danielle, Benjamin, Jelena, Ilyas, Anne, Martin, Christina, Peter, Billy, Tess, Jemmy and several other persons for spicing up my visit to the Seychelles
Photoshop collage.. click on picture for full size
There is Big Ben and…
..there is little Ben. Queen Victoria not only gave her name to the capital of the Seychelles, she also donated a smaller copy of the original Big Ben to the city.
The Seychelles has been colonized by both France and Great Britain. The first settlers arrived to the islands around 1770. Victoria is one of the worlds smallest capitals with approximately
30 000 inhabitants. The country became independent 1976.
The Abu Dhabi Airport Champion..
…of the prestigious snoring contest ended up just beside me and a deep freeze level on the air condition forced me to put in earplugs and overdose the sleeping pills to knock myself out a few hours last night between flights!
Finally i fell asleep and had a dream of a warm tropical island
Now back home.. back to reality!
Keep visiting there are more interesting material from the Seychelles coming up!
Håkan Rönnblad 