We flew Air France Nice/Paris & then Air Seychelles overnight to Mahe, with a short hop on a 10 seat prop plane to Praslin. Flight costs were a bit pricey at 1225 euros return each.
We took a cab from the airport to the Palm Beach hotel in Grand Anse, which was our base for the next 7 nights/8 days. This is a delightful hotel with only 16 rooms, each with a balcony & sea view. Good food, 4 course dinners usually including fresh fish with creole marinades or sauces. The staff were very friendly & helpful. The hotel is right on the beach & perfect for 6pm sundowners as the sun sets opposite, over Cousine Island. We booked half board arrangements through the Paris office of Ocean Tours, Mahe at a total cost of 1144 euros.
This side of the island is ideal to stay during the South East Monsoon, say February to late October, as the winds create clouds during the afternoon on the eastern side of Praslin, whereas it stayed clear over our hotel. This hotel will, however, take the North West monsoon head-on from late October to February/March which is the wet season.
The sea on this side is not great for snorkelling, but perfect for birdwatchers as sandbars are exposed during low tide, attracting a variety of wading birds right in front of the hotel.
We had decided to stay on Praslin as we could take boat trips from here to a number of islands, giving us the opportunity to see a variety of birds, including all Seychelles endemics except the Scops Owl & White-eye which are only found on Mahe. We were not disappointed!
19 Oct: Arrived at the hotel around 10am &, while we waited for the room to be ready, we checked out the garden, beach & sandbars. Most of the common birds were here: Seychelles Sunbird, Zebra Dove, Common Mynah, Madagascar Fody & Madagascar Turtle Dove ( here they show the brown-headed characteristics of the Seychelles Turtle Dove, with which they hybridise ). Also Whimbrel, Sanderling, Grey Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Greenshank and an excellent Crab Plover. A Striated Heron patrolled the beach; here it is an endemic subspecies B.s.degens. We also were lucky to see a Seychelles Kestrel circle over the hotel. This was the only one we saw; they are not common on Praslin, but apparently Grand Anse is the best area to spot one. The gardens also hold Seychelles Skinks and both the lovely, bright green Sundberg's & Stripeless Day Geckos. We crashed out for a well-deserved siesta in the afternoon, so we were on form for our sundowners, watching Seychelles Fruit Bats soaring like large raptors.
20 Oct: The hotel reception had arranged a private boat charter for us to visit Aride today. We were collected from the hotel, driven to a beach on the eastern side & boarded a small motor boat for the 45 minute ride. Once at Aride, we were transferred into a zodiac which revved up speed & hurtled through the surf onto the beach. It seems that it can be difficult to land here if the swell or surf is too high &, quite often, it just cannot be done. The skippers always call ahead, first thing in the morning to check. Once ashore, we were introduced to the rangers & appointed a private guide who gave us an informative island tour. Specialities here included Seychelles Magpie-Robin, Seychelles Fody, Seychelles Blue Pigeon, Seychelles Brush Warbler, plus the thousands & thousands of seabirds: White-tailed Tropicbirds, Fairy ( Common White ) Terns, Greater & a few Lesser Frigatebirds, Brown & Lesser Noddy Terns and Sooty Terns. Wright's and Seychelles Skinks are common. After the tour, our skipper & his wife prepared a sumptuous barbeque of creole-marinaded Barracuda; Magpie Robins & Fodies just hop onto the dining tables here. We were totally soaked in the zodiac taking us back to our boat; cameras & binoculars were well protected! A fantastic day, not only for the endemics but also for the sheer number of seabirds. Our total cost for the day, including the park fees, was 300 euros & well worth it!
21 Oct: A cab to the port jetty & then we purchased tickets for the 20 minute ferry ride to the island of La Digue ( cost 20 euros return each ). A 30 minute walk to La Veuve reserve & then we spent a couple of hours strolling around this little area of protected forest. There are only 200 Seychelles Paradise Flycatchers; all are found only on La Digue and we saw 10 males & 1 female. They prefer to fly about two-thirds up towards the canopy but, at one moment, 2 males were chasing a female & we had them dancing with those long tail feathers, just above our heads. Seychelles Bulbuls are also common here. We walked to Anse Source D'Argent, which is the most famous beach in the Seychelles; gorgeous coral sand & spectacular granitic rock formations.
22 Oct: Today we joined a day trip involving a boat ride to Cousin island. This island can be seen from our hotel & has the same specialities as Aride, also lots of seabirds but not the mind-blowing numbers on Aride. Seychelles Magpie Robin, Seychelles Fody, Seychelles Blue Pigeon, Seychelles Brush Warbler & Seychelles Sunbird. White-tailed Tropicbirds, Greater Frigatebirds, Brown & Lesser Noddy Terns, Fairy, Sooty & Bridled Terns and we saw one Wedge-tailed Shearwater on the nest in the rocks. There are a few Aldabra Giant Tortoises here. These tours only run on Tuesdays & Fridays, so there are lots of people, but they did split everyone into groups so it wasn't too bad ( perhaps we were just spoiled after having Aride to ourselves ). The boat then took us to the island of Curieuse for a beach barbeque surrounded by many Aldabra Giant Tortoises. We also saw Seychelles Blue Pigeon, Greater & Lesser Crested Terns here. A walk through the mangroves, then a patch of Coco de Mer palms & onto another beach for a swim. The boat picked us up here & moored off the little Ile St.Pierre for some excellent snorkelling prior to heading back to Praslin. Another super day ( cost 115 euros each ).
23 Oct: A short cab ride from the hotel to the Vallee de Mai reserve on Praslin ( entrance fee 25 euros each ). This reserve protects a range of endemic plants & is famous for the Coco de Mer palms. Seychelles Black Parrot is found here; it is not easy to see but we found one fruiting tree & saw 3 parrots. This is a lovely forest with a distinctly primeval feel to it. In fact, they say that when the super continent of Gondwanaland broke up, the granitic islands of the Seychelles remained, so the Vallee de Mai forest is a glimpse of the vegetation from around 165 million years ago.
24 & 25 Oct: Relaxed at the hotel; swimming & walking on the beach & sandbars with the usual birds, but we did pick up one Greater Sandplover. Late afternoons were spent on a hotel terrace facing the hills, seeing Seychelles Black Parrots flying, Seychelles Bulbuls, Seychelles Swiftlets, Seychelles Blue pigeons & Seychelles Fruit Bats.
26 Oct: We had a full day at the hotel before our evening flight, but the wind slewed around to bring in the North-West Monsoon and torrential rain until around 5pm. Having seen everything we could reasonably expect to see & no way to go anywhere in this weather anyway there was nothing for it but to put my feet up on the terrace & spend the day reading 'The Biggest Twitch', Ruth & Alan Davies' account of their race around the planet to break the world year list record. Thanks guys, a great read!
On arrival at the airport, we were informed that there were technical problems. Then we were told that 'due to bad weather' the flight to Mahe was cancelled ( even though the rain had stopped hours ago & there was no strong wind either on both Praslin or Mahe ). As it was 'bad weather', Air Seychelles ( code-sharing with Air France ) bore no responsibility & we were told to find a hotel & buy future flights at our own expense. We were then given the customer service number of Air Seychelles in Mahe & the staff closed up & went home.
Now I am well travelled & work in the travel industry, so I know that airlines are a law unto themselves & rarely care about their passengers, but for a carrier to just wash their hands of over 50 passengers who were booked onto their long haul connection to Paris? Well, that was a first!
We contacted our hotelier, who helped us to arrange a boat charter across the water at night to Mahe; a belgian couple, who were also travelling independently, joined us & split the hefty 800 euros cost. We made it to check-in on time & Air Seychelles delayed the flight once they heard that the other passengers had arranged a larger boat charter via ther local rep.
In view of this, I would recommend anyone to have any domestic flight to Mahe booked the morning of the day before the long haul connection & a final hotel overnight in Mahe. Then, if the domestic flight is cancelled, you can take the 1 hour ferry to Mahe instead & spend the rest of the day going for Seychelles Scops Owl & Seychelles White-eye. Isn't hindsight wonderful!
Still a fantastic, very enjoyable trip. 41 species of birds recorded of which 16 species & 1 subspecies were new for me. Highly recommended!
Best regards
Andy
www.andylovering.com
Wedge-tailed Shearwater
White-tailed Tropicbird
Great Frigatebird
Lesser Frigatebird
Striated Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Grey Heron
Seychelles Kestrel
Moorhen
Crab Plover
Greater Sandplover
Grey Plover
Sanderling
Whimbrel
Greenshank
Common Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Sooty Tern
Bridled Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern ( very rare here )
Crested Tern
Lesser Crested Tern
Lesser Noddy
Brown Noddy
Fairy Tern
Feral Pigeon
Madagascar/Seychelles Turtle Dove
Zebra Dove
Seychelles Blue Pigeon
Seychelles Black Parrot
Seychelles Swiftlet
Seychelles Bulbul
Seychelles Magpie Robin
Seychelles Brush Warbler
Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher
Seychelles Sunbird
Common Mynah
House Sparrow
Madagascar Fody
Seychelles Fody
Seychelles Fruit Bat
Bottlenose Dolphin
Aldabra Giant Tortoise
Stripeless Day Gecko
Sundberg's Day Gecko
Pacific Gecko
Bronze Gecko
Seychelles Skink
Wright's Skink
Evening Brown Butterfly
African Grass Blue Butterfly
Seychelles Skimmer Dragonfly
Yellow Wasp
Giant Millipede
Palm Spider
Horned Ghost Crab
Swift-footed Crab