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via Asia and Madagascar.

Seychelles

Bec
2004-09-18 18:26:17

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If you have a lot of money to spend, this is a good place to do it.

The Seychelles are famous for its beaches but also for a unique coconut tree called "coco de mer" that grows only Praslin island. The tree bears a large double fruit, like siamese twins that looks strikingly like a bum on one side and that has a tuft of fiber growing naturally in the right place on the other side.

One of those would have made a nice souvenir to ship home but the prices ranged from 400 to 500 $US each, so I passed. Moreover, you need a permit to export them, I didn't bother to ask the price of the permit.

Coming here after India, I was impressed by the cleanliness and frustrated by the prices, but I must recognise that the Seychellois are right to keep prices high and to forbid camping. Otherwise these beautiful islands would be overrun with backpackers like me, looking to get the most for the least.

Everything looks very peaceful in the Seychelles but it was not always so. The first government after independence headed by James Meecham brought in jet set tourism but the opposition led by France Albert René felt that the new prosperity did not benefit the poor Créoles so he seized power in 1977, brought in Tanzanian and North Korean troops to defend his one-party regime and threw out the "grands blancs" who had all the money.

The arrival of communist troops here put the Seychelles on the cold war map and gave CIA, MI5 and KGB agents a chance to play their little games in this particularly inviting environment. The ideal setting for a James Bond movie!

René's communist kingdom was a very tempting a prize to seize and in 1981, a band of mercenaries led by Colonel Mike Hoare of Congo fame tried to do just that. They tried but they failed, there was a shootout at the airport and two were killed before the rest got away by hijacking a plane to South Africa.

Those exciting days came to an end with the disintegration of the Soviet Empire and the end of the cold war. Time had come for a change and René thought that he might as well bring it rather than someone else so he held free multi party elections which he won in 1992 and again in 1993.

I spent five days in the Seychelles but only visited the main island Mahé.

I appreciated the calm atmosphere for I needed time to digest my Indian adventure that had moved me profoundly. I started to write my impressions of India while they were still fresh in my mind.

I was lucky to meet Taz Mussard (with the red skirt) while waiting for a bus at the central station one day. She spoke Créole, French and English. We had an interesting chat and she invited me to a barbecue party at her home the next day.

It was lovely to meet her 10 year old daughter, who took this photo, and her friends: Paul Laurence, Madeleine and Errol Diaz. The Créole specialties were delicious and we had a ball. I left the Seychelles for Réunion with good memories of their warm hospitality.

I was indeed very fortunate to meet her and her friends because I have found that, in very touristic places like this one, the local people tend to keep tourists out of their private lives for they have seen too many of them while selling them something in the shops or catering to their whims in the hotels.

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