0504 SEYCHELLES (Praslin) - Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve (UNESCO WHS)

Praslin, named like that in 1768 in honor of French diplomat César Gabriel de Choiseul, duc de Praslin, is the second largest island of the Seychelles, lying 44 km north east of Mahé. In the heart of the island is Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve, an area which was untouched until the 1930s and still retains primeval palm forest in a near-natural state, with six endemic palms, among which is Coco de Mer (Lodoicea maldivica), the sole member of the genus Lodoicea. Also unique to the park is its wildlife, including birds such as the rare Seychelles Black Parrot, mammals, crustaceans, snails, and reptiles.

0343 SEYCHELLES - Cap Ternay

 

Because today is World Tourism Day, and many of us can't celebrate it properly, i.e. traveling, I thought that it could be welcomed a short visit, even virtual, to a location dreamed by many, but reached only by very few. I wrote here about Seychelles Islands, so now I will focus on Mahé, the largest island in the archipelago, measuring 28km long by 8km wide and hosting almost 90% of the inhabitants, reflecting country's diverse ethnicity and descent from African, Indian, Chinese and European populations.

0218 SEYCHELLES - Beaches and coco de mer

I don't know what thought Vasco da Gama when discovered them in 1502, but certainly he liked them, because otherwise he wouldn't be named them after himself, Ilhas do Almirante, which means Islands of the Admiral. Anyway, neither he nor the English who visited the islands in 1609 haven't taken them in possession. The first who claimed the islands were the French, in 1756, who named them Seychelles (from the Vicomte des Séchelles, Louis XV's finance minister). The colonization began in 1768, when a party of 22 Frenchmen arrived on the islands, bringing with them a number of slaves.