Mahé

Mahé hosts the capital, Victoria, of the country of Seychelles, which is an archipelago with about 155 islands. It has just about 100 thousand citizens, and in my opinion, it is one of the most expensive countries to visit. It is frequented by Europeans who desire to escape the frigid local weather in favor of the warm, balmy days and easy access to beaches and ocean all year round. Seychelles is the smallest African country.

February is the wettest season and being here in February, I think the rain is not much of a downer.

Air Seychelles runs flights from Mumbai, India, and it is about a four and a half hour journey to reach Mahe. Dubai is another hub from which many visitors arrive at Seychelles.

As you drive around the island of Mahe, you see beaches everywhere. The weather was in the lower 80 Fahrenheit. Rain is frequent and sometimes it rains really hard for an hour or two followed by the ever present sunshine.

I noticed there were a lot of businesses which had names from India. Lot of the workers in many businesses were Indian. After talking to some locals, I discovered that Indians originally came to Mauritius and reunion island nations, and then later migrated about 40 years ago to Seychelles.

Arrival at Seychelles presented some challenges for me personally. I was at the airport a couple of hours before the flight departed and was surprised to hear my name called on the PA system at the Mumbai airport 15 minutes before boarding. That never happens to me.

I had read that even though websites say that no visa is required to enter Seychelles. There is something called Seychelles travel authorization that needs to be filled out, which I had not known. That information is only sent to the traveler when you get the airplane ticket confirmation. This information is buried down in the email and is easily overlooked. The authorization costs €10 but to get it instantaneously it costs €70. There was no alternative to opting for the instantaneous one because they would not let me on the airplane without it and the next flight was in one week.

I usually visit different places and let serendipity be my guide. This means that I don't plan what I will do or where I will stay each day of the trip. This was unheard of for the immigration police who insisted on seeing a detailed plan for each day that I was going to stay in their country.

They advised me to book places temporarily while at their counter, and then cancel the bookings later. After arguing with them, I could leave their counter without making any bookings. This was the first time I got to argue with the custom officials.

Outside the airport, my next ordeal was waiting for me. While booking the car rental, I had paid for a comprehensive insurance but as a bait and switch, I got handed an additional bill for avoiding the €1,000 liability. After arguing a bit and showing the screenshots of the booking, I made no headway and dropped the argument.

The roads in Mahe are pretty narrow, but lined with densely forested trees, which are rampant because of the rainforest nature of the whole island.

Aldabra, the giant tortoise from Seychelles was seen in a few places, it was huge.

I could go very close to it on one occasion and see it's face.

Boats and islands are visible everywhere including the ever present dense forests.

The water has different hues and the vibe is chill.

It is about 13 local currency, the Seychelles Rupee to one US dollar; the currency bills are colorful and vibrant. I saw them in the denominations of 25, 50, 100 and 500. I also saw coins of 5 and 10 Rupees.

Most of the people speak English, but Creole and French is also spoken everywhere.

I had occasion to witness a few storms wirh dark clouds and strong winds.

The lush green everywhere is really pleasing to the eye.

It takes about two hours to drive all around the island, and there is one section of the island without the roads because it houses the national park.

The biggest business is tourism, and there are many restaurants, bars and resorts all around. You can see people just chilling and having a good time.

I saw a huge, beautiful flowering tree. I also saw a flying fox, a bat.

I drove through Victoria, the capital, a few times.

I was happy to see full size statue of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela in Victoria.

A few days in Mahe is enough to get a sense of this charming island. It is well worth a visit.