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A week in Paradise - Seychelles

Hilo Jason

By Hilo Jason
in DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

Posted
Posted

I've wanted to visit the Seychelles for quite a while now. However, it's a long trip from my home in Southern California. But my wife and I have spent the past year living in Uganda, so we decided to finally make the trip, and I'm happy we did. We live about 5 hours west of the airport in Entebbe, but our journey started 12 hours before our scheduled departure as we must allow several extra hours of time to get through the nightmare known as Kampala. We departed Entebbe at 2am and after stops in Rwanda and Ethiopia, we arrived on the beautiful island of Mahe, Seychelles.

Let me note that none of my pictures do justice for the beauty of these islands! And even more so since we were limited to only having our iPhone with us for photos.

But I hope you still enjoy.

We arrived late in the day, went to sleep early and woke up early the next morning. This was the view from our small Hotel on the East coast of Mahe.

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Our first hike was on the Copolia Trail which is inside of the Morne Seychelles National Park. The road through the park is amazing and looks like this:

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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You can see in the last photo some juvenile Dypsis Madagascariensis. We saw several that looked wild grown around this part of the island.

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At the beginning of the Copolia trail I happened to look up through the dense foliage and saw this giant Dypsis Madagascariensis towering above. It's hard to see the scale in this photo, but it was very tall and very old. I bet that many of the D. Madagascariensis that I saw around this area are probably the offspring of this giant.

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another angle:

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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On the Copolia trail, sorry I'm not the best with the IDs, so I will just post the photos for now.

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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And I guess that in a perfect climate, palms can grow on rocks!

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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The trail ended at the top of the granite capped mountain

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Looking out over the town of Victoria and the eastern side of the island

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Full sun grown palms at the top

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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A few more pictures from on our way back down the trail

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There were young palms everywhere. Seedlings of the giants above.

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Cindy Adair Grand Master

Cindy Adair

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Wow! These are great!

Very timely for me as I too have always wanted to visit and will do so in October.

Looks like you had fun!

Cindy Adair

Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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After the trail we drove to the East side of the island and headed south. After seeing countless beautiful beaches, we passed the National Biodiversity Center. I had not heard or read about it, but we pulled in to have a look. It appeared to be closed, but we were able to park and walk around.

We were greeted by a giant pair of Bismarckia Nobilis.

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And the Palm Forest!

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A sign showing the 6 endemic palms of the Seychelles, all on display in this garden

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Deckenia Nobilis

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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And then we saw them! Our first Lodoicea Maldivica spotted. These are not native to Mahe Island, but we would see hundreds, if not thousands later in the week on Praslin.

And these were still babies!

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And a very tall Deckenia Nobilis

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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The next day we headed out early to hike the Morne Seychelles National Park, Morne Blanc Trail.

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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The view from the top, of the Western side of the island.

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After 3 days on Mahe, we flew to Praslin for the final 4 days of our stay. Check back soon and I'll post those photos as soon as I have time to.

  • Upvote 2
Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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Wow! These are great!

Very timely for me as I too have always wanted to visit and will do so in October.

Looks like you had fun!

Hi Cindy, it was an amazing week there. I've been to a handful of tropical places and islands and Seychelles was the most beautiful that I have seen. I hope to return soon and spend more time there. Will you be visiting a couple of the islands? How long is your stay?

LJG Grand Master

LJG

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Great pics. Sounds like the total time to get there from Uganda might have been about the same as leaving from the States after all :)

Len

Vista, CA (Zone 10a)

Shadowridge Area

"Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are."

-- Alfred Austin

richnorm Grand Master

richnorm

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I much enjoyed the great pics and the journey sounded like brilliantly colourful. Thanks

Yunder Wækraus Veteran

Yunder Wækraus

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Fantastic photos. Thanks for sharing!

Daryl Grand Master

Daryl

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Great photos Jason! Looks like you both had a wonderful time in paradise!

Gold Coast, Queensland Latitude 28S. Mild, Humid Subtropical climate. Rainfall - not consistent enough!

BS Man about Palms Grand Master

BS Man about Palms

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Fantastic pics and perfect use of Mrs Ranch Hand to show scale and beauty!! :innocent:

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

Cindy Adair Grand Master

Cindy Adair

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Wow! These are great!

Very timely for me as I too have always wanted to visit and will do so in October.

Looks like you had fun!

Hi Cindy, it was an amazing week there. I've been to a handful of tropical places and islands and Seychelles was the most beautiful that I have seen. I hope to return soon and spend more time there. Will you be visiting a couple of the islands? How long is your stay?

I'll be there a total of 5 days between Mahe and Praslin. I have heard nothing but good things about the Seychelles...

Cindy Adair

Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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Great pics. Sounds like the total time to get there from Uganda might have been about the same as leaving from the States after all :)

Yeah, the trip there was a bit long. 14 hours of travel time due to flying out of the way for a brief stopover in Rwanda and then a 4 hour layover in Addis Ababa. Plus the 12 hour driving, so 26 total hours to get there!

Coming back was much easier and was only 8 hours flying. And much quicker going back to our home in Western Uganda. About 5-5 hours of driving.

It was still very worth it though!

Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Wow! These are great!

Very timely for me as I too have always wanted to visit and will do so in October.

Looks like you had fun!

Hi Cindy, it was an amazing week there. I've been to a handful of tropical places and islands and Seychelles was the most beautiful that I have seen. I hope to return soon and spend more time there. Will you be visiting a couple of the islands? How long is your stay?

I'll be there a total of 5 days between Mahe and Praslin. I have heard nothing but good things about the Seychelles...

That is great. We really enjoyed both islands. Praslin was our favorite since there were far less people and the National Park is just amazing there. Make sure to visit Fond Ferdinand as well as Vallee De Mai. Fond Ferdinand is much less known about and cheaper to enter. Get there early and you're likely to have the tour guide (Clifford) all to yourself for the tour up and back.

bgl Grand Master

bgl

Posted
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Jason,

What an incredibly beautiful place and sounds like quite the adventure simply to get there! :) Incidentally, photo #3 in post #6: Nephrosperma and first photo in post #7: Roscheria.

Bo-Göran

Leilani Estates, 25 mls/40 km south of Hilo, Big Island of Hawai'i. Elevation 880 ft/270 m. Average rainfall 140 inches/3550 mm

 

Chris Chance Mentor

Chris Chance

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Wow that's incredible Jason! The trip was definitely worth it!

Bill Austin Grand Master

Bill Austin

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Thanks Jason love those lodoicea .

Cindy Adair Grand Master

Cindy Adair

Posted
Posted

Wow! These are great!

Very timely for me as I too have always wanted to visit and will do so in October.

Looks like you had fun!

Hi Cindy, it was an amazing week there. I've been to a handful of tropical places and islands and Seychelles was the most beautiful that I have seen. I hope to return soon and spend more time there. Will you be visiting a couple of the islands? How long is your stay?

I'll be there a total of 5 days between Mahe and Praslin. I have heard nothing but good things about the Seychelles...

That is great. We really enjoyed both islands. Praslin was our favorite since there were far less people and the National Park is just amazing there. Make sure to visit Fond Ferdinand as well as Vallee De Mai. Fond Ferdinand is much less known about and cheaper to enter. Get there early and you're likely to have the tour guide (Clifford) all to yourself for the tour up and back.

Thanks for the suggestion! Yes, more time planned in Praslin... Fond Ferdinand sounds great and I will Google it in a minute since I have the luxury of free wi fi at the moment!

Cindy Adair

Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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After 3 nights on Mahe, we headed over to the island of Praslin for our final 4 nights on the Seychelles. Standing at the airport (on the coast) and looking back at the granite cliffs of Mahe:

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Then we boarded this small plane for the 28 mile flight over to Praslin

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This double coconut fountain is at the Praslin airport

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We arrived at our hotel on the east coast of Praslin on Cote d'Or Beach and this was the view from our room

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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Into the Vallee De Mai

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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with some people for scale!

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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The guide said that they believe this to be one of the oldest of all the Lodoicea in Vallee De Mai. It's hard to see it, but follow the trunk up through the canopy and you can see a bit of it up in the sun. The leaves on these really shrink up once they hit the sun. You'll see that in some of the coming photos

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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Very tall Deckenia Nobilis:

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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View from the top of the trail at the Vallee De Mai where you can see hundreds of Lodoicea coming out of the canopy

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Very Jurassic feeling!

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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The granite rocks and boulders throughout the park and the island

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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The next day we went to Fond Ferdinand which has just recently re-opened for the public. It's much less known than the Vallee De Mai so we had the tour guide to ourselves. There are over 800 female Lodoicea Maldivica palms in Fond Ferdinand (they don't number the males or juveniles).

A very young Lodoicea:

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towering Deckenia Nobilis:

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A couple of young phoenicophorium borsigianum:

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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A large Raphia, sorry for the bad photo

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Zoomed in on the Raphia roots:

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Another Raphia, and there were quite a few small Raphia all around this area:

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Chris Chance Mentor

Chris Chance

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Jason these photos are simply stunning! I'm at work drooling all over the desk wishing I could have experienced this in person haha! Thanks for sharing.

Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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the base and roots of one of the towering Deckenia Nobilis:

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Hilo Jason Grand Master

Hilo Jason

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Emerging out of the forest the Lodoicea Maldivica take on a much less stretched look

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