Sun, Apr 30: Praslin Island Seychelles

Our first stop today was the UNESCO heritage site, Vallee de Mai.  The walk itself was lovely with lots of palm trees of various sorts and lush tropical vegetation.

The valley is the home of the Coco De Mer (Sea Coconut…so named because the nut was first seen washed ashore in various places and no one knew where it was from…hence it was from the sea).  The Coco de Mer is found naturally only on Praslin Island in the Seychelles and is the world’s largest nut.

The tree comes in sexes (male and female) and interestingly enough the male “organ” that supplies the pollen laden flowers, is long and cylindrical with a vague resemblance to the mammalian sex organ.  

And the nut has a definite resemblance to the human female anatomy (from the top of the thighs to mid-waist).  Pretty weird (warped?).

Along the walk we were extremely lucky to have several sightings of the rare Black Parrot, the national bird.

We saw other interesting wildlife, including several brown geckos, usually on the male organ

several green ones,

skinks,

and some large molllusks.

The Coco De Mer trees also have the world’s largest palm fronds. 

We also saw a number of other types of palm trees that are endemic to the Seychelles.

Driving to our next site, we stopped at the famous Cote d'Or beach (Gold Beach) for a little walking and lunch.  

We saw some sand sculpture...

and our guide made a hat out of palm fronds.

We then went to the Fond Ferdinand Nature Park for another walk through vegetation similar to that at the Valle de Mai.  

We saw lots of the Coco de Mer nuts, both on the ground and in the trees...

more skinks

and some really large snails.

There were a lot of palm fronds from on the ground and they were so large they could have made a great roof on a house.

We also saw a rather large termite mound on a rock.

The walk also included 550 steps up to an overlook with views of the surrounding area...

 and our ship.

The views were nice but the walk was hot and humid and not a great deal of fun given the climate – hot and humid.  We had other good views on the drive, and would recommend not going to this park if one goes to Valle de Mai.

Then it was a bit of an island drive that took in the Zimbabwe View Point…

And a swing by the airport to see a gigantic fountain that looked like a Coco De Mer.

We had lovely views of the ocean and the islands as we sailed out this evening.

The highlight of the evening was the "White Night" dinner on the pool deck.