Mahé is the largest island of the Seychelles. The population of Mahé was 77,000, as of the 2010 census. It contains the capital city of Victoria and accommodates 86% of the country's total population.
The island was named after Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais, a French governor of Isle de France (modern-day Mauritius). Mahé's tallest peak is Morne Seychellois at 905 m , which lies in the Morne Seychellois National Park.
The northern and eastern parts of the island are home to much of the population and the Seychelles International Airport which opened in 1971.
The southern and western parts have Baie Ternay Marine National Park, Port Launay Marine National Park, and the University of Seychelles. The Sainte Anne Marine National Park lies offshore, as do Conception Island, Thérèse Island, Anonyme Island and several smaller islands.
Mahé was first visited by the British in 1609 and not visited by Europeans again until Lazare Picault's expedition of 1742. The French navy frégate Le Cerf arrived at Port Victoria on 1 November 1756. On board was Corneille Nicholas Morphey, leader of the French expedition, which claimed the island for the King of France by laying a Stone of Possession on Mahe, Seychelles’ oldest monument, now on display in the National Museum, Victoria.
In August 1801 a Royal Navy frigate HMS Sibylle captured the French frigate Chiffonne on the island. Mahé remained a French possession until 1812 when it became a British colony. It remained a colony until 1976 when Seychelles became an independent nation.
Mahé's forests have rare endemic plants found only in Seychelles, such as the critically endangered Medusagyne oppositifolia (the jellyfish tree), the carnivorous Nepenthes pervillei (Seychelles pitcher plant), and many unique species of orchid.
Mahé had a huge land reclamation project due to a shortage of housing, in the areas of Bel Ombre and the Port of Victoria.
We stayed at Villas de Jardin at Port Glaud. This is the quieter part of the island, and you would be pushed to find a better view than we had from the veranda of our villa.
We were in villa 3, which is right at the top of the 8 villa complex. Check in is at sea level, where Ulrike has her office, then you drive up a steep hill to your villa. (it is a proper concrete road). Parking is tight but manageable. When you step into your villa, you get a "WOW" factor that one rarely gets on entering a house..
The photos from villa balconies say it all. I could have, and in fact did, sit on the balcony just taking in the view. Our villa had a very good bathroom, a bedroom and a kitchen/sitting room, as well as the balcony We had a rental car, and I certainly do not think that you could survive here without a car. There is a small grocery store at sea level, which would be within walking distance. Ditto for two takeaways (open lunch only) and Les Place Restaurant. Every village on the island has one of these mini-markets, which sell virtually everything, but oddly not much in the way of fresh fruit and veg
You get your villa cleaned daily, (beds made, kitchen tided, floors swept). The kitchen has virtually everything you need for holiday cooking
The infinity edge pool is spectacular. It is small, but not overused. It is well designed, and a good example of what can be done with infinity edge pools It was a pleasure to stay here, and I would certainly want to stay here again
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Takamaka Rum Distillery
Takamaka is rum made from local Seychelles sugar cane (all bought from local farmers; the distillery only has about one acre of the original estate) and, they say, water from the Valle de Mai. It is a simple process - you crush the cane, extract the juice, distill it, age it in wood, and bottle the result
There are two tours a day at the moment, both late morning/lunchtime. We took the first out.
Basically you pay 100 Rupees for the tasting and 50 more for the tour
I enjoyed the tour, which goes into the history of the site . You also get a brief look at cane crushing and the distilling.
The tasting is generous and covers a lot of different types of rum. Not sure that you would want to drive too far afterwards :-)
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Great House Restaurant
Old world charm, great food, but the service was not very friendly The restaurant is in the restored great house of the old plantation. The site is run by the Takamaka Rum company, but the restaurant is owned and run by the owner/chef, Crystal
They serve excellent food and cocktails, and you enjoy them on the veranda of the great house, overlooking the gardens I was a little put off by the lack of any warmth in the service (we ate here twice and it was the same thing both times). The waiter did not seem to want to talk to guests at all, and just plonked our food on the table without any interaction None of the serving staff seemed to be concerned as to whether we were enjoying our meal. But, having said that, we did return, and I would go back there again if I were in the Seychelles again
Round the Island
Del Place Restaurant
We had lunch twice in this excellent restaurant It manages to offer a great position on the sea, good food and good service
Photos of the restaurant show that it is bang on the sea, in fact in a sheltered small bay with nothing other than a few fishing boats coming and going. Very restful and very beautiful
The food is well presented and well cooked. There is a good selection on the menu. And their cocktails are, shall we say, eyewateringly strong. The staff are very friendly and the service was efficient. I am not surprised that it gets good reviews. I certainly recommend this restaurant, and will visit it again when we return to the Seychelles
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Mahe is much more mountainous that I had thought. Although distances are short, because of the mountains, driving times are quite long. And crossing the Great Divide in a tropical rainstorm is no fun at all - the roads run red with washed off soil, rivers run down roads, and you can only see about 20 metres.
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And so back to Spain
