My time spent on and in the glorious waters and islands and atolls of the Seychelles – the beauty, glory and abundance of natural settings, many untouched by humans was overwhelming. Add to this a series of WTDGAP (When Things Don’t Go As Planned) occurrences and hopefully you will understand that it will take me some time to unpack. This refers to the journey’s incredible moments and discoveries – of course I have already unpacked my luggage, done multiple loads of laundry, picked up my sweet Vee from her doggy resort:
Also cleaned the house, ordered new groceries and taken many many naps.
It is going to take me longer than usual to curate my photos, as this time they are coming from different sources. Instead of bringing my newest long range camera I mistakenly took the oldest – and it bit the dust within a few days of beginning this adventure – it has been donated for parts to the photographic crew. I also brought an underwater camera, but it too could not handle the enormous load put on it as it had to take photos over land as well. My iphone was put into heavy rotation for the remainder of the trip and has so far continued to operate. Stuff happens – but nevertheless I hope to wow you in future posts.
Let me therefore start with a recap of my itinerary and a brief description of the Seychelles.
After a brief visit to Kenya’s East Coast Zanzibar and Kilwa Kisiwani, which I will highlight in the next post, we boarded our expedition boat and wended our way through the Indian Ocean, visiting over a dozen islands and atolls and snorkeling in multi blue and green crystal colored waters. Here are some basic facts:
Seychelles
- Archipelagic state: contains a group/chain of islands and the surrounding sea.
- Consists of 115 islands distributed across 1.37 million square kilometers (851.3 thousand square miles)
- There are two main geological groups: the Granitic Inner Islands as shown in top photo, and Coraline Outer Islands, which look like this:
- The Granitic Islands such as Mahé, Praslin and La Digue are remnants of the supercontinent Gondwanaland and are among the few mid-ocean islands of continental origin in the world:
- While the Granitic Islands have rugged topography ranging above sea level, the Coraline Islands are predominantly low-lying coral atolls and reef islands with mangrove forests
- Ecologically, the Seychelles are recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot- there are many endemic species due to the islands’ isolation
- Conservation and environmental stewardship are key in protecting the islands’ biodiversity
Let’s begin the journey! First stop: Zanzibar:
#
P.S. Please forgive me if there are grammatical or syntax errors – body still trying to get back to NY time.