This is only a part blog of our travel to the North-Eastern India, which has a beauty of its own with its evergreen forests and ample greenery. The beauty of its place can be judged only when one is in its absolute vicinity; something like a Natural Wonder.

Cherrapunjee region has the maximum rainfall in the world, and the entire district comprises of many such villages having Living Root Bridges to make way for travel during heavy rainfall. These villages lie on the lower reaches of southern slopes of Khasi and Jaintia Hills having generally warm and humid climate. There is rainfall all around the year, resulting in multiple mountain streams and swift flowing rivers during the monsoons. Since, local villagers have to travel to towns uphill for schools or medical facilities; they had to find some way to make their travel safer across these streams, which become quite rapid during the monsoons. It is difficult to create a mountain path with rains washing away everything. Thus, local villagers came up with the idea of a Living Root Bridge.

These bridges have been made using a species of Indian Rubber Tree – Ficus Elastica which grows abundantly along the flowing mountain streams and can withstand heavy soil erosion due to rains by thriving on boulders along the streams.

These bridges exist in many villages in Cherrapunjee district, but the gem of all is the Double Decker Root Bridge at Nongriat Village known as Umshiang Double Decker Root Bridge or Jingkieng Nongriat.

We stayed at Cherrapunjee resort in Laitkynsew Village. It is located in East Khasi Hills District roughly 15 Kms further from Sohra (Cherrapunjee). The resort is run by private owners, who arrange small treks to these natural wonders.

Trek Duration: Approx 6 Hours

Guide Needed: No, Easily Manageable as Meghalaya Govt as put up boards and directions

Trek Difficulty: Strenuous

The trek to the Double Decker Root bridge begins after a 5 Kms drive from Laitkynsew Village to Tyrna Village. Since, taxis are hard to find, you will need to get in touch with a local or get it arranged through the resort.(Taxi Charges - Approx Rs 200 from the resort)

Meghalaya Tourism Board directing the Trail

Tyrna Village has a Meghalaya Tourism Board directing visitors towards the Double Decker Root Bridge. All the cars are parked near this point and the stairs take you below to the Tyrna Village. The same stairs then continue downwards for about 2-3 Kilometers to take you to Nongthymmai village. The trek can be strenuous because it’s a continuous descent of stairs for 2-3 kilometers, and you lose count of how many stairs you have taken. But, you get some of the most amazing views of Khasi hills, and various mountain falls while descending these stairs.

Waterfalls during the Monsoon Season

In the center of Village is the Church, which has a diversion. From this point, a pathway towards right leads you to Ritymmen Root Bridge which is 30 meter long (100 foot) and is the longest known living root bridge and the left diversion takes you further on the path to Double Decker Root Bridge.

First Steel Bridge on the way

After crossing Nongthymmai village and roughly a kilometer after you come across first of the steel bridges one needs to cross to reach Nongriat Village. The next one comes 500 meters after.

View of Mountain Stream from the Second Steel Bridge

The second one is even longer and takes you to the entry point of Nongriat village. You can see some natural swimming pools created here of water collected over rock boulders. There is also a water reservoir made here for harvesting rainwater. A village outhouse is also here with charges of Rs 250/ per day only. But, better option is guesthouse in the Nongriat Village which offers much better facilities at same charges.

This guy was crossing the bridge too

After one crosses this bridge, now it’s only the last Kilometer to the Double Decker, but by this time you feel so drained out of energy that everyone feels like returning back. But, push yourself further up to the beauty and you’ll not regret.

First Living Root Bridge

The first root bridge on this path comes at the entry of the village, only 500 meters from the last steel bridge. You will already some villagers, who will be very friendly and welcoming. The waterfall seen from this root bridge is so picturesque, that it’ll resemble you of some wallpaper on your desktop screens.

Nongriat Village

Nongriat Village begins from this point, and you can see several homes and way towards the guesthouse. This village is very famous for its natural honey, which can be purchased here at nominal prices and also be assured of its purity, as Khasi people are very honest.

The lane behind the guest house leads you to the beauty i.e Double Decker Root Bridge. One is left completely mesmerized of the surroundings and it appears straight out of some fantasy movie like Avatar.

The Double Decker Living Root Bridge

There’s a nominal government fee of Rs 40 for camera and Rs 5 per person collected for maintaining its cleanliness and preserving it natural beauty. Enjoy and relax here as much as you want as waterfall makes the place cooler and surroundings make everything so refreshing.

Be prepared for long and daunting walk back as its 5 Kilometers to the road at Tyrna Village. If you save some energy you can take a quick walk to the Ritymmen Root Bridge by taking the diversion skipped in Nongthymmai village. The walk towards these bridges is only 800 meters from the Village, so one can push for this much. There are two root bridges here and both are really long and beautiful.

 The Ritymmen Root Bridge - Longest Living Root Bridge

  Two parallel Living Root Bridges

 Total length of Living Root Bridge can be judged from this view 

The climb back becomes really tiring because of the steep ascent and so many stairs. So, once you return, don’t forget to have a grand feast to replenish your body as all your muscles will be aching after climbing up and down the stairs.

Mahe Island - Traveller's Map

Praslin Island - Traveller's Map

La-Digue Island - Traveller's Map

Recommended Restaurants in Praslin: 

     1.     Café des Arts

After taking the left lane from Berjaya’s Beach facing bungalows or walking left in the beach area, you’ll come across a nicely decorated restaurant Café’ des Arts. It has an entry from the beach side and has a very romantic aroma. The back side entry (from Berjaya’s lane) will take you to Restaurant’s sitting area directly and also to its boutique shop. They also offer Creole’ dishes but dishes here were having a lot of variety than the basic creolean’ dishes we had over the days. Try their grilled fish; you’ll definitely feel the difference. Owner is a very friendly and warm lady. Highly recommended for its tasty food and colorful and romantic ambience.

 Entrance from the Beach

     2.     Les Lauriers

Come here for the expansive buffet and complete country atmosphere.  Their salads and meat offerings were quite lavish. And both meat and grilled fish were succulently cooked. I had such a great feast that I couldn’t try much of the dessert offerings. Initially the place looked a tad overpriced, but their meal and service made it worth every bit. Their buffet spread was 30 Euros/Person.

     3.     Gelateria de Luca

It’s a quiet little Ice-cream parlor just ahead in the lane to Berjaya resort. It also serves great Italian food. Try their mouth watering pizzas and savor on some sundaes. Their Ice-cream flavors have very distinctive taste and their tropical fruit sundae is very refreshing to taste. Suits your pocket, I think it’s a good restaurant on a budget.  

Tropical Sundae

     4.     Bon Bon Plume

If someone can win award for the perfect place to open a restaurant, its got to be Bon Bon Plume. After travelling to reach Anse Lazio and then swimming and draining out, all one asks for is a nice sip and decent food. What you get here is amazing variety of food and well prepared and presented. We tried their crab and lobster and also Mango refresher for drinks. You can pick up Seychelles traveller’s Maps from the billing counter. Its right on the beach and is at the entrance as soon as you arrive after parking your car.

Crab @ Bon Bon Plume

Recommended Restaurants in Mahe:

    1.     La Scala

Service is what they sell here. Friendly owners, helping you out with selection of food and wines and fresh catch of wish waiting to be grilled on your choice. Some of the seats are overlooking the ocean from the window, and extremely courteous staff, ready to help you with everything. This is one of very few restaurants which do not take a service charge, but they definitely deserve some, because of their warmth and style of serving food. Their red snapper in garlic sauce with some tasty wine makes your day. They also have very nice pastas to delight your taste buds.

Grilled Red Snapped in Garlic Sauce

     2.     La Plaine St. Andre

The restaurant has a very posh setting, with vintage lamps and wooden tables and chair setting. The bar has some of the most exquisite drinks and wine glasses hanging like a perfect pub setting. The restaurant is a bit up market in its prices but their service was well worth it. Their drinks menu had maximum variety we found in Seychelles.

     3.     Pirates Arms

Pirate Arms is located right in the heart of the Victoria market, amazing place to interact with people and always buzzing with crowd. The waiters will always seem in a rush, with the amount of customers they have to cater to. Service is very quick, unlike most places and prices are very reasonable for both food and drinks. This place also has a Casino with running ticker of money at stakes for the interested folks.

BERJAYA PRASLIN SEYCHELLES RESORT

Berjaya Praslin Seychelles Resort is located bang on the Cote’-de- Or Beach and has lot of restaurants and parish shops/ money changers/ clothing shops etc in its vicinity. They welcome you with a cool lemon grass drink, which is so refreshing after a ride from jetty to the resort.

                                                                  Deluxe Sea-view Room

We stayed in the Deluxe Sea-view Room. These rooms are closest to the Beach and the resorts’s Pizzeria Restaurant and have a nice view of the ocean across the garden. The rooms offer you enough privacy and peace from the resort’s internal area, near pool/bar/souvenir shop and restaurant area. Rooms are well equipped with bath tub and other facilities.

                                                              Cocktail Bar - Near Fregate

We got a fruit basket on our first day, which was quite plentiful and had all local fruits. 

                                                              Fregate Restaurant

Breakfast buffet spread is in fregate restaurant and dinner is in Pizzeria, which is accessible by Public and is on the beach.

                                                              Pizzeria Restaurant

 They have all the tour arrangement facilities, cab booking etc. Coffee is served free of charge 4 PM to 5 PM, in the Fregate area opposite the pool. 


                                                  Farish Shop on Berjaya's Entry Gate

There is a farish shop on the gate and a souvenir shop in the parking area near reception.

                                                                     Swimming Pool

Swimming pool was very small but who needs one, when the beach is right at the doorstep. One can avail a shower room at the time of checking out, if your ferry back to the main island is late eve.

We found the staff very polite and helpful. Overall we had a pretty nice stay here.

Room Tip: Sea View Room had better accessibility to the beach and Pizzeria. Garden facing rooms are no use as they are in interiors and have no sea access or to other facilities of the resort.

BERJAYA BEAU VALLON BAY RESORT & CASINO

Berjaya Beau Vallon resort as the name suggests is located in the famous Beau Vallon bay, place to be for the most beautiful sunsets at Mahe, Seychelles. The resort is a huge one with a wide variety of room offerings, and because of its location has a high demand in every season.  

                                                 Resort's back side - opposite the Beach

We travelled in first week of May, 2014 and resort was bustling with people. The reception staff is unfriendly and unwilling to do anything even minutely small, beyond their strict rules and policies. Room service is extremely poor and you have to demand 2-3 times on the reception helpline (room service never picks) to get the waters or coffee/tea updates.

The rooms were smaller as compared to The Praslin resort. We had taken the standard room and were eligible for an upgrade, but they refused citing Hotel rush. Despite the fact, that we had confirmed this fact before booking, and then only made payments.

                                                 Lounge Area and Parrot Restaurant

The resort’s Parrot restaurant was an extremely nice place with variety of offerings for a long stay and polite and helpful staff. It had a different buffet of International Cuisines every night and restaurant ala’-carte itself was multi specialty with varieties from Italian, Chinese, Creole’, Teppanyaki Counter to Indian Restaurant. Swimming Pool size was bigger than their Praslin resort.

                                                                     Swimming Pool

You have to collect beach towels early morning during breakfast time, or else they finish. There are decent numbers of Beach beds that they place on the beach side. The evenings used to be pretty lively with some musical show, dance performance or a DJ on offering. There was a small casino as well to spend time.

Also, there is a tortoise pen towards left from the reception lobby having 8-10 Large Aldabra Tortoises.

There is spa facility, some boutique and souvenir shops near the restaurant. Travel desk is opposite the reception counter. One of the good things was free pick up and drop facility to Victoria, Mahe. Every guest should make avail of this facility in order to save taxi charges, but one needs to book it in advance, i.e an evening before.

Room Tip: Go with the quality of room, rather than view as no room had any decent views.

Our flight was 4:30 in the evening, so we slept long in morning and had late breakfast. We then took our lazy asses to the beach beds outside and looked around couples enjoying themselves, some small kids playing in the beach waters, which reminded us of our trip, which was long and adventurous enough to be remembered for a long time.

We had a good time in Seychelles, and loved interacting with such friendly people and discovering their unique plants and trees.

Mason’s people came as usual on time to pick us up. I was really happy with their services all through the trip. After being done, with the formalities and being left with spare SR’s, it was time to utilize them in the duty free stores.

Back to Day 12

Back to Itinerary 

One of the interesting customer benefits of our Hotel was FREE PICK-UP & DROP facility to Victoria Market. This was highly beneficial as Victoria is the cultural and shopping hub of the Island. It had the bus terminus in walking distance, variety of markets, travel agencies offices etc. However, it was subject to availability  so one has to book in advance, i.e in the preceding eve to get the service. They drop you in an AC Mini Bus, which starts at 10 AM and picks you up at 4:30 PM.

Victoria - Watch Tower

We made use of this facility on the penultimate day and reached Victoria Stadium Parking. The souvenir stalls opposite the parking area weren’t opened as yet. So we decided to check the morning rush at Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market. The market road was closed as the vendors were dropping of fish produce and vegetables. It’s a spices and vegetables market, and you can see different variety of fruits and flowers being sold here. There are some spices and vanilla items seller in the latter end of the market. The first floor shops are mostly boutique shops selling clothes and make up items in very affordable rates. You can bargain some good deals from the sellers out here.

Sir Selwyn Selwyn Clarke Market

Since, Victoria market was not yet in full swing, and we had today completely for this area, we headed to Botanical Garden in the vicinity. The ticket price here is 100 SR/ person and it’s a very well maintained park. It had variety of trees and is recommended for taking some really good photos in such clean and beautiful surroundings.

Inside Botanical Garden

It was quite some walk in the park, and we were feeling really hungry. So we returned to Victoria again and stopped by Pirates Arms, a really nice place for food and drinks. It’s highly recommended for its amazing prices and cool ambience. It has a small casino too, for those who’re interested. There’s a Seychelles National Museum opposite Pirates Arms, but was closed for lunch, but we anyways weren’t much interested in visiting it. After relaxing here, we roamed around Victoria picking up some stuff for friends and relatives, and all this shopping made it quite tiring. There are lot of small shopping complexes in the Market area, mostly selling clothes, Make-Up Items, Coconut and wooden crafts, coco-de-Mer and antiques etc. There are couple of branded grocery retailers as well. After picking up some take away food from Liam –Liam food shop, we returned to Hotel by 6 PM. We had missed the HOTEL bus, so we had to take the state bus for returning.

I have been having food cravings for Indian food since a few days now, and I really wanted to have something Indian today to be really satisfied with the trip. We had once tried at our Hotel’s restaurant and it was good, but today we wanted to try the Coral Strand restaurant, the other Indian restaurant in the vicinity of our Hotel. Although we didn’t have any energy left, so we took a small nap, before walking upto the Coral strand for dinner. We preferred the Beach walk as it’s shorter, but there were lot of crabs to scare us. Our steps and torch lights made them run away from our path. We reached Coral Strand Hotel and went to their Indian Restaurant, it faced directly at the Beach and one can hear the waves reaching the shores. Butter Chicken and Naan served me a perfect end to a beautiful trip. 

Back to Day 11

Next to Day 13 

After yesterday’s hangover, it was time to rejuvenate ourselves with Nature and a beautiful weather supported us. We took the left before Victoria onto the sans souci road which had all the three spots of the day. First up on our way was Mission lodge, which came on a diversion on the right side of the road. It is a nicely preserved ruin of some schools and society of slaves, and has memoirs of on their lives on the Island. It is overlooking the Morne Seychellois Park and has some of the nicest views of the bay. The garden is maintained cleanly and you can see some locals moving around selling small food items.

Viewpoint - Mission Lodge

Driving down the same road, Copolia trail comes on the left side. It passes through the Tea plantation. We started the trail by observing signs made on the side of the road, directing on to a pathway, leading into the jungles and plantation. After a walk of few mins you can see the vast plantation and a lot of greenery, but you can also observe that the path is long and we didn’t want to go any further so we returned from the trail quite early.

Seyte- Tea Factory

Next up was the “Seyte Tea Factory”, there is a parking by the entrance near the shop selling tea. The entry to the gates of Tea Estate is open, and one can see the Ocean view from its entrance lobby. There was nobody at the reception so we made a call for someone to give us a tour of Tea Factory. It was a very nominal fee, considering the prices we have been paying around Seychelles at 25 SR/ person. A lady at the factory directed us to the guy, who showed us the various machines used in Tea Making very patiently and also took us to the area, where tea was actually getting filtered and packaged. The tour lasted 20-25 minutes.

We came outside and decided to buy some tea as souvenir from the factory. There were multiple options like Indian Ocean tea, Mint Tea, Vanilla tea, Orange Tea, Citronelle’ tea etc and all ranging from 25 SR to 40 SR.

It was lunch time and we almost came down the sans souci road looking for a restaurant, finally grabbed a quick snacks bite and decided to visit EDEN Island, since we had lot of time left for the day. Although, it was in tomorrow’s plan, but it was always better to use up the mileage left on your car.

Eden Island- Jetty

EDEN Island was East of Victoria towards the Airport. It’s quite an upmarket residential place, and there’s access to the Island through an overbridge. As soon as we entered, we saw very nicely maintained gardens, roadside and people moving in golf carts. The Island was accessible for the residents and traffic was checked through a security post, allowing people to enter the residential complex. The only place accessible for public was the mall situated on the EDEN Island.

We parked the car in the basement, and roamed around the mall area. It had nice shops from clothing ranges to adventure gears, to travel companies to some restaurants and eateries. The other side of the mall, opened to a Jetty, which had so many yachts parked there. We had some snacks and Ice cream at the parlor and did some shopping. It was like a typical mall, but I believe all the shops weren’t yet opened and only 75% shops were operational. We then returned through the Victoria Market on to the Beau Vallon road for our Hotel.

Back to Day 10

Next to Day 12 

A tiring yesterday meant we need to sleep long to recover. Since we had rented a cab for the coming 2 days, we had luxury of time to ourselves. We woke up late for the breakfast, which was almost going to be over. Since, the first stop was at Port Glaud/ launay for snorkeling, we could be a Pirate for the day and not have a bath before we start our day : P

We parked our cars by the beach, and we could already see some families snorkeling and some people crossing over the bay to the small land mass on the other side. Water was very shallow so you can cross to the other side by walking only from some sides with knee deep water. We didn’t find the area too exciting though and maybe the good snorkeling points were further, as I could see some people trying to see corals there.

Waterfall near Port Glaud

We returned after some time to have lunch here, and had it at a small restaurant serving basic creole’ dishes. We met a few people claiming themselves to be registered guides offering us to take to the waterfall. We knew the waterfall in this area, but we didn’t know the route, so we actually wanted to hire one, but weren’t aware of their authenticity and their charges seemed a bit extra. Anyways, we negotiated with one of the guys, who agreed on a good price and took us to waterfall. It was only a small hike, and took us only 20 minutes to reach there. Swimming didn’t seem a safe option there, so didn’t even try. A few clicks and we decided to return. On our way back, the guide also showed us a restaurant about to be opened in a year or so, as construction activity was going on.

It was only 4 PM, but we decided to return back to hotel for some rest and change of wear, as we wanted to head to Wednesday bazaar besides Coral Strand Hotel. We also wanted to catch the sunset at Beau vallon beach.

Sunset at Beau- Vallon

By evening, we were at the beach, and one could hear a lot of noises from fruit bats on all the trees. You could also see them flying here and there over your head. Sun takes its own good time to set here, and giving us breathtaking views for about good 1-2 hours in orange/bluish /greenish shade before turning into night. I wish I could swim up to the horizon as the beach and water looked so mesmerizing. But, since we were dressed for the bazaar, I couldn’t risk an argument with wifey.

The bazaar happens every Wednesday and is in an open area only a few steps away from the coral strand hotel. Its mostly a local affair, with local people showcasing their stuff in various stalls, some of the stalls were having souvenir items, beach wears and coconut/ wood made collectibles, while most other had local food offered at unbelievable prices. You could get all kinds of stuff to eat here, mostly in 40 SR to 60 SR per plate.  There were some locals playing music and others dancing off casually to their tunes. There is a nice walkway down the road starting from Coral Strand, thus all the people collecting food in the take-aways from these stalls were having it here, sitting by the beach.

There were some juice stalls and coconut water stalls too, for the thirsty ones. We had some snacks and tried some grilled items and were full enough for dinner. It wasn’t very big bazaar so 1 hour here is a decent time for you to spend, and beyond that is bore. So, we returned back to Hotel and it was only 9 PM, and we were still enthusiastic about the night. There were some musical performances in the Hotel recreational area and a DJ paying music, which got us in a dancing mood.

We had seen a small night club by the road side, on our way to Bel Ombre area yesterday, which was barely a kilometer from our Hotel. Also, we had the car with us, so out enthusiasm was calling out to drive there and have a good time. We reached 11 PM to this club, I’m not able to exactly remember the name of the club, but I believe it was “Taka Boom-Boom”. It had a park in front of its entrance, where all the vehicles were parked and a DJ inside playing rap songs and likewise. Some beers and the surrounding ambience gave ample opportunity to freely enjoy. Locals were quite friendly here. 

Back to Day 9

Next to Day 11 

Morning started with beautiful weather with slight drizzle and gentle breeze. We had kept the day reserved for Trek to Anse Major, but rains had put some doubts in our mind. To add to it, the Public Holiday meant disruption in public services offered.

Since, the Anse Major trail starts only from 3-4 kms west of Beau Vallon, we hadn’t booked a taxi for the same. Anyways, we motivated ourselves to go ahead with the plan and waited for the bus outside our resort. We waited for about 15 mins and had no hope for a bus coming in this direction, but there were a lot of private cars travelling this way. Since, our destination wasn’t far, we thought of trying to ask someone to give us a lift. To my surprise, it took us only a few attempts before we could find a nice family going to the village Bel Ombre’, which was the starting point of our trek.

The drive to the village was scenic, we could see a church, community town hall, small jetty areas along the coast and the road itself was running parallel to the ocean. The couple dropped us at the Bel Ombre bus stop and we could see the highly recommended La Scala restaurant. There was also a reserved parking for the restaurant visitors. It appeared closed though, since it was still only 11 in the morning.

The trail starts a bit more uphill from here, and about a kilometer and a half further from the bus stop. Before reaching the starting point, we saw a lot of construction activity on this side of the island, we also came across a Batman inspired house, though the owner and strict signage for not clicking any photographs. There are two-three trails that start from here and we asked directions from a local for the Anse Major.

The trail starts off in a jungle with a well laid pathway, one can find cardmom trees in abundance here. Only after a kilometer it curves out across a hill onto the Ocean side. Thus you get a lot of great views in this trek. The total ascent –descent across the whole trek is not much, though it’s little long with 5 kms to the beach and return.  There are some viewpoints in the trek, some wooden bridges and a lot of rocky paths. Thus, because of the rains we had to be little cautious along the way.

Anse Major Beach in the Background

The beach itself was small, but very peaceful. Two couples joined us after an hour, after we arrived on the beach. They were brought here in a motor boat, starting from beau vallon beach area. There was a changing area made in woods besides the beach. I really liked the corals here, which had smaller fishes but very colorful variety.

After grabbing some snacks, we slept sometime on the beach, as weather was so relaxing and beautiful. No sun today, I only wished I had a beach volleyball or some activity to do. The two hours at beach were really great. We started back on our trail, as we didn’t want to get too late and wanted to return in time before sunset.

On our way to Anse Major Beach

Rains had stopped by the time we had arrived to the beach, but had left the entire path wet. So, we retraced our paths equally carefully. We reached back at around 6:30 and wanted to grab a bite. We inquired from the La Scala restaurant and they said they would start serving from 7:30 PM onwards, they were preparing for the dinner. So, we made our reservations for a beach facing table, and thought of grabbing a beer. There was a small eatery, about 500 meters down the road along with 2-3 small grocery stores.

Our gourmet @ La-Scala

After utilizing some time, we arrived again at La Scala for dinner. The fresh catch of the day was placed in a ice rack, and we selected a Red Snapper for the grill. Ordered a glass of wine and waited for our order to come. The owners were very warm and welcoming and looked after every detail by themselves. To read more about its review- Visit here.

Back to Day 8

Next to Day 10