The bacon and the variety of cold cut slice spread on the breakfast table had already poked the Hunter “Van Pelt” from Jumanji. After a sumptuous breakfast, I got ready for the day with my Hunter Hat, my rifle *disguised as Camera* and the island MAP. Since, we were covering only two places in the day, we planned to spend ample time discovering and enjoying these places. Our itinerary of the day had the two most visited and recommended spots in Praslin Island, Seychelles.
We woke up early, to keep most of the day for travelling and roaming around. Our morning session was reserved for Vallee’-de-Mai’ National Park – One of the only places in the world to find the “Coco-De-Mer” Tree– Seychelles National Symbol and a World Heritage Site. Praslin Island is well connected by Buses and it seemed a wise decision to save some Euros, when the Bus Stop is only 50 Meters from your Resort.
Vallee’-de-Mai’ National Park - UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Bus Fare is only “5 Seychelles Rupee” and there is a free guided tour at Vallee’-de-Mai’ at 10 AM and 2 PM. It is advisable to reach in time for the guided tour. We had reached the Bus Stop at 8:45 AM only and after 15 mins of wait, our Bus arrived. Bus moves to the Jetty area first and then traverses back its way to Vallee’ –de-Mai’- Total Journey time is 15 mins only. So, we reached the place earlier than the time for the tour. The Ticket price is 20 Euros/ Person. The Ticket includes a MAP of Vallee’-de-Mai’ – marking the trails and certain points. There is a small souvenir shop opposite the Ticket Counter, where we spent some time waiting. We browsed through some of the stuff, but didn’t find anything interesting to purchase.
One of the people with the Management called for the Guided Tour; everyone waiting in cafeteria or the Souvenir shop, gathered to begin with the tour. There were 3 Trails, from small medium to large one. The Larger trail was 5 kms long.
The entire park has well laid down path and clear markers, which made it easy to connect with the map provided. One can see several “Coco-de-Mer” Trees, right at the entrance and as soon as you enter there are a whole lot of them in different stages of their lifecycle. The guide was pretty fluent in English and had detailed knowledge about the history of coco-de-mer, its connection with Seychellois life and its different types. The Tour takes about 2 Hours. We had lunch in the Cafeteria and waited outside Vallee’-de-Mai’ for our bus to Anse Lazio’.
Anse Lazio is exactly at the other end of the Island. It is one of the most beautiful beaches of the island, and thankfully the visit is not restricted by any Hotel claiming the beach as theirs. One has to reach to the very last stop and it’s a 20 minutes walk from there. Since the bus travels through the coastline of Praslin Island, you can literally count all the beaches from the Island Map. You have to take the Left from the fork, where the bus drops you and start walking towards the jungle path.
Pathway to Anse-Lazio Beach
The walk can be tiring though as its about 600-800 meters. But, you get to see the Anse’ Lazio Bay while climbing down. A couple of Coco-de-mer Trees can also be sighted, since by now, you’re very familiar with their leaves and the fruit.As soon as you reach the bottom of hilly slope, one can fins several cars parked and some buses. That’s your signal for the beach arrival. There is a good restaurant “Bon –Bon Plume” on the beach. You can read more about it here.
Anse - Lazio Beach
We spent about 2 hours at the beach; it was slightly more crowded than other beaches in Seychelles. But, the boulders, slanted trees and beautiful shades of blue made it quite picturesque. The waves were smaller and water was pretty lukewarm. It was a fantastic time at the beach. There is a beach shower placed near the restaurant area, and it also has a toilet facility.
We left the beach around 3 PM as the Last bus leaves around 4 PM from the stop. We managed to catch the 3:45 Bus, but the climb back to the stop was a bit tiring because of the slope, and especially after swimming.
Berjaya has this facility of complimentary Coffee Time from 4PM – 5 PM. We reached in time for some coffee and cookies, after which we headed to the room to get some rest.
Evening we decided to try a different restaurant. The lane to the resort has number of restaurants and Hotels, so you have plenty of options to choose from. The crowd near Gelateria de Luca seemed interesting, so we stopped by. Its barely 5 mins walk from the resort and is basically an ice-cream parlor but serves good Italian dishes as well. The Pizzas were very soft and tasted fresh and cheesy. To read more about the restaurant review, visit here.
Ice creams here were so great that we came 2-3 times to try a new one. They had very rich and distinctive flavors.
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