After an eventful and tiring Day 3, we decided to take it easy today. After a spree of early mornings, we woke up in peace today and had a quick breakfast to save time. We caught the 9:30 AM bus to the Jetty and took a return fare ticket to La-Digue Island. It costs about 35 Euros/ person and is only a half an hour trip from Praslin Island.
La-Digue Tourism Office
There is a Seychelles Tourism Office right outside the jetty area. One can also see a lot of cycles parked there of the different vendors charging anything between 8 Euros – 12 Euros/ Cycle. We saw a couple of people claiming to be tourist guides and take us on various hikes in the Island like to the Nid D'Aigle peak or the Anse Marron’ beach. However, we had already fixed one guy, Mr. Robert Agnes, who runs a personal website offering several hikes and trails in the Praslin and La-Digue Islands. Today is the day we meet and discuss to plan about tomorrow’s trail. Since, it s a difficult trek, he informed us about some essentials and advised us to take the first ferry tomorrow morning.
One of the Fisherman's catch
He also arranged us 2 cycles at 8 Euros each and showed us the way to Anse Source d'Argent Beach. On taking the right from the Seychelles Tourism Hut, you will get the first glimpse of an Islander’s life, there were some fishermen spreading their catch, some local vegetables and coconuts on the offering. The beach bungalows were amazing and colorful. We saw the primary school and church before entering the L’Union Estate’. It was primarily in existence because of the choir processing and is now run for tourists as a sightseeing spot. It is essential to cross L’Union Estate in order to reach Anse Source d'Argent Beach (Supposedly the most photographic beach in the world).
Exploring L'union Estate
Palm Plantation
Vanilla Plantation at L'Union
A Pirate Ship Wreck at L'union Estate
There were quite a few surprises to see in L’Union Estate itself, such as the beautiful palm trees, vanilla plantation, a Pirate ship wreck (*the guy at the workshop near the ship, told us about the origin of name La Digue’ after a French vessel), choir mill, tortoise pen, souvenir shop and a restaurant at the start of Anse Source d'Argent Beach. It was quite relaxing to explore L’Union Estate on our bicycles, and there were signs all around to explain the different sections of the estate. After a lunch at the restaurant, we went on to spend some time at the beach and it was indeed very very beautiful, with rock boulders in the background and blue azure waters, it was a beautiful sight. There were some crafts shops and some beach wear selling shops in the pathway leading to the beach. We saw each couple or a family taking a small corner amongst the boulders and marking it as their space to keep their luggage and stuff.
The water was all clear and shallow and we spent 2 hours at the beach relaxing and enjoying the calmness.
The beautiful Anse' d Argent Beach
After this, we proceeded to the North side of the beach to explore more of Village Life at La Digue, we had heard very famously of its Ox cart culture. Although coming from India, it was nothing new for us, but still we wanted to see the foreign side to it: P
While coming out of L’Union we stopped by at the Souvenir shop and purchased some Vanilla Oil and coconut items, only later to find out that we were over charged. I only realized later, that the lady at souvenir shop was talking so sweetly only to dupe us into buying more.
Anyways, we crossed the jetty area again and reached to the other side of the island. Here, the roads were narrow and trees and greenery on both sides, more like Jungle on each side, with cemented tracks. One can see a lot of guesthouses, along the road. We saw 2-3 Ox carts carrying passengers, all being picked from beach or interiors. It was a decorated cart, quite colorful - being driven by a local. We didn’t want to waste too much time to enjoy the ride, so we sat for a while and then continued on our way to explore the beaches on North – East side of the Island.
We returned to jetty in time to catch the last ferry and reach back to the Hotel.
We had quick dinner at our hotel's restaurant - Pizzeria which gave us a lot of rest for tomorrow as we managed to sleep early.
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