The Seychelles, 3 days

such lovely light in the humid forest..

fruit bat about to devour his lunch!

bad photo of Iain on the pristine beach we swam in.. underneath the mango trees!

Happy tortoise after a nice neck massage :)

Iain's new 200 year old friend

Well, we've had a lovely 3-day visit to the Seychelles islands. There are 115 islands in total, but we only visited one. It was as lovely as expected, although very hot.. and it's still only their spring. It's about 35 degrees, and will get up to a possible 60 or 65 by March!

The beaches were pristine white, the turquoise water bathtub warm, and the jungle vegetation really interesting. We tasted cinnamon straight from the tree, and lemon grass plants, made into tea. The jungle is everywhere, and we drove through it as our guide pointed out trees like 'ylang ylang' and cinnamon, and rubber and avocado and lime, mango and breadfruit, and other exotic things. The palm varieties were just as exotic, -coconut and wild pineapple, cocoa de mer, and cocoa (chocolate), as well as tea.

Highlights of the 3 days were feeding and bonding with the giant land tortoises, -they live to be over 300 years old- and they loved having their necks stroked, so we stayed with them for hours. Then yesterday I was alone in the jungle above the botanical gardens, and saw one of the huge fruit bats (They live by day and night), and it was just gorging itself on a giant ugly fruit. (I think).. so I got some great shots as well as some videos of both favourite events!

We're back at sea now, en route to Madagascar. By the looks of the images we've seen, it's a very poor island, and will be a step down from the nice village on the Seychelles.