Fast forward to Seychelles
There’s a lot more to share about our safari in Africa! Things that take more time and energy to compose. So I’m going to fast forward to our Seychelles trip! We started this part of our journey after 34 hours of traveling! We left our last campsite in South Africa at 6am, rode on the bus for about 12 hours in total with activities and stops back to Joberg, caught our first flight to Ethiopia, took naps in the lounge there, caught our second flight to Seychelles, and then took a ferry to Round Island.
And let me tell you. The long travel was worth it!! Round island is a small island that belongs to the Enchanted Resort. Enchanted doesn’t even cover it. Try pure bliss. Magical. Mesmerizing. A breath of fresh air. We were given the nicest villa on the island. One of only 10 villas. Ours was named after the Lagati trees planted around it. The view was stunning. The bathroom and shower facilities were entirely outdoors. We had a private infinity pool and walkway down to the beach. Easily the most luxurious place we have ever stayed!!
We stayed 3 nights there. We spent our days adventuring. We walked via sandbar to a neighboring island. We found seashells and bits of coral along the shore and swam in the Indian Ocean. We spotted big fruit bats flying overhead. One day we kayaked to another island which was part of the Saint Anne Marie National Park. We had heard there were land tortoises on the island. Little did we know, there were a ton of them and they were gigantic and loved neck scratches! There were also babies that loved scrambling over each other in a race to tasty leaves. We got some hiking and snorkeling in. We also enjoyed some downtime in our pool with some slithery friends. We had delicious meals at the resort’s restaurant! It was a dream and a much needed one after months of intense wedding planning, a busy and social beach week and wedding, and an 18 day camping safari with 23 other people. It was the best reset!
Next we headed to La Digue island, also part of the Seychelles islands. It started with a debit card stolen by an atm machine, a rough and long ferry ride which we miraculously survived, and the sweltering heat on the island. We made it to our hotel, cooled off and rested up before hitting the town on bikes! Along the way we saw stunning views and a fruit bat pretty close up! It was easily one of the cutest creatures I’ve seen!
The next day we took bikes out again. We hit a local restaurant for an early piña colada. We kept biking and eventually hit a dead end where a bunch of bikes were parked and a sign directed us to a beach bar that could only be accessed via hiking. The sign had some ladders drawn on it so we knew the hike would be interesting and woo it sure was. It was a bit of a doozy! The ladders were actually very stable but they went up and down and across many rocky outcroppings. We worked our way across the rocks and through a forest all the way to the bar. Again, the journey was worth it! We got killer beach drinks and went for a swim with goggles to look at all the fish. It was a sweet spot.
The next day we decided on a more low key day at a very accessible beach bar near our hotel. We played card games, had great piña coladas, and enjoyed the beach. For dinner we found ourselves a great beach bar with, surprise surprise, PIZZA. Plus there was a local cat that happily accepted scratches. It was a very sweet ending to our Seychelles trip.
Check out my next post for exciting tales of our disastrous adventure to Norway! For the record we made it and are loving it!