the little paradise of La Digue

Anse Blague
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Since it was our first time in the Seychelles, I thought these islands were some kind of 5 star tourism destinations, full of exclusive and inaccessible resorts, totally organised and aseptic in a sense, offering a 24-hour comfort to their visitors. Nothing of all that! Well, it is clearly full of very expensive hotels and resorts, but they are rather spartan in a sense, not offering the "all inclusive" service, you might expect from the prices. I had heard that hotels in the Seychelles compared to Mauritius ones were more expensive, while offering less. Take the case of La Digue Island Lodge. The beach next to the hotel was totally left to nature, sometimes even full of dirt coming from the sea, some beach beds were there, but not sufficient for all the guests..in a sense the key word of La Digue is communion with nature, with the advantage of a precious solitude (even in High Season beaches were totally deserted in some places like Grande Anse or Petite Anse or the beautiful Anse Cocos; Anse Source d'Argent, the most famous inside the Union Estate, was instead full with tourists coming on organised one-day tours to La Digue.)

Granite stones at Grande Anse
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Seychelles are a paradise for nature, first of all. Comparing Seychelles with Maldives, where we had the pleasure to go, we preferred the Maldives for the sea. We have been to the Seychelles in August, in a period when, due to the winds blowing, the sea wasn't clear and transparent. Maybe it is better in other months (they told us that October and November are good). However, for snorkeling or diving you are forced to take boats to some smaller islands where fishes are still there, like to the beautiful Sister Island, where a tour organised by the hotel take all guests once a week. We didn't find any snorkeling points in La Digue near the beach. On the contrary, while Maldives are sun and beach to the superlative, but do not expect nothing more, here the flora is unique. Hiring a mountain bike is a must. From La Digue Island Lodge we toured all over the island, reaching the beautiful beaches in the Northern part I mentioned before. While riding the bike, you feel inside the forest of Jurassic Park. Everything is so huge, starting from the scary (but innocuous) spider of the palms, with its giant nets. Palms are huge, 30 or 40 m and in the middle of the island it feels being taken back to a time when human beings were really a poor thing if compared to the power of nature. I suggest you to spend like us more than the tour operator formula three days in La Digue. You can wonder thanks to your bike all over the island, feeling totally free and being able to explore it at your own choice. We adored La Digue. There are also many other small accomodations like self catering apartments to pay less. In this case, eating at Gregoire's pizzeria or in some other small places is the best choice.

Biking in the Jurassic Park jungle