Some Interesting Facts on the Seychelles
That General Gordon of Khartoum made public his belief that Praslin’s famous Vallée de Mai, home of the Coco-de-Mer was the original site of the Garden of Eden.
Aldabra - world’s largest raised coral atoll
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| Aldabra Atoll |
Aldabra is the world’s largest raised coral atoll and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is so vast that the whole of Mahé could fit inside its lagoon
Aldabra is home to the only flightless bird in the Indian Ocean, the White-Throated Rail as well as to 273 species of plants and ferns.
Aldabra has the largest population of Giant Tortoises in the world; 150,000 in total.
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| Giant Tortoises |
The Sir Selwyn Selwyn Clarke Market was named after a former Governor of Seychelles, Percy Selwyn Clarke (1947 – 1951), who after his term as Governor was knighted Sir Selwyn Selwyn Clarke.
Aride Island is an important breeding site for 10 species of seabird and the world’s largest population of lesser noddies. It is known as the seabird citadel of the Indian Ocean.
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| Victoria Market |
The first settlers to arrive in Seychelles landed on the island of Sainte Anne in 1770.
Seychelles is scattered over an area of 1.4 million km² of ocean.
Victoria is one of the tiniest capitals in the world and can easily be explored on foot in less than a day.
Seychelles was under French administration for 44 years (1770-1814) and under British administration for 162 years (1814-1976).
The Coco-de-Mer palm, grown in Seychelles produces the largest seed in the world which weigh up to 15kg+.
Seychelles is home to some of the rarest endemic birds (Seychelles bush warbler, paradise fly-catcher, bare-legged scops owl) to be found anywhere on earth.
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| Jardin du Roi |
Lt. Romainville ordered the burning of the Jardin du Roi at Anse Royale in 1780 after a French ship approaching the island was mistaken for an enemy ship.
Arab historians believed that the ‘Roc’, Marco Polo’s mythical bird that could carry off and devour elephants, lived in Seychelles.
Seychelles’ granitic islands are the oldest oceanic islands on earth.
The Jellyfish tree (Medusagyne oppostifolia), is considered to be one of the rarest trees on earth, with only a handful of specimens remaining.
The Clock Tower in Victoria or Lorloz as it is better known in Creole was officially inaugurated on 1st April 1903. The Clock Tower is an elegant replica of the clock that was first erected in London in 1897 at the junction of Victoria Street and Vauxhall Bridge Road, near Victoria Station.
Seychelles is home to the world’s heaviest land tortoise living in the wild. This is Esmeralda (304 kg) on Bird Island.
Moyenne Island, in the Ste. Anne Marine National park, is claimed to be haunted by a spirit that stands jealous guard over buried treasure.
Mahé’s rarest bird, the Bare-legged Scoops Owl is so rare that it was once thought to have become extinct before being re-discovered in 1959.
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| Seychelles coco de mer |
The Coco-de-Mer was once thought to originate from a tree growing beneath the ocean, and fetched princely sums in the courts of Europe.
Seychelles is considered to offer the finest Bone-fishing in the world.
Did you know that Tracy Island, in the Thunderbirds blockbuster of 2004, was no other than the Seychelles North Island. Other scenes in the movie were also filmed in the famous Vallée de Mai on Praslin Island.
The Miss World Beauty Pageant was held in Seychelles in 1997and 1998.
The Sainte Anne Marine National Park, founded in 1973, was the first marine park in the Indian Ocean.
Telegraphy came to Seychelles in 1893 when Cable and Wireless laid an undersea cable from Zanzibar to Seychelles and Mauritius.
The tomb of French commandant Jean-Baptiste Queau de Quincy lies in the ground of Government House (now State House).
Pierre Poivre, whose statue is found in the Court House Grounds, never set foot in Seychelles.
The official opening of Victoria Hospital took place in 1924 by Governor Byrne.
The Parish of Victoria was founded by father Jeremie with the building of a chapel in 1853 at the location of the actual Cathedral today.
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| Present day stamps |
The first Seychelles' postage stamps were issued in 1890. Previously Mauritius stamps were used.
The name of the ship that brought the first settlers to Seychelles in 1770 was called the 'Thelemaque'.
The eruption in 1883 of a volcano in Java, Indonesia, called Krakatoa was felt on Mahé, where a tidal wave came rushing at about 4 miles per hour, reaching a height of about 2 1/2 feet long and girth of 8 feet.
Archbishop Makarios who later became President of Cyprus, was exiled to Seychelles in March 1956 until 1957
The last surviving slave in Seychelles Japhet Alice nee Africaine died in 1956.
The first motorcar was introduced in Seychelles in 1929 by M. Adolphe d'Emerez de Charmoy.
Seychelles' waters once teemed with crocodiles and 'aligartes'. The largest ever recorded was found on La Digue and was said to be 13 feet long and a girth of 8 feet.
During the French occupation, Seychelles was usually written as ‘Séchelles’.
Seychelles holds world records for dogtooth tuna and indo-pacific bonito.
Frégate Island is the home of the almost extinct Magpie Robin
The pirate Olivier Le Vasseur or 'La Buse' who is rumored to have buried treasure in our islands was hanged on the 17th July 1730 in Reunion.
During the Second World War Seychelles became an important refueling base for British warships and flying boats.
Seychelles is one of the few places in the world that has no real natural hazards or dangers.
On the 12th October 1862 torrential rain caused a landslip in the hills, particularly St. Louis. A large area of the town was buried and seventy or more people lost their lives.
Ian Fleming visited Seychelles in 1958 seeking adventure and inspiration for his James Bond novel, For Your Eyes Only.
Seychelles is home to one of the tiniest frogs (1 cm at maturity).
Several of Seychelles’ beaches have been ranked among the finest in the world and Anse Source D’Argent on La Digue is the most photographed on earth.
The mountainous granite isles of the Seychelles are the only islands in the middle of any ocean that are not of volcanic origin.
Chalets d' Anse Forbans is your ideal Seychelles Self Catering villas on Mahe Island. Book your Seychelles Holiday Accommodation with Chalets d' Anse Forbans.
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