Two days ago I flew to the Seychelles with Emirates from Duesseldorf via Dubai. I started on Monday afternoon with a very big plane, a Boing 777-300 to Dubai, where we arrived at midnight. Round about 1 ½ hours later the plane started to Mahé, the main island of the Seychelles, where we arrived in the early morning. Surprisingly this was also a big plane, an Airbus A330-200.
We were 9 people in our group, 7 started in Duesseldorf and 2 in Cattowice in south Poland, even they are from Czech. But the airport in Poland is much nearer then the airport in Prague. From Dubai we took all the same plane. For that flight we were upgraded to business class. It was a nice gift. Very comfortable, although the first flight from Duesseldorf to Dubai was comfortable, too, even it was economy class. I had plenty of room in my seat. We got a tasty diner and many drinks.
The first flight lasted about 8 ½ hours and the connection flight another 4 ½.
In Dubai it was very hot with high humidity, very uncomfortable but the airport itself was cooled down to a comfortable temperature. It was noticeable clean. Because of the Dubai international airport is so big, it lasted some time to go to the departure check in desk for our connection and we needn’t to wait so long.
As I said before, we were upgraded to business class for the connection flight and so we had plenty of room. Unfortunately I got a middle seat instead of the window seat that was written on my ticket when checking in in Duessldorf. On the left seat group of me there was a couple and I asked them if the woman on the window would change seat with me so that I’d get some photographs from the Seychelles islands in the morning sun – and she did.
During that time I talked a bit with the man and he told me, that he’s a Seychelliano and is living on Mahé. He asked me about my plans on the Seychelles and when I said that our destination is La Digue, he stated that he was born on the island but is now living on Mahé for some years because of his job. He also told me a bit about living on La Digue and the economy of that island.
Afteferryiving at the airport we had to wait for the shuttle to the harbor.
The ferry brouth us the Praslin, another island. On Praslin we took another ferry to La Digue.
Other people told us, that Praslin is more exclusive but on La Digue the people are more friendly.
The passage from Mahé to Praslin lasted about an hour and the passage from Praslin to La Digue about 12 minutes. In La Digue harbor we were catched up by a big taxi tot bring us to Calou Guesthouse.
There are only 20 cars on the island, most of them are small lorries but everyone rides a bike. Some of the lorries are modified to transport people on 2 benches on the back but most are for transporting goods. La Digue also has only a few roads made from beton. Bikes and roads are in bad condition. Most distances are short. Calou Guesthouse is i.e. only about 700 meters from the harbor and the distance to the nice big beach Grant Anse is about 1.5 kilometers.
On the Seychelles they are driving on the wrong side, the left side, of the street, from the German point of view.
To avoid too much traffic on the island, there are not more cars allowed. If you want to bring a new car to the island, an old one has to be removed from the island.
The Seychelles are south of the equator at 4°16′ S 55°46′ E. so they are outside the cyclone area. There are also no dangerous animals living on the island. There is even no malaria threat on the Seychelles.
The islands have a tropical climate. It’s hot and the humidity is quite high. Because of the short distance to the equator, there is no twilight. When the sun goes down, it becomes dark nearly at once. The sun rises at around 6 a.m. and goes down at around 6 p.m.
The time is 2 hours ahead regarding to the CEST in Germany.
Because of the temperature I recommend to get up early and move around while it’s not too hot. We always had some wind. When outside watch for your skin, the sun is very hot and you’re in danger to get sunburned easily if you’re not careful.