At the Veuve Special Reserve on La Digue, a visitor exhibition focuses on flycatchers and the environment of the Seychelles. The reserve is on the western side of La Digue, covers 21 hectares and is part of a 200-hectare plateau. The area figures distinguish two scales: the reserve and the larger landscape setting it belongs to.

Birdwatching on La Digue

Visitors can follow a nature trail and watch birds, including the Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher. Staff at the Veuve Special Reserve answer questions and help visitors find the birds. This ranges from an exhibition about flycatchers to the search for a specifically named bird species.

La Digue can be explored by bicycle; a road runs across about three quarters of the island. In contrast, the nature trail focuses birdwatching within the reserve. For your orientation, two different scales are therefore in view: exploring the island and experiencing nature at a clearly named location.

Other natural and cultural sites in the Seychelles

Other cultural and landscape features stand out across the Seychelles. On Moyenne Island in Ste. Anne Marine National Park are the remains of early settlers’ houses, pirate graves and a small thatched chapel. Ste. Anne Marine Park comprises six islands. Curieuse offers a different focus: at Baie Laraie, a mangrove swamp borders the bay. A raised boardwalk runs through the swamp and provides access to the mangrove habitat even at high tide. For almost a hundred years, Curieuse was used as a quarantine site for people with leprosy. The boardwalk offers a view of the mangrove habitat; the island’s former use adds a layer of history to this nature perspective.

Further natural features can be found on Praslin. Vallée de Mai covers 19.5 hectares and is one of the smallest natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world. It is also the only area in the Seychelles where all six species occur together. There are several short paths in Praslin National Park; Glacis Noire is the only official trail. The park is home to endemic, native and indigenous plants, as well as various insects and other animals, including the Black Parrot, which occurs only on Praslin and the surrounding islets.

The Anse Major Trail in Morne Seychellois National Park also has clearly defined start and end points: the trail begins in Danzil Bel-Ombre and ends at Anse Major Beach. Glacis Noire, by contrast, is notable as the only official trail. The visitor information differs accordingly: one describes two endpoints, while the other explains the status of a trail in the national park.

Aldabra represents a different scale. The largest island in the Seychelles, the atoll measures 35 by 15 kilometres; its land area covers around 155 square kilometres. The protected area covers a total of 2,559 square kilometres, including the lagoon and the land and marine protected areas. Aldabra was inscribed as a UNESCO Marine World Heritage Site in 1982. Compared with Vallée de Mai’s 19.5 hectares, this illustrates just how much the size of natural sites and their protected areas can vary.

At the National Botanical Garden, visitors can feed giant tortoises. The Seychelles’ marine parks can be reached by boat; Port-Launay can also be reached on foot. These details add two different ways of finding your bearings to the nature and cultural experiences.

Discover more destinations: Silhouette, La Digue, Aride, Mont Buxton, Port Glaud, Outer Islands, Au Cap, Anse Boileau

For the main travel overview: Seychelles.