10 Fascinating Facts About Seychelles – Heads-up for a story about ‘fun-island’!

A giant tortoise that goes by the name of Jonathan was discovered from the Seychelles and is said to be the oldest knowing living terrestrial animal in the world. Johnathan was said to have hatched in the early 1830s and was later moved to Saint Helena, a British Overseas territory in 1882.

The 'Coco de mer' plant, alternatively also known as the sea coconut is one member of the palm family, growing endemically to the islands of Curieuse and Praslin in Seychelles. The plant is wildly famous for the seed it produces which is believed to be the largest in the entire plant kingdom- try and wrap your head around that! Although used mostly as an ornamental tree, its fruits are used for medicinal as well as flavouring purposes in the local households.

This means that in the Seychellois society, it is the mothers who dominate the household as opposed to the patriarchal society in most other societies. In that context, women play a key role in deciding on expenditures and determining the future of the children of the household while men are mostly only factored in for their earning ability.

Also known as the 'Praslin Parrot', this bird is said to only be found in the Praslin Island of Seychelles. It has been classified as a 'threatened species' on the IUCN list the reasons for its peril being mostly predation of its offspring and competitions with common mynas for nesting sites. Perhaps on your stay at a Praslin Hotel Seychelles, for instance the renowned Berjaya Praslin Resort, you may manage a glimpse of the incredible creatures!

The fact that Seychelles was a series of resource-rich islands thriving along a lucrative seas trade route connecting Asia and Africa made it literally paradise for pirates back when it was uninhabited. We have no clue if it all went down anywhere near fascinating as it does in the Pirates of the Caribbean, but we reckon it should have been somewhere close!

We cannot fathom what is more believable at this point- whether it is a jellyfish-like tree or a tree-like jellyfish! This tree is a unique and critically endangered species that is said to be endemic to the island of Mahe in Seychelles. Its remarkably formed fruits with a jelly-fish like appearance is a close call on yet another wonder of nature!

For the most part of its recorded history, the Seychellois islands have been uninhabited until the Europeans first discovered it and later in the 1600s finally landed here. Although it is believed that the islands were also visited by Arab and Maldivian traders, there remains no conclusive evidence to support the claim. Thus, the population of Seychelles is largely comprised of immigrants that have descended through the French colonisation of the islands.

Rumour has it that the island of Mahe has a hidden treasure somewhere underneath its soil. If the story of an island with a hidden treasure buried by an infamous pirate back in the day doesn't make you want to leap and make that trip to the Seychelles, we honestly don't know what will!

Did you know that the islands of Cosmoledo and Aldabra of the Seychelles are some of the largest seabird colonies in the world? Birds like the cattle egrets, sooty terns and fairy terns breed largely on these islands.

In a day and time of much need, it is relieving to know that countries such as the Seychelles are some of the largest supporters of the cause of Forest Conservation, if not the biggest.