We arrived on Mahé Island under the thick cover of night not knowing what to fully expect. We’d just flown in from the island of Mauritius, also located in the Indian Ocean, to explore Seychelles on an assignment for Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts writing several articles and essays with photos from the Seychelles.
As our car wound around coastal bends in the dark gradually taking us higher, I leaned back to soak it all in. My daughter nodding off to sleep, my husband chatting calmly with our driver.
We arrived to a private hilltop suite with patio at the Four Seasons Seychelles but all around, darkness enveloped us like a warm indigo blanket. Lights shimmered in the distance from neighboring suites, our private pool glistening under moonlight. Sleep didn’t come easy that night in anticipation for what dawn would reveal all around us once she arrived.
And when morning came, the sun bringing with it glorious light, we woke up to this view that literally took our breaths away.
Our family trip to the Seychelles remains one of our favourite memories and experiences together. From feeding giant Aldabra tortoises with our then two-year old to learning how to cook the best fish curry I’ve eaten to date with Chef Sherla to exploring Victoria, its capital city, open markets, meeting Seychellois locals, and exploring nature reserves on Mahé Island.
I was roughly six months pregnant on that trip as well as I ran around on assignment including heading out with fishermen Jerry and Leopold, island hopping with them, and getting a small glimpse into their passionate world of octopus hunting and deep sea fishing.
That trip was also a constant reminder for me to keep weaving travel into our lifestyles because it’s so easy to make travel a novelty. We need to keep cultivating that curiosity that leads us to explore – whether far away or in our neighborhood. That curiosity is what makes us engaged explorers. Not the fact that we travel for the sake of travel.
I took a couple hundred photos and you can find an edited set in my Seychelles image bank.
Here are some of my favourites.
