This weekend I decided to not stay in bed and finish season 3 of Game of Thrones. Instead, I went for a very hilly hike up to the highest marsh on Mahe, covering about 8 kilometers from Le Niol near Beau Vallon back to Port Launay. That's about 5 miles for you Americans. It was a gorgeous trip filled with a variety of terrains and temperatures though I'll say those 5 miles felt more like 10. I even saw my very first snake after being here in Seychelles for almost a year. No, I didn't scream nor did I run. I calmly took a photo while reminding myself that the snakes here are NOT poisonous and I had no reason to suddenly be feeling very nauseous and faint, it must just be the heat. The trail starts about 20 minutes up a very steep hill past the last bus stop in Le Niol and climbs up even higher to the highest point on Mahe that I have been so far. Luckily it was a fairly clear day, so we were able to see the incredible views across Beau Vallon bay before eating the clouds up even higher on our picnic lunch spot. It rained on us on the way down, which seemed appropriate as we were getting closer to Cap Ternay, which has its own microclimate and rains whenever the rest of Mahe is sunny. The trail actually ends in somebody's backyard next to a baca bar in Port Launay, just down the road from base at Cap Ternay. A baca bar is usually someone's house or a front patio, where men play dominoes and drink the local "baca" brew - a homemade fermented sugarcane drink that I was once told, "makes men shit their pants." No, we did not stop for a drink. After safely returning back to base, I immediately collapsed in bed and resumed Season 3 of Game of Thrones. At least now I earned my laziness.
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| Looking down on Bel Ombre and Beau Vallon |
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| Bel Ombre |
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| Silhouette and North Islands on the horizon |
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| Mountain above us |
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| Tree Fern |
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| AHHHHHHH!!!!! It is a tiny, little, harmless Seychelles snake. |
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| Ruins of an old cinnamon oil factory |
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| The Trail |
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| Picnic spot |
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| Picnic spot |
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| Clouds rolling in |
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| No 'gators in this swamp |
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| Swamp / Marsh, "Wetland of International Importance," if you will |
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| This is what the trail down looked like. Lots of rocks, lots of slick moss. Fun! |
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| Old house. I have NO IDEA how they built this up a steep, granitic trail |
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| Less of a trail, more of a big granite slide into the forest. Don't worry, no one fell. |
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| Overlooking the Ephelia and Port Launay |
