Seychelles - moments forever...

Hard to describe in words, or instead not to describe at all…

You have to go to Seychelles, probably not just once, to feel the islands, beaches, and nature. And especially — the people.

I will start with them. Smiling, cheerful, hospitable, and hardworking. History probably handed the Seychelles the privilege of being an uninhabited territory until a French expedition discovered them in the 17th century. Later, the first French missionaries arrived from Africa and became the first indigenous population. With their arrival came European civilization, which brought Europe’s culture, attitudes, and traditions of the time.

I am even leaving aside the fact that three of the world’s five best beaches are located in the island republic in the Indian Ocean, just above Madagascar and just seven degrees south of the Equator. Often, even the locals refer to Seychelles as a “small country.” Still, my good friend and the republic’s first elected president, Sir James Mancham, who left us six years ago, often said, “A country surrounded by an ocean can’t be small…” And over the years, I’ve realized more and more that he was right.

Seychelles has it all.

Literally — anything that even the pretentious tourist or business visitor could ask for. It’s clear you only need an hour or two at the airport to be convinced. The pandemic went like a tsunami on the Seychelles business. The country was closed for almost two years, and no one was allowed to enter it, only Seychellois citizens, who came back after a mandatory extended quarantine and careful examinations. There was hardly a country in the world that was literally “sealed” as the islands were — tourism is a significant business. All the attention of the authorities was focused solely on preventing the pandemic from flaring up among the local population.

Those were painful months for the 90 thousand people of Seychelles. Every day, I talked to friends there, politicians, businessmen, and people who had small hotels or kiosks in my favorite district of Beau Vallon.

I did not hear a complaint from anyone,

Nor grumbling despair, or tearful talk; everyone understood the situation for what it was and had a clear vision of how to deal with it. The government of the just-elected new president, H.E. Wavel Ramkalawan, had such a vision, and despite his party having almost no experience in the government, the results were impressive. For months, the Republic of Seychelles held the top spot in all the world rankings for vaccination rates. Within just a hundred days after the vaccines were available, over 90 percent of Seychellois had already benefited from them because it was clear even to the cats on the streets that this was the only way they could save their businesses, themselves, and their families. I observed how people there reacted and

somehow unintentionally compared

with the thoughtless and often absurd fears in Bulgaria, which often gave me shivers.

Seychelles also became the first country in the world, at the risk of introducing the so-called “controlled opening” of the border, to be able to give a breath of fair life to the thousands of guesthouses, small and super-luxurious hotels, restaurants, and shops. This approach won the day and has since been implemented in many other countries. And what is happening now,

the rapid emergence from the shock of quarantine,

from the world’s put-on-hold life, from the fear of contagion and the realization that it can only be defeated by medical measures, nature didn’t do it, the mountains didn’t do it, nor the ocean, history or tradition, the people of Seychelles did it.

But on the other hand, of course, are the givens from God. No doubt, in the first place, these are

the incredible hundreds of beaches,

I guarantee you won’t make any difference between any of them, and if it’s not the official statistics, you won’t guess which are these three of the top five in the world at all. On every single one of them, but literally every single one, the sand is the same — white and airy like the most decadent flour. It never gets hot and is as soft as velvet. On every one of them, the ocean is crystal clear. Usually, the depth is knee-deep for the first hundred meters, and then a gradual descent begins.

No one has ever seen seaweed, jellyfish, or anything in the water that might make a stay unpleasant on these shores. And it is a fact that corresponds with the following unique points in this country — cleanliness and order. Seychelles is the country with the highest percentage of so-called protected areas worldwide. Over 50 percent of the Indian Ocean archipelago is under the careful protection of the government, and no one is allowed even to hammer a nail into this territory.

The incredible care for the environment, the proverbial cleanliness, and the European order introduced timidly at first by the French but then perfected by the subsequent colonizers, the English, impress even the most pretentious visitor and put Seychelles on the

unique place among all tourist destinations.

Finally… I have been travelling frequently to Seychelles for nearly 20 years; I know the capital’s residents, Victoria (about 8,000 people) personally, and I’m sure they know me, too. And so, I can say this for sure — even if you have just one moment in Seychelles, on any island, beach, or mountain… it will be the moment of your lifetime.

You will never forget it; every day, you will dream of that moment to repeat…