»Le Jardin du Roi«, Seychellen, one of the »100 places you have to be, before you die«

A persistent, dull grunting hypnotically draws our attention. As we approach we find two 120-cm-long, dark brown, roundish shapes that rub up against each other in slow motion. We are in “Jardin du Roi” on Mahé, the main island of the Seychelles. The two bodies in front of our eyes are immense tortoises, who, involved in their lovemaking, are not the least bit disturbed by our presence.

Madame Micheline Georges, the fifth-generation heir of this estate, hands us a map displaying her botanic “Garden of Eden” and tells us which route will best take us through the exotic flora. Her grandparents had managed a flourishing spice trade with France from here, and the history continues to live on in the garden. An educated visitor would be able to recognise the planted crops growing close to one another, while to the untrained eye, it would look more like a jungle than the uniform world of a plantation.

Up here on the cliffs with a beautiful view over “Anse Royal” bay, we bid Madame Georges adieu for the next two hours and dive into the flora which continues to draw fascinated exclamations from us. Curry leaf bushes, and clove and pepper plants are interspersed with rows of vanilla flowers. There are mango and guava trees which bewitch us with the scent of their ripe fruits. We see prickly pineapple plants growing on the ground and our gaze wanders across the sky which is filled with diverse palm tree species, of which the most famous, “Coco de Mer”, can only be found on the Seychelles.

The two-hour loop track flies by, though at 30 degrees and a high tropical humidity, we are happy to return to the old wood villa that sits on the multiple-hector grounds. Madame Georges greets us from her giant winged armchair made from woven straw, offering ice-cold lemonade. Her tales awaken the museum-like rooms and their colonial flair. We feel as if we could be sitting at her grandparent’s table with various trade representatives. The meals that follow, red snapper fillet wrapped in banana leaves, taste amazing despite the simplicity of their preparation. It’s not just the time travel that gets us, the “Jardin du Roi” reflects the character of the archipelago, allowing us to experience all of our travel impressions once again on a small scale. We are happy to have discovered this gem in the Indian Ocean and can only confirm that the Seychelles are a part of the bucket list: “100 places you need to visit before you die”.