A few months back, we talked about our week in the Seychelles. We split 6 days between Mahé and La Digue and our experience on each island was very contrasting. Read on to understand why.When we covered the Seychelles, we briefly touched on some hiccups we had on Mahé. Let me be clear and say these hiccups had very little to do with the people of the Seychelles. In fact, the locals on both islands were so friendly and helpful towards us. The issues stemmed from a lot of misleading information we gathered before we arrived. Chase and I both enjoy researching as much as we can about a destination before we get there. When put in an unfamiliar place or situation, the more I know, the more I feel I can control. This is all relative but it gives me a false comfort so I roll with it. Unfortunately for us, there isn’t a lot of information on the Seychelles. So we read what we could from people who have traveled there before us and gathered as much information about how to get around, what to see, and where to go. Hiccup #1: Currency Prior to leaving for vacation, we couldn’t get currency for Kenya or for the Seychelles. Usually this isn’t a problem, we knew once we arrived we could find a stand and exchange in the airport. However, several sources, I’m talking 7-10 travel companies/blogs, told us that the US currency was accepted on the islands. It was so accepted that if you had American dollars, you would get a better rate than if you exchanged for the Seychellois rupee. Additionally, several sources said euro currency was even a solid option to take to the islands. This really didn’t surprise us, we experienced similar situations in Argentina and Iceland. Both of those countries accepted American currency and usually gave us a better exchange rate for using our money instead of their own. We found out the hard way that the islands do not accept the US dollar. We grabbed a taxi from the airport and about 2 minutes down the road, we realized they didn’t have a credit card reader. We asked the driver if he took American and he said “you don’t have rupee?”, we responded that everyone told us American currency was accepted. He said he didn’t accept it and charged us double for the fare. After we checked into our Airbnb, we walked down the road to the nearest bank’s ATM. Another tip online told us that if you needed rupee for any reason, an ATM would be a good option. The bank was already closed so we were hoping the ATM would work... It wouldn’t read our card and rejected our transaction. We had little options but to walk and find a restaurant that accepted credit. Luckily, most did. The next day was more of the same. Long story short, we got stranded on the other side of the island and had to beg a taxi driver to take us to the city to exchange currency and after, we’d pay him. We found out that the cities of Victoria and Anse Royale were the only populated areas with banks. Luckily, we were staying in Anse Royale and were able to exchange without a hefty taxi ride back into Victoria. Heed our warning and exchange money before leaving the Mahé airport... or better yet, when you arrive in Africa, exchange at a major international airport. Hiccup #2: Transportation The second issue we dealt with was a lack of transportation. Those reliable sources previously mentioned told us that the island of Mahé is super easy to get around and the bus is really cheap. “Instead of renting a car, just take the bus.” We were only on Mahé for three days and thought if it was easy enough to take the bus, why not. Well, like the currency information we read, the transportation situation was also misleading. We waited and waited and waited for buses. They were consistently 20-30 minutes behind schedule, partly because the road system is one large loop road. If there’s traffic, everyone commuting gets delayed. We also experienced buses that just never came. This happened to us twice and we even asked locals to make sure we were doing it right. It was frustrating, it was time wasting and we had had enough. Halfway through our time on Mahé we said, “screw it, let’s just rent a driver”. We knew the island was out of car rentals so we got the Whats app and hired taxi drivers to take us where we wanted to go. This was by far the most expensive option for us but when your vacation time is limited, the last thing you want to do is sit at a bus station and wait for something that may or may not come. Mahé and La Digue were very different experiences, which makes sense because they function like two very different islands. Mahé’s largest city is Victoria and it’s also the capital of the Seychelles. It’s easy to lump this beautiful place in with luxury getaway islands but the reality is, Mahé itself doesn’t rely on tourism. Many people ferry to Mahé to do business, politicians make their way to Victoria, students attend classes in Anse Royale at one of the biggest universities in the Seychelles. Now, the biggest hang up is that it is still an island. The roads are mostly two lanes and public transit is bleak. Things are expensive because it has to be imported, and island time absolutely exists. On the other hand, our time on La Digue went exactly how we excepted it to go, mainly because it relies on tourism and we knew how to plan for that. If you’re looking for the dreamy Seychelles getaway, skip the city bustle on Mahé and jump right off the plane and onto the Cat Cocos ferry to La Digue or Praslin. I don’t want to sound like Mahé wasn’t worth our time, it absolutely was. We were so lucky to have a week on those islands. But we do know that people continue to discover the Seychelles and we wanted to put our information out there for future travelers.
This trip opened our eyes to the realities of countries that have to operate on small, isolated islands. Cities like Nassau in the Bahamas or Suva in Fiji possibly fall in the same category as Victoria. Of course, tourism is a huge part of their economy but locals live, work, learn, and thrive there. It’s their home, not just a beach getaway. Next time we travel to an archipelago nation, we’ll be more prepared and hopefully more aware of what to expect. And hopefully our mistakes will benefit you if you’re headed to any of these kinds of destinations. Until next time, C + D
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8/22/2023 06:17:55 am
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