The Seychelles archipelago is a group of the most beautiful islands on earth. In 1742 the first Frenchman to land there named Mahe, the largest of the islands, the Isle of Abundance because of its fertile loveliness. General Gordon of Khartoum visited Praslin in the nineteenth century and thought that he must be in the Garden of Eden. The idyllic beaches, sparkling seas, gently swaying palms and friendly people have entranced travelers for centuries. Seychelles has a population of nearly 80000 people living mostly on three main islands: Mahé, Praslin and La Digue.

The world’s only granite islands in mid-ocean, the world’s largest raised coral atoll and a whole host of attractions make up what is surely the world’s ultimate tropical paradise. Internationally renowned for their exceptional beauty and their carefully preserved flora and fauna, the Seychelles archipelago lies north-east of the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The Seychelles are made up of 115 granitic and coralline islands, covering a total land mass of 455 square kilometres scattered across an Exclusive Economic Zone of more than 1.3 million square kilometres between 4° and 10° south of the equator. Each island of the Seychelles has a distinct character and attraction of its own.

You will fly in to the international airport on Mahe, the island on which most of the Seychellois live. Lovely landscapes of palms backed by mountainous peaks lush with vegetation announce your arrival on an island that has lost none of its original beauty. The stunning Botanical Gardens offer the chance to see and, more particularly smell, the fragrant vanilla orchid. They also have giant land tortoises, lumbering gentle beasts that rather symbolize the restful and peaceful way of life here. Groves of cinnamon trees from which the bark is harvested, lovely old colonial houses, a National Museum and a National Park are just a few of Mahe's other inland attractions. The beaches here are, of course, as white and dreamy as you might expect.

The climate is generally humid with an average temperature of 29°C. Unlike its Indian Ocean neighbors, Seychelles lies beyond the cyclone belt. The tropical climate is influenced by trade winds: from May to September, south-east trade winds bring lower humidity and pleasant temperatures between 24° and 32°C; from October to April, temperatures may be slightly higher with humidity and rainfall also higher.

Though the islands may have been known to Arab traders, they lay undiscovered until chartered by the Portuguese in the early 16th century. The first recorded landing was by the British East India Company in 1608, but it was the French who first lay claim to the islands in 1756 and settles in 1770. At the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars, Mauritius was ceded to Britain together with its dependencies including Seychelles. In 1903, Seychelles became a separate crown colony, achieving independence in 1976. It has a democratic constitution, and the current Head of State is President France Albert Rene.