Vallee De Mai

Located in Praslin, the second largest island in Seychelles, Vallee De Mai is the smallest UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the two sites found in this island country. A verdant reserve with endemic flora and fauna, the show-stopper here is the coco de mer, the world’s largest seed. The green fronds formed a dense canopy shutting out light as I walked through a primeval patch of land, a natural palm forest that had remained untouched till the 1930s. Perhaps that is why the British General Gordon, in the 19th century called it the Garden of Eden and the Coco de mer the forbidden fruit. But it was not just the giant palm trees that made this natural reserve special. The geckos here called for attention―in bright greens and shining in bronze. But I was looking out for the Seychelles Black Parrot, one of the endemics that is found mainly in the Vallee De Mai.

It was the whistle that we heard first. Looking up, I saw the elusive black parrot, referred to as the “enigmatic” bird, sitting in tree, silhouetted against the light. In a blink and miss moment, it was up in the air and it vanished into the montage of branches and leaves, disappearing into the folds of the fronds. Other birds included the Seychelles bulbul, the blue pigeon, the sunbird besides fauna like the endemic tiger chameleon, the skinks, the snakes, the snails and the tree frogs.