Walking Across Mahe

The day that I leave Seychelles is coming closer and desire to discover more of Seychelles is getting higher. I decided to take the path starting from Danzil and to the beach of Port Launay. The path was set across the Morne Seychelles national park, actually its a series of interconnected paths. I obtained some maps to decided which paths that we should take to get the best experience, obviously it was the longest path. There were 13 of us (some one said it was a bad number,but he was wrong) . We got on board a truck and set out for the starting point of our walk. The driver took the wrong turn and we asked instructions from some local boys. They show us the path and told us that the vehicle wont be able to climb up to the starting point. So we started climbing along the steep road towards the starting point of the trail, but we started noticing strange things,things like vehicles? Those boys were messing with us by saying that vehicles won't be able to climb the hill, local jokes I suppose. So we climbed, and climbed , and climbed, it was not even the starting point of the trail, some even guessed that we would be finished by then. Finally we reached the starting point, out of breath, full of sweat, cursing the fuckers.

Life is a lone journey, originally uploaded by poojitha.

After climbing virtually ninety degree path through the thick vegitation we reached a plane which was a good resting place. Cinnamon plants to be seen every where reminding us about the days of slavery.There was a small hut at the beginning of the plane, mist was starting to form around it, I was able to capture it in my camera. We walked past the hut to find some ruins of the Seychelles past , map said it to be a distillery, obviously run by slaves. It made me think of the hardship they went on during that days, it took us lot of effort for us just to climb up here. These paths must be soaked with their blood & sweat.I looked at the path and imagined people with legs and necks chained carrying heavy loads, not even having time to gasp fearing their masters whips.I could feel them still walking right behind us through the jungle, dreaming of freedom,dreaming if their loved ones, it made me really sad.

swiss Bridge, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Swiss Fathers were responsible for the beautiful stone bridge built in the middle of the valley. The arched bridge was so beautiful that it took us considerable amount of time to take pictures. Then we reached the beautiful panorama of Mare aux Cochons. We were standing on a valley surrounded by mountains, on one side there was the endless sea. The only thought occurred to me was that, "Why can't they build a 3D camera to capture something like this on film". Then we reached the fresh water marsh in the valley, the water was so pure that it reflected the whole mountain on its surface. The journey was only half way through. Finally we started descending downhill,through the jungle, over the rocks, under the fallen trees.It took us 6 hours to complete the trail,we were tired until some one suggested on having a swim in the sea. Don't feel like writing a lot today, enjoy the pictures.

port launay beach, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Heaven On Earth

Surf Island, originally uploaded by poojitha.

I was there
Looking at the mountains
Feeling the sand
Smelling the wind
Listening to the waves
Sky was so blue
Sea was green
Felt like heaven
Fallen to earth

Resting

Resting, originally uploaded by poojitha.

When you take a picture its always not good as you think, but thanks to digital photography you always have another option. I used Photoshop to enhanced this picture. It came out really well, Photoshop is actually amazing. I took this picture when I was in The bird island, birds were preparing to sleep, it was a nice view but the picture came out dull due to bad lighting. Thank you Photoshop!

In Search Of A Hidden Beach

Last Sunday I decided to visit another beach in Seychelles called Anse Majore. It was a lovely morning, I packed water and food in to my bag . This beach is not easy to reach, its about 2 hours walk through the rocky jungle and the village. We started our walk through the village and came to the starting point of path through the jungles.We saw a huge rock spanning out to sea like a black velvet carpet. I decided to take some pictures, the rock was about 100 feets above the sea level. The sea was amazingly blue and clear, scenery was breath taking, then I saw some splashes, brownish objects disappeared in to the sea below me. It was a group of dolphins , there were three of them,this was the first time I saw dolphins in Seychelles, they were hunting for fish. We could observe huge groups of fishes running here and there like moving ink spots to escape from them.

Then we set our journey towards the beach through the jungle, path was clear but dangerous. Some places were directly above the sea, one slip could make you tumble down 200 feet's on the rock surface in to the sea. There was a group of frigate birds soaring in the sky waiting to steal fishes from other birds, thats how they live, they are the worlds second largest birds if you measure the wing span,they reminded me of our politicians. The sun was already up and burning, we were tired, luckyly we saw a small stream crossing our path, water was cool and tasty. Finally we reached our destination the view was breathtaking and It was a great place to swim.

La Digue

One extraordinary fact about Seychelles is that , some times you can have a whole beach like this just for yourself. As you can see in the picture , there was nobody around except me, perfect place for photographers. If you have "Sex on the beach" in mind, this is the right place for you.

La Digue, originally uploaded by poojitha.

La Digue, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Brand new helicopter

I went to a tourism exhibition yesterday, and found this cool brand new helicopter parked just out side the hall. There was a team of people who wanted to promote their new helicopter service in Seychelles .I edged closer to have a look, a guy (probably the pilot) called me and said " Get in of you want, sit on the pilot seat if you want to see how it feels,” I was like " WOW,okey". That machine was really cool, the guy explained all the controls to me, but I was kind of afraid to touch any controls, there were 1000's of them. It’s hard to believe that thing could fly; I mean it was like a toy, the size of the engine could be similar to a car engine.

me in helicopter, originally uploaded by poojitha.

helicopter, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Save This Place

Rocks & Beach, originally uploaded by poojitha.

In 30 years time this beautiful beach and the small island in this picture will be gone, I would only have this picture to show my grand children that this was a place that i visited long ago. They will listen wide eyed when I say how I swam up to the island to watch beautiful fishes, and how many of them surrounded me without any fear. It would be like a fairy tale for them, when I describe how beautiful and colorful the coral reefs were. They will ask me what happened to that beautiful place and the fish. I would say “pollution killed the fish, Global warming destroyed the beach". They would definitely envy us being so selfish, for not doing simple things that could have done to save this place for them to see.

How To Torture Slaves

I visited the museum in Victoria recently. The most interesting things were the tools they used to torture slaves, some were designed to stop them from running away,like long hooks around the neck which prevents them from venturing in to the thick forest. Its hard to believe that humans were treated like this few centuries ago. Once I heard some where that Africans were once displayed as animals in zoos, don't know if that its true but I'm proud that sri lankan history was never tainted by such inhuman acts, maybe because of Buddhist culture. But some believes that slavery still exist in different form even today, only difference is that they don't use chains anymore.

Sun Bird Nest Completed

Sun Bird, originally uploaded by poojitha.

I decided to keep the nest as it is, because I was feeling bit uneasy of removing it. They were very busy for the last 4 days, now the nest is almost complete, saw them bringing feathers to decorate the interior, actually its more of a comforting tactic i guess. They were placing the feathers inside and wiggle their bodies to make them flat, pretty cute. My door is a tinted glass sliding door, so its easy for me to observe the nest without being noticed by the birds.I hope they would lay some eggs soon, love to here them sing, they have a beautiful voice despite their appearance .

Sun Bird So Close

I have a big problem to solve now, actually its right in front of my door step. I found it today when I returned from shopping in town. There was this nice plant always full of beautiful flowers in front of my veranda which spreads its creepers all over the place . It actually grew in to the veranda covering part of it, I didn't mind. But a bird (Seychelles Sun Bird) has started to build a sweet little hanging nest on a creeper right in front of the door; actually I was thinking of cutting down that part of the creeper since it always brushed on our legs when we go out. It was fascinating to watch these two birds bringing dried out leaves and cob webs to build their nest. They have a very beautiful voice, if you care to listen. But the location they have chosen to build the nest is not very logical in my opinion. When ever I go out the birds fly away hastily and it makes me feel guilty.

If they decide to lay eggs, I may have to use the back door; I mean I really feels uneasy in this kind of situations. But for gods sake, we have visitors and they bring kids and kids love birds nest, especially if they see birds in it. I don't wont to witness some kid come running "mommy look I've got a birds nest, there a re small birds inside, can I keep it?” Last time they built a nest in the backyard, that was fine and i even wrote a blog post about them. Why couldn't they build a nest over there? My wife feeds birds and most of them are quite friendly with her. Last time I checked there were about 30 birds near the kitchen window, waiting for my wife to feed them. But that doesn't mean they can build nests in my house. If I discourage them building the nest over there, they may even find a new place to build their nest, I mean I'm doing a favor to them in long term, isn't it? But my wife says the reason for those birds to come quite close to us was that they trusted us. I don’t want to be responsible for destroying someone’s home or break their trust on me, so I’m confused.

Dangerously Balanced

Dangerously Balanced, originally uploaded by poojitha.

This picture is amazing, see how this rock stay balanced over another rock,i kind of felt like not leaning over that rock. This picture was taken by a friend of mine while hiking on Trois Freres [ read top of Seychelles post for more pictures]. And the next picture shows the tip of the mountain we climbed (red arrow), the tip of the mountain is covered by thick clouds most of the time. I have seen hundreds of these kinds of leaning boulders , i have 2 theories, island may have gradually raised up from the sea bed slowly raising these rocks to thousands of feet's, or the rocks may have decayed form wind and rain for eons to leave these remnants. What do you think?

Trois Freres, originally uploaded by poojitha.

TOP OF SEYCHELLES

I climbed one of the highest mountains in Seychelles today and this is how it all got started. The day I landed in Seychelles (2005), I saw a giant, standing magnificently over the small town of Victoria, Trois Freres a second highest mountain in Mahe, which reaches a height of 2293 ft. /699 m, the highest point is Morne Seychellois, 2993 ft. It took my breath away. Since then, when ever I go to town, I would look at her and hoped that if I could ever climb up to the top, because climbing mountain is one of my favorite hobbies. I did climb many mountains in Seychelles, even in other islands, but this one always stood there, avoiding many close encounters of me invading her territory. But I was always determined to conquer her and enjoy the breathtaking scenery and of course sharing it with you.

I woke up early today, remembering the hike that we have planed. I was bit uneasy about it, the government had informed the public not to climb the path leading to the Trois Frères Cross (The cross at the top of morne Seychelles), saying it’s precarious, since many deaths were reported. I like taking risks, many times I did and I’m still alive, but I was worried about others, if they refused to climb and I would loose my last chance of going there. Danilo and I reached the town before others, there were 11 of us, Zahid, Nishan, Abeyakumara, Mangala, Kamil, Sanjaya & his sister, & another guy (his name slipped my mind).

Inside the jungle, originally uploaded by poojitha.

We took the bus and got down at the starting point of the path, actually the path has two parts, there is a kiosk (small hut) after climbing up to about 300m, you can rest there and come back or you can climb to the top. We entered in to the jungles, the light was low, and the trees were dark green with thick under growth, huge boulders were scattered all over the place, some trees grow on them with falling creepers giving a feeling of a hanging garden. Suddenly, we heard a huge roar coming towards us, it was the sound of rain, soon it caught us, and we started getting soaked up really fast. Some tried to take cover under big trees, failed miserably; eventually they all started to accept the truth, its time to get wet. So we started to climb up again, cloths heavy, shoes full of water. It was not that bad, after some time I started liking the rain, actually its fun getting wet, its nature after all, all the animals in this earth get caught in rain and get wet, and they don’t mind that, except human, how foolish.

Raining cats and Dogs, originally uploaded by poojitha.

There were numerous streams crossing the path, we walked wiping eye from the pouring rain, squinting our eyes to see ahead, we were approaching the first stage when thick mist encapsulated us reducing the visibility to about 20 meters. My heart sank, thick mist and rain is not very good for steep climbs, we moved on .I observed some pitcher plants on the way, its a carnivorous plant which traps insects in its pitcher like apparatus, good way of surviving in rocky environments. I took my camera and captured my self in this soaked up situation, others were afraid to take theirs fearing water may ruin their cameras. I value these situations than the camera; I can buy a camera but not this type of experience.

very steep, originally uploaded by poojitha.

We reached the flat plain and reached the stage one, the kiosk, it was raining more heavily now, cold wind and mist swept past us. We started eating the stuff we brought, I was too windy and cold, I was shivering, one disadvantage of being skinny, I need some fat. Dr Zahid, Mangala and others kept our spirit high by making us laugh; it kept us away from thinking about rain and stuff. Eventually others started getting cold, some were not sure if they could climb to the top. Zahid, Danilo & I decided to check if the path ahead is still good to climb, I secretly prayed it to be. The path was not that over grown, one by one everybody agreed to continue. This time it was tougher, the path was dangerously steep and muddy, slight loose of concentration could make your head bang on a tree branch or make you slip. The tree canopy was thicker making the sky barely visible, it was dark and damp, lichens were hanging on tree trunks, and I felt like going through a tunnel that never ends. The steepness of the mountain was always 60-70 degrees; I could always see people climbing directly above or below me. I took out my camera to take a picture, sad, the lens was covered with vapor, not from out side but from inside, hoped it would be ok after some time.

i didn't lift it up, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Suddenly we stepped on a flat land; we were closer to the top, the path turned right and suddenly we were climbing huge granite rocks. This time it got bit trickier, it was hard to maneuver around rocks specially when there is a huge drop; fear makes you dangerously clumsy when it comes to rock climbing. After some time we manage to bring ourselves to the top of those huge boulders, scenery around us was amazing. Picture your self standing on top of a mountain which rise up to 2000fts and on both sides you can see the sea. That was what we saw, the scenery was breathtaking. All of us felt proud of being there, looking at ships skimming the blue sea like tiny insects, houses resembling miniature toys. Suddenly the whole scenery vanished as thick mist surrounded us, I felt like soaring in the sky sitting on a tiny island.

Balancing Rocks, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Without warning the mist cleared to give us an opportunity capture the breath taking view on our cameras, one guy(don’t ask the name) approached me and started pinpointing his house giving various references, I pretended that I exactly follow his instructions by vigorously shaking my head while saying “yes, yes”, then he said “Ok now take a picture of me with my house at the back ground”, I was like “WHAT?”, thought of explaining that the viewfinder of the camera is too small to identify his house but gave up, no point of disappointing the kid, I took the picture anyway, hope I got it right .

They were holding me, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Some of the rocks at the top were unbelievably balanced on top of each other; Seychelles is famous for not having any earthquakes for thousands of years, now I believe that, even a small earthquake could have topple a huge amount of rocks the size of a building. I was bit afraid to lean against some rocks (I know its stupid) fearing it could fall. We drifted in to our own worlds, some passing jokes, some dozing off, some trying to identify the islands far away. After some time the things started to get bit cold and windy, we decided to head back home . All of us who reached the top learned about their courage, endurance, fears & team work, and above all how much you can enjoy if you could take some time to explore nature. Next, Morne Seychellois, here we come!

top of Trois Freres, originally uploaded by poojitha.

4000 euros per night Hotel?

I was sent to evaluate students who were on industrial placements in various hotels in Seychelles, most of them were situated in beautiful locations and I manage to take some pictures. Evaluation process is not that hard; just listen to the managers who reveal all the mischief students were up to and enjoy the refreshment, that’s all. One guy was totally pissed off with them, started ranting about students for like half an hour in Creole, their native language which I didn’t understand anything, I kept shaking my head up and down as if I understood, trying hard not to fall a sleep. He was talking about a student who broke 8 plates , no wonder, I almost felt like breaking the plate in front of me. Once they took us to show one of their 5 star villas, I asked how much they charge per night, they said 4000 euros, I was shocked, there are people to spend 4000 euros (5465$) per night when 2.7 billion people (40%) in this world lived on less than $2 a day ,what a world, enjoy the pictures anyway.

view, originally uploaded by poojitha.

View from hotel, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Hotel villas, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Over the sea, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Classic House

This is a very old house in Seychelles,Its being converted in to a Art gallery now, the whole interior of the house is wooden,unique style,could be an English or French design.

Seychelles Architecture, originally uploaded by poojitha.

There is a Treasure,Billion Dollars,Here is the Map,Find it if you can...

There is a treasure in Seychelles, yes a treasure yet to be found. It belongs to a famous pirate Olivier Levasseur ,well known here as La Buse or La Bouche (The Buzzard).He was soaring in the Indian ocean from about 1720 to 1730, looking for ships ,to acquire their wealth.His biggest catch was the Portuguese treasure ship La Vierge du Cap. He hid it in an island in the India Ocean, treasure estimated to worth more than one billion dollars. He was a classic pirate, wore an eye patch to cover his mutilated eye. He was finally captured and hanged at the island Bourbon (today Réunion).When he was about to be hanged he threw a document at the crowd saying ‘Find my treasure, he who may understand it!’ It was a cryptogram, a wisely crafted document which was difficult to decrypt. Several copies of the document were made.

Since then treasure hunter were tirelessly searching for the treasure through out the Indian Ocean. Finally the treasure was traced back to islands of Seychelles, which I happen to live now. People believe that the treasure was buried some where At the Bel Ombre beach on the island Mahé, stones were found, with carvings like: dogs, snakes, tortoises, horses, a ballot box, a figure of a young woman, and the head of a man. But no treasure was found at this location. It could be buried right behind my house; I should do my own excavation when I have time.

There are people still looking for that treasure, treasure worth looking for. The island of Mahe is about 150 sq.km,length about 28 km, but steep mountains and boulders make it a very inaccessible place even today. This made Seychelles a paradise for treasure hunters. Here is a copy of the cryptogram and his alphabet, ‘Find it if you can’.

This is the cryptogram

Coco de Mer - Amazing Tree

The sailors who first saw the nut floating in the sea imagined that it resembled a woman's disembodied buttocks.Until the true source of the nut was found,people thought that this nut grows on a mythical tree at the bottom of the sea, which gave its name ,coconut of the sea (coco de mer).I took this picture when i visited its natural habitat in an Island called Praslin.Male flower resembles male sex organ,some people believes this island to be the garden of eden.

Coco de Me Nut, originally uploaded by poojitha.

This plant only found in Seychelles bears the largest seeds of all plants,weighs 15-30 kg.The Coco de mer is a palm endemic to the islands of Praslin and Curieuse in the Seychelles. It grows to 25-34 m tall. The leaves are fan-shaped, 7-10 m long and 4.5 m wide with a 4 m petiole .It has separate male and female plants. The male flowers are catkin-like, up to 1 m long.

Its illegal to export live nuts out of the country but If you are a sri lankan who wants to see this plant up-close ,don't run to a travel agency too book a ticket to Seychelles,just go to Peradeniya Botanical garden in kandy,there is a huge plant there,don't know how it got end up in Sri Lanka but we can be proud that we have a live specimen of this unique tree.

Walking trees?

Recently I visited this nature trial of Seychelles near the Babarons beach; trail was not long about 800m from the main road. It reminded me of Sinharaja Forest in Sri Lanka, a primary forest like Amazon. The water was so cold that I thought of not having a bath, I regret that decision now. There were these peculiar looking trees which looked like giant Arthropods with so many legs like roots. Some one told me that these are called Walking trees because the tree actually moves on the ground with time. Roots on one side of thee