Handpicked experience · Praslin
Praslin, Seychelles
Every other giant tortoise population in the Indian Ocean was eaten by passing ships; these are descendants of the one that was too hard to reach.
Walking among animals that outlived their entire genus elsewhere
A site whose history is more sobering than the guidebook line suggests
Snorkelling over rock structure rather than flat reef
Swimming stops through a granite archipelago
A full day on the water without needing your own boat
A day on the water from Praslin: a shore visit to Curieuse to walk among free-roaming giant tortoises, snorkelling off the granite islets of St Pierre, and swimming and beach stops along the way.
The giant tortoises on Curieuse are Aldabra tortoises, and Aldabra is a very long way from here — an atoll far to the south-west, and the only place in the Indian Ocean where a giant tortoise population survived.
Every other island group in the region had its own species, and every one of them was eaten. Tortoises could be kept alive on a ship for months without food or water, which made them the ideal provision for long voyages, and the crews of sailing vessels worked through them island by island. Aldabra survived only because it is remote, waterless and extremely difficult to land on.
The animals you walk among here are descendants of that single surviving population, brought to Curieuse as a managed colony. They are entirely free-ranging, they are not tame, and some of them are older than anybody reading this.
Curieuse was not always a park. From the eighteen-thirties it operated as a leper colony, and it stayed one until the nineteen-sixties — well over a century in which the island was closed and the people sent there did not come back.
The doctor's house still stands and is part of the visit. The mangrove boardwalk crosses ground that was, for several generations, somewhere people were sent to be forgotten. It is a quiet, unshowy site and worth a few minutes of attention rather than being walked straight past on the way to the tortoises.
St Pierre is a cluster of granite boulders standing out of the sea, and granite is the reason. Most tropical snorkelling happens over coral built on coral; here you have hard rock dropping into clear water, with coral growing on and around it and fish concentrated in the structure.
The result is more three-dimensional than a reef flat — overhangs, channels and gaps between boulders, with the light coming through. It is shallow enough for beginners, and the whole site is small, so a competent swimmer can circle it.
This is a shared boat, so timings follow the group and sea conditions rather than a fixed schedule. Landing on Curieuse is a wet landing in most conditions, so expect to get your feet and lower legs wet.
Do not touch, feed or sit on the tortoises. They are wild animals under management, they move faster than they look, and a large one can injure you without meaning to.
Sun on the water is far stronger than it feels with a breeze. Reef-safe sunscreen, a rash vest or t-shirt for snorkelling, and a hat for the boat are all worth having. There is limited shade on Curieuse.
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The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
Aldabra giant tortoises, descended from a population on a remote atoll far to the south-west.
Every other island group in the region had its own giant tortoise species and every one was eaten. Aldabra was too remote, too dry and too hard to land on.
Well beyond a human lifetime. Individuals in these managed colonies are routinely older than the states that administer them.
No. They are free-ranging wild animals under management. Do not touch, feed or sit on them — a large one can injure you without intending to.
A leper colony, from the eighteen-thirties until the nineteen-sixties. The doctor's house still stands and forms part of the visit.
Granite. Hard rock drops into clear water with coral growing on it, giving overhangs and channels rather than a flat reef surface.
It is shallow enough, and the site is small, so a confident swimmer can circle the whole thing.
Usually a wet landing, so expect your feet and lower legs to get wet stepping off the boat.