My day off in the mountains

Finally, a full day off. I decided to take advantage of it by heading up into the mountains. Mahe Island is a granite formation, unlike most oceanic islands which are coral formations. As a result, there are mountains which rise up over 900 metres above sea level. Mostly they are covered by a thick mountain forest, but some places reveal steep granite cliff faces. I caught a bus up the Sans Soucis road which goes across the highest part of the island. The road consists of steep narrow switchbacks, and I tried to avoid thinking about what would happen if the brakes on the bus ever failed. First stop was a place called Mission. Mission or Venn’s Town as it used to be called is the ruins of a school which was established in the late 19th century for freed slave children. The majority of the Seychelles population are descended from slaves brought from Africa. By about 1830, the total Seychelles population was some 7000 people, of whom 90% were slaves. Slavery was abolished by the British in 1836, but for rest of the 19th century Africans continued to arrive. The British Navy rescued slaves from slave traders in the Indian Ocean and brought them to the Seychelles. The Church Missionary Society established this school in the mountains for the children freed in this way who no longer knew their parents.

After visiting Mission, I found the trailhead to Morne Blanc and hiked to the top. The mountain forests are beautiful, and the views from the top were great. Afterwards, because of the bus schedule, I ended up walking all the way down to Port Glaud on the coast, 7 km and 700 metres down. That was my exercise for the day. I checked out a bit of the coast, then eventually caught a bus back via another route, over the La Misere road. All in all I figure it was about 15 km of walking, most of it either up or down. But it was well worth it, and you can check it out for yourself in these pictures.

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