Today we docked early in the port of Mahe (the main island) in the Seychelles.  What a pleasant surprise to see nice streets with no trash, beautiful buildings and lush green foliage.  We had an early tour in a small bus that took us up some very narrow, winding roads to the National Park where we had a nice view of the island.  We were lucky in that is was not raining as our guide said it had rained all day for the last three days.  The temperature was only in the low eighties but it was humid. We next stopped at a tea plantation for a break and were served a cup of their product and many guests bought some of the tea to take home.  We drove back down the winding road to a botanical garden.  It was very nicely maintained, with the trees and plants being labeled.  They also had a number of the giant tortoises in an enclosure.  The tortoises are only native to one of the other islands but have been brought here for display.  The other animals that were in the gardens were the giant fruit bats, we saw a lot of them hanging in the trees and some were flying.  Our young female guide had graduated from the academy here that provides degrees in tourism and we were her first tour.  She did a very good job and was quite informative.  We made it back to the ship in time for lunch and will have a free afternoon to spend on board before we sail at 4 pm.

Much of the power is generated with wind turbines built on man made islands

Beautiful views from the National Park

Our small buses parked at the tea plantation

The Seychelles are known for their beautiful beaches

Our ship docked in the port with a Costa ship just behind us

The giant fruit bats hanging in a tree

The giant tortoises were trying to eat this small bush