If you are one of those people whose heart sinks at the sound of a herd of vuvuzelas approaching over the hill, you do have some options of escape. The Indian Ocean islands have embarked on a marketing drive to persuade South Africans that an island getaway is the best defence against soccer fever. The winner in the marketing stakes has to be the Seychelles, who have gone all out to woo South Africans away from winter cold to the warm breezes and warm seas of their enchanted islands. 

South Africa is rapidly becoming the Seychelles biggest market, and Seychelles marketing has positioned itself as the ‘Best Five’ (bio-diversity, cultural diversity, beaches, sapphire seas, the year-round temperate climate) – as opposed to our Big Five. In fact, to capitalise on the marketing term, there are efforts to combine a Seychelles visit with the Kruger and the Western Cape as a three-point holiday that combines the best of the winelands, wild African savannah and tropical island bliss. There are two flights a week from Johannesburg, and a trial weekly flight from Cape Town till the end of July, to lure visitors starting to tire of the soccer fest. Perhaps the best way to sum up the Seychelles would be through their highly attractive marketing logo, which is a colourful suggestion of a bird of paradise, the sails of an old-fashioned sailing ship, a carnival headdress and a night-time fire on the beach.  The Seychelles marketing drive does a remarkable job of making the most of its attractions, and there are many. According to scientific legend, millions of years ago the Seychelles used to be the middle bit of the super continent of Gondwanaland that split up and drifted off to form the present-day land masses.  This continental left-over sank beneath the waves and only the granite mountain-tops remain sticking above the sea.  These were augmented by a series of coral atolls.  The result is 115 islands, big and little, sprinkled across the ocean like grains of sugar on a tablecloth.   Where bio-diversity is concerned, the Seychelles is breathtaking. National Geographic gets quite lyrical when it talks about the Seychelles Archipelago. For instance, there’s the jelly-fish tree, with a flower resembling a jelly-fish.  This tree was thought to be extinct up till a few years ago, and even now only a few examples remain, carefully guarded in the botanical reserves of Mahé.   The Seychelles, by the way, is also one of the few places in the world (South Africa’s south-east coast is another) where the ancient coelacanth still swims around as it did before it staggered on to dry land eons ago in order to turn into – well, us.  In hushed tones, National Geographic describes the threats and challenges facing the preservation of much of the endemic fauna and flora of the Seychelles, where perhaps only a few specimens of various species remain on isolated islands.  The terrain varies from wide white beaches to rain-forest and volcanic mountains.  There are no fewer than two World Heritage Sites, Vallee de Mai (for the primeval forest) and Aldabra (for its tortoises), three Ramsar sites and countless reserves.  The government of Seychelles has put a cap on tourism development in a bid to make the industry sustainable. Therefore, says the tourism brochure, the World Heritage Site of Vallee de Mai on Praslin could be the original Garden of Eden.  This is either extraordinary artistic licence, or Adam and Eve were very good swimmers.  Either way, it’s a lovely story and has attracted newly-weds for decades.  Then there is the human history and culture.  Unlike some places that used to be colonies, the Seychelles has not hastened to obliterate its past by naming everything after a Hero of the Glorious Revolution.  So there are multiple layers of history and culture, from the old days of Arab trading, to the pirates of the Indian seas (with legends of buried treasure), to battles between French and English ships during the Napoleonic Wars, to the Malayan and Philippine history of more modern times.  The rich mix is a rough-and-ready, live-and-let-live Creole disposition, where an ox-cart will take your bags from the airport to your five-star hotel; where you will be offered home-brewed beer from a colourful little hole-in-the-wall tavern, while watching a vibrant parade snake its way past French colonial buildings selling island arts and crafts.  It’s a heady mix that has inspired writers from Ian Fleming to Noel Coward. The choices are endless – either to stay in a resort on one of the main islands, or to hire a boat and island-hop.  Each island, says the brochure, is a little world on its own.  There must be few things more attractive than sailing to a tiny desert island to have lunch under the swaying palm trees.  Actually, the Seychelles is one of those places where even reading the brochure and watching the promotional DVD is as good as a holiday.  One of these days, if I play my cards right, I might get to see the real thing.  Perhaps I’ll even take my vuvuzela with me. If you can’t visit in person, do the next best thing and visit www.seychelles.travel