Anyone who shares my vintage – circa the 1970s – would probably have read as a kid the Willard Price ‘Adventure’ series of books.   For those unfortunates who never found these books in their public library, Willard Price was a Canadian naturalist.  He wrote a series of books about two teenage brothers, Hal and Roger Hunt, who travelled the world gathering exotic animals for their father’s world-famous wildlife collection, outwitting various villains along the way.  Price himself said that he wrote the books in order to inspire children to learn about wild animals and their behaviour.

My favourite books in the series were set in the South Seas, and all my life I have had a knuckle-biting desire to go diving in the warm coral lagoons of French Polynesia.  This would have been accompanied by tropical picnics on the wide white palm-shaded beaches and friendly locals (whose language I would effortlessly be able to speak).  Unfortunately, French Polynesia (or any of the –nesias, for that matter) have been much too far away and inaccessible, requiring flights to Australia or Malaysia and then long boat rides or island hops to the relevant dot-clusters of land. Imagine my surprise and chagrin, therefore, when a colleague of mine Sharon Davis returned from a press trip to the Seychelles and described to me exactly the kind of island paradise I had been hankering after for most of my life – a short and convenient plane-ride away! “The best (and most affordable) way to experience the Seychelles is to book a cruise of the Inner Islands,” she said.  “The overall top experience is the heady freedom of hiring a bicycle on La Digue and exploring an island where they still use ox-drawn carts and bicycles for transport.” This was all music to my ears, and I hastened off to peruse the website at www.seychelles.travel where I found that the dream I had been pursuing my entire life was right here under my nose. The Seychelles are a sprinkling of 115 coral islands in the Indian Ocean, some inhabited, some not, most with swaying French names such as Petite Soeur and Ile aux Vaches Marines and Aldabra.  A number of the uninhabited ones have been turned into nature reserves for diving and hiking day trips, the inhabited ones have cheerful noisy cities.  The architecture and way of life is Creole, the islands are known for spices, tea and tropical fruit, and the people are a laid-back mix of Asian, European and African.  After having whimpered my way through the mouthwatering website, and taken virtual tours of the French colonial buildings, the art galleries and museums, the shops selling indigenous art and perfume, the marine and nature reserves, the strange geological formations and misty views of bays enclosed by dreaming mountains, I spoke to the Cape-Town-based Seychelles marketing manager in South Africa, David Germain.  David gave me the startling information that, while the South African market to the Seychelles is healthy and growing, the most tourism interest comes from – South America! Recent travel surveys in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay have shown that the Seychelles – with a stop-over in South Africa or Kenya – is top of the hit parade with South American travellers.  “Why?” I asked.  “We don’t really know,” said David, with a telephonic shrug.  “We think it is the island appeal, the exotic fauna and flora, the fact that the Seychelles are still regarded as largely undiscovered and uncommercialised.  It is the upmarket traveller who goes there – and South America has a lot of upmarket travellers – and they look at packages that include Cape Town and the Kruger National Park.” A trawl through the attractions of the Seychelles shows a country that seems effortlessly to have absorbed the best of all worlds.  Perhaps the best example of this is the Three-Winged Monument in the Mahé capital city of Victoria, which could look like three outspread wings, or the sails of a ship, or swooping direction-markers, depending on how you look at them.  The three wings can either symbolise the first inhabitants of the islands – the birds - or commemorate the first explorers who arrived in their masted ships, or symbolise the three cultures that make up the islands’ colour and fragrance: the Asian, the African and the European. “The Seychelles might have a reputation for laid-back service,” says recent-returnee Sharon,” but I found the opposite to be true.  I delighted in the extra touches like the cold towel to freshen up after a tiring flight, the hibiscus flower decorating the coffee tray, resplendent with sugar lumps!” Sharon said that when she visited the Seychelles she loved dozing in a hammock or strolling on the beach….but sorry, Sharon, when I get to the Seychelles I am going to have to explore the place at a gallop.  After all, I have a lifetime of yearning to make up for.  There’s an adventure here all of my own, and Willard Price’s Hal and Roger Hunt are depending on me!