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The Seychelles: island life in the slow lane

Luxury castaway Angelina Villa-Clarke meets the locals on remote Desroches Island in the Seychelles

June 11, 2024 10:04
DesrochesIslandSDI_608CREDITFourSeasons.jpg
Desroches Island (Photo: Four Seasons)

ByAngelina Villa-Clarke, Angelina Villa-Clarke

5 min read

Big Pete has a habit of creeping up on you when you least expect it. The 90-year-old is a natural flirt and the closest thing to a celebrity on Desroches Island, in an isolated archipelago in the Indian Ocean. But I’m not talking about a nonagenarian of the human kind, rather a giant Aldabra tortoise.

Desroches is one of the Amirante Islands, which make up the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. It is a wild and windswept place; door to door, it takes some 24 hours to get there from London, but once you do, you instantly forget the long journey.

Your shoulders drop, your shoes come off and it’s like you’ve stepped into the pages of Robinson Crusoe.

While the Seychelles is already known for a handful of smart hotels found on its far-flung islands — such as Frégate and North Island — Desroches still feels firmly off the tourist path, with an unpolished essence about it, despite it being home to a sustainably minded Four Seasons resort.