Escaping to the Scented Islands

On our three-week Seychelles adventure we had the privilege of visiting all three of the main islands and then some.

Where to start?

The paradise of Seychelles has many facets and how you choose to discover them is all up to you.

Choosing the right place to stay is imperative so you have to do your own research. I would suggest start with the budget and try to find the all-inclusive options, as staying for extended periods in one resort can be pricey.

There are many options. AirB&B has numerous self-catering villas, apartments and home stays. If you really want to see Seychelles, you have to have time and freedom to explore. One week might not cut it.

The first week of our stay we were treated to lovely hotels and resorts. They were all great. You will not find dodgy accommodation on this island and trust me we looked for it.

Every place we visited was memorable and each one gave us the opportunity to recharge and rest and prepare for the next exploration.

From cycling on the island of La Digue to snorkelling off the island of Moyenne, the vista views just kept us gasping in awe. However our trekking in the jungles of Mahe was the most spectacular. We cannot stress enough about the beauty of these islands. If you can overlook the serious heat you will find a wealth of marvels that will wow you and blow you away. You just have to take that first step.

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So the first tale in the array of tales must be to honour one of Seychelles' more eccentric residents who sadly died in June 2012, and I did not get the chance to meet him.

His name is Brendon Grimshaw, he bought the whole island of Moyenne in 1962 for £8,000. When he bought Moyenne, it was overgrown with shrubs so dense that coconuts could not fall to the groundhe spent the rest of his lifetime preserving the island and searching for the pirates treasure that he believed was buried on the island.

Over his nearly 40 years of island stewardship, Brendon and his lifetime Seychellois companion (or as he was more affectionately know, Brendon's 'Man Friday'),Rene Antoine Lafortune, planted 16,000 trees, cut 3 miles of nature trail, and introduced giant tortoises to the island, which now number upwards of 100. This ecological restoration attracted over 2,000 birds and the island is now said to have one of the highest concentrations of bird species per square foot anywhere in the world.

We trekked around the island of Moyenne and tried to imagine Brendon's hardships. We are talking about total wilderness like I have never seen before and this is 40 years of trying to keep the bush at bay, we could only imagine what it looked like when he arrived.

We could not believe our luck out of the blue, while we were staying at Cerf Tropical Sanctuary, we found a copy of Brandon's autobiography 'A Grain of Sand'. We would soon be transported to the life of this Modern Day Robinson Crusoe.

Between the pages of the hardcover book, Brendon Grimshaw came to life and we spent two days reading the story to each other while sipping on frozen Margaritas made from sweet local limes. We moved our beach blankets around the white sands of Cerf Island, overlooking Moyenne, reading and sipping and marvelling at the world around us and how little has changed in Seychelles.

Brendon Grimshaw, was a retired newspaper editor, he bought the 9-hectare island, which had been deserted for 60 years. The first visitors to Moyenne were no doubt pirates and despite stories of vast treasures being left on the island, it appears that none has ever been unearthed.

The first known owners of Moyenne were a young couple, Melidor Louange and Julie Chiffon who, in 1850, somehow acquired Moyenne and lived there for 42 years. They sold the island to wealthy Alfred d'Emmerez de Charmoy in 1892. He later committed suicide, with all his wealth monsieur de Charmoy was still not a happy man.

An Englishwoman from Berkshire, Miss Emma Wardlow-Best, lived on the island from 1899 to 1911. Miss Best was a retired nurse and at the time she stayed on the island she managed to build a dog sanctuary for many orphaned dogs that she found on mainland Mahe.

Two of the island's dogs accompanied us on our 45-minute trek around the island. They even swam with us on a tiny pristine beach. The souls of the long gone inhabitants still seem to float around this little island and if you have watched the movie "Castaway" by Tom Hanks, then a visit to this sanctuary should make it real.

Brendon spent his life making sure that the preservation of the natural fauna and flora was upheld and after his death he donated the island to the Ste Anne Marine National Park and formed it into a trust, on the condition that no hotel would ever be built on the island. I hope Brandon's wishes are respected.

Brendon Grimshaw proved it is possible to quite literally create Heaven on Earth - through consistent, daily effort. Rest in peace, Mr. Grimshaw, and know that paradise still exists on Earth, in no small part due to your diligent efforts. May we all live up to your example.

There is one downside to visiting Moyenne, it is that it's hard to come to terms with not owning your own tropical island after reading Brendon Grimshaw's story!

Seychelles is everything you want it to beand everywhere we went we found more exiting stories and more fascinating tales of extraordinary people living extraordinary lives on this fantastically magnificent piece of paradise.