Seychelles, Wildlife Tours

The Outstanding Outer Islands of the Seychelles

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Tailor-Made Tour
12 Days
From 10995
Birding
Honeymoon
Off The Beaten Track
Snorkelling and Diving

Tour Introduction

12 Days from  10995 per adult. Prices based on rates applicable at the time of costing which may vary. Please ask for a definitive quote

For most people, the Inner Islands epitomise the Seychelles. With quaint colonial architecture, exquisitely eroded granite boulders and coconut palms framing white sand beaches, it is easy to see why – the Inner Islands are indeed beautiful. To capture the quintessence of the Seychelles, however, we believe it is desirable to venture further to the far flung Outer Islands, where nature is the dominant force and people are few in number. Two of our firm favourites are Alphonse and Cosmoledo.

For many years Alphonse island mainly attracted fly fishermen drawn to its world-class tidal flats. Recently the resort has been refurbished and transformed into a family-friendly operation now with equal appeal to children, honeymooners, couples, scuba divers and just about anyone looking for a high degree of comfort in a wonderfully pristine marine setting. Along with the adjacent island of Bijoutier and atoll of St Francois, Alphonse Atoll enjoys an enviable location around 250 miles from Mahe in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and offers plenty of activities from which to choose as well as a spa offering first class treatments.

Attractive as Alphonse is, the real jewel in the Outer Islands crown has to be Cosmoledo Atoll, the furthermost from Mahe on which one can stay: indeed, only the legendary Aldabra Atoll is further (and you can’t stay there as it’s a strict nature reserve).

The Aldabra Group is located about 360 km (223 miles) north of Madagascar, and belongs to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. The eponymous Aldabra Atoll is the most famous member of this group, but there are three other islands that can be found here: Assumption Island, Astove, and Cosmoledo. In this tour we visit Alphonse, Astove and Cosmoledo, three idyllic islands few ever have the privilege of visiting in combination.

There has only been accommodation on Cosmoledo since November 2018: beforehand only a few souls had been lucky enough to visit. With just eight eco-pods imaginatively formed from shipping containers and negligible impact on the unspoiled island environment, Cosmoledo Eco Camp is perfect for its location. The standard of service and delicious catering belie its splendid isolation, creating an oasis of comfort amidst the virgin environment. Cosmoledo Atoll itself has 21 islands of varying sizes, many made of ancient corals and hosting vast rookeries of thousands of seabirds, and some with old growth mangrove forests. Cosmoledo Eco Camp is located on Wizard Island, and there is definitely something magical about it.

Although you would only visit Astove for a short while, there should be enough time to snorkel off its fringing reef: one of the best we’ve ever seen anywhere in the world.

This tour, however, mainly combines Cosmoledo with Alphonse to create a delightful juxtaposition, both locations having much to commend them. By opting for such an extraordinary journey, you will be among the privileged few to experience rare marine wonderlands which will doubtless live in your memory for a very long time to come.

Full Itinerary

Price from  10995 per adult. Based on sharing double / twin rooms
Day 1
Arrive in Mahe

Arrive Mahe, Seychelles. Met & transfer to Eden Island and your hotel near the airport. Rest of the day at leisure.

Staying at Eden Bleu Hotel. Includes Breakfast.

Day 2
Cosmoledo

Very early start. Transfer to the IDC base near the airport. Catch 2.5-hour scheduled charter flight to Astove Atoll. On landing, transfer to the Coral House. Perhaps, if time allows, snorkel on the amazing 500m reef wall for turtles, giant trevally and many other species in good visibility with excellent coral health. Catch one-hour boat transfer to Cosmoledo Atoll. On arrival, settle into your comfortable eco-pod and explore the wonderful Wizard Island.

Staying at Cosmoledo Eco Camp. Includes All Meals.

Day 3
Cosmoledo

Day at leisure for independent exploration of Cosmoledo. Perhaps choose on of the Inclusive activities such as kayaking, SUPs, guided nature walk around the island, offshore snorkelling. Optional activities: scuba diving, fly fishing, deep sea fishing, boat trips for snorkelling, boat trips to visit the other atoll islands.

Staying at Cosmoledo Eco Camp. Includes All Meals.

Day 4
Cosmoledo

Day at leisure for inclusive and optional activities.

Staying at Cosmoledo Eco Camp. Includes All Meals.

Day 5
Cosmoledo

Day at leisure for inclusive and optional activities. As this is your last full day on the island, make sure you at least go for a guided nature walk to see the seabird colonies and perhaps find a turtle on the beach, returning to the water after laying her eggs.

Staying at Cosmoledo Eco Camp. Includes All Meals.

Day 6
Alphonse

Take the boat back to Astove. Connect with your flight to Alphonse Atoll. Arrive and transfer to your room to settle in. Rest of the day at leisure. Perhaps take your complimentary bicycle for a ride around the lush island and find hidden places.

Staying at Alphonse Island Lodge. Includes All Meals.

Day 7
Alphonse

Day at leisure. There are a number of inclusive activities on offer at Alphonse, including kayaking, SUP, nature walks, cycling, offshore snorkelling. Optional activities include scuba diving, snorkelling boat trips, flats lunch, sailfish snorkelling, deep sea fishing, fly fishing. Later on, perhaps enjoy a sundowner at the rustic Beach Bar.

Staying at Alphonse Island Lodge. Includes All Meals.

Day 8
Alphonse

Day at leisure.

Staying at Alphonse Island Lodge. Includes All Meals.

Day 9
Alphonse

Day at leisure.

Staying at Alphonse Island Lodge. Includes All Meals.

Day 10
Alphonse

Last day at leisure. Time to do those things you have missed so far, or just book a treatment at the spa.

Staying at Alphonse Island Lodge. Includes All Meals.

Day 11
Mahe

Catch flight to Mahe. On arrival, transfer to your hotel. Rest of the day at leisure. Perhaps explore Mahe independently or book a tour with the hotel.

Staying at Eden Bleu Hotel. Includes Breakfast.

Day 12
Depart Mahe

Transfer to the airport at Mahe. Catch your flight home.

Includes In-flight Meals.

Tour Accommodation

Seychelles Outer Islands

Alphonse Island Lodge

Overview

Imagine an arrowhead-shaped, coral island perched in the middle of the warm Indian Ocean, carpeted in coconut palms and inhabited by giant tortoises and thousands of seabirds. That idyllic island is real and it is called Alphonse.

Belonging to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, the Alphonse Group comprises Alphonse Atoll, Bijoutier Island and St Francois Atoll, all lying around 250 miles from Victoria, the Seychelles capital, and seven degrees south of the Equator. A one-hour flight from Mahe takes you there.

The long established and family-friendly Alphonse Island Lodge is the only resort in the group and a change of management over the past few years has resulted in many improvements. The main building now contains the reception, lounge with snooker table, restaurant, bar, swimming pool and spa offering excellent massages. The recently added Beach Bar is set on a white sand beach and provides the perfect base from which to view splendid tropical sunsets (a mojito or Seybrew sundowner in hand if desired).

There are 22 private A-frame Beach Bungalows, each with a generous seafront plot and en suite bathroom, outside shower, air conditioning and fan. If more space is required, a further five open-plan Beach Suites offer ample room, modern décor, two showers (inside and outside) and large private plunge pools. From November 2019 there will be two four-bedroom villas, each with a large pool and plenty of living space, perfect for families or large groups of friends.

Much of the fruit and vegetables used in the restaurant are grown in their on-site organic garden. As you ride your complimentary bicycle around the sandy trails you might come across one of the island’s 60 giant Aldabra tortoises. Should you stop to photograph and find it advancing on you, don’t be alarmed: it only wants a pat on the head and a scratch of its neck.
Many visitors come to Alphonse for world-class fly fishing on extensive tidal flats but also for blue water fishing in the deep sea. Others come to snorkel and dive on the healthy coral reefs, frequented by turtles and filled with hundreds of fish species. The island has fully equipped angling and diving operations and a fleet of sleek, fast boats, are also available to take you snorkelling, dolphin watching and island hopping.

There’s a floodlit tennis court and SUP boards, pedalos and kayaks to use, and you can join guided nature walks to monitor green and hawksbill turtles, explore the tidal flats and spot some of the 130+ species of birds recorded there.

A unique activity recently developed at Alphonse is Sailfish Snorkelling. The fast pelagic predators are enticed to the rear of the boat using hook-less lures, at which time snorkellers drop into the water and watch as the fast fish speed underneath them: an exhilarating experience.

Alphonse also invented the Flats Lunch (see our main picture). Resort staff place chairs and parasols on a small tidal sand bank and conjure up a delicious buffet of salads and fish. Lunch finishes when the water laps at your ankles, at which time you board your boat and head off for another activity or back to the island, often accompanied by a pod of spinner dolphins.
Whatever you come to Alphonse to do – or if you are there just to relax – you will leave having had a marvellously memorable time in one of the world’s most beautiful marine environments.

Swimming Pool
Yes
Air Conditioning
Yes
Rooms
35
Facilities

22 A-frame Beach Bungalows, five Beach Suites, two four-bedroom Villas (from November 2019). Swimming pool, spa, reception, main bar, restaurant, beach bar, diving and fishing operations, fleet of boats, kayaks, SUPs, pedalos.

Local Wildlife

Aldabra giant tortoise

Ruddy turnstone

Wood sandpiper

Crab plover

Fairy tern

White-tailed tropicbird

Greater and lesser frigatebirds

Masked, brown and red-footed boobies

Grey and purple herons

Green and hawksbill turtles

Spinner dolphin

Sailfish

Optional Activities

Scuba diving

Snorkelling

Birdwatching

Fly fishing

Game fishing

Sunset cruise

Sailfish snorkelling

Swimming with dolphins and manta rays

Dolphin watching by boat

Turtle tracking

Island hopping

Guided nature walks

Seychelles Outer Islands

Cosmoledo Eco Camp

Overview

Roughly 600 miles from the Seychelles capital, Victoria, pristine Cosmoledo Atoll comprises around 22 islands encircling a shallow lagoon. One of the largest, Wizard Island, has the Eco Lodge with its eight eco pods, kitchen tent, bar and restaurant tent, and small activity tent.

To reach Cosmoledo you need to take an early morning three-hour flight from Mahe to Astove Island, then an hour’s boat ride to the atoll. Once on Wizard Island, your sense of sublime isolation will be profound and serene as you take in the insular beauty all around.

The island attracts fly and deep sea fishermen, and divers and snorkellers keen to experience one of the Indian Ocean’s last unspoiled marine gems. Surrounding and within the atoll is a wonderfully healthy marine environment and islands filled with roosting seabirds and ancient mangroves. Cosmoledo is a globally important seabird site with the Seychelles’ largest colonies of three species of booby: masked, red footed and brown, the latter colony being the last viable population of that endangered seabird.

The lagoon’s tidal flats provide world class catch-and-release fly fishing and the diving is fabulous with plenty of fish species and healthy coral reefs supported by upwellings of colder water to counteract the effects of global warming, so damaging to many of the world’s reef systems. You will encounter many mid-size species such as grouper, so often lacking on other reefs worldwide where fishing has decimated such fish: no reef fishing for the plate is practised at Cosmoledo.

Included in your stay are non-motorised water sports such as kayaks, SUPs and snorkelling equipment, the return boat transfer from Astove, three meals a day with inclusive wine, soft drinks and tea and coffee. The delicious food is superbly presented, often using fresh fish from the surrounding sea such as yellow fin tuna, rainbow runner and wahoo. Also included is a guided tour of Wizard Island and a guided reef flats excursion. Optional boat tours and diving and fishing packages are available. Return flights from Mahe to Astove are extra.

Opened in December 2018, the South African-run operation is efficient and friendly. All the staff do a great job, including the on-site naturalist who will gladly guide you around the atoll’s natural history attractions. The lodge is open from mid-November to April each year.

Swimming Pool
No
Air Conditioning
Yes
Rooms
8
Facilities

Imaginatively converted from shipping containers with bathroom additions, each of the eight Eco Pods has a total area of 38 square metres, air-conditioning, either twin or double beds, cool box with drinks, outdoor shower, ocean views, deck with loungers and full length folding glass doors.

Local Wildlife

Masked, red footed and brown boobies

Souimanga sunbird

Giant trevally

Green and hawksbill turtles

Spinner dolphin

Greater and lesser frigatebirds

Optional Activities

Fly fishing

Deep sea fishing

Scuba diving

Snorkelling boat trips

Birdwatching

Guided kayaking and SUP boarding

Nature walks

Seychelles Inner Islands

Eden Bleu Hotel

Overview

Situated close to Victoria and the airport on the man-made Eden Island with its marina, choice of restaurants and shops, the modern five-star hotel is well appointed with swimming pool, bar and two restaurants, one indoors and one running the length of the terrace.

Swimming Pool
Yes
Air Conditioning
Yes
Rooms
87
Facilities

Five-star ocean front hotel with 76 standard and deluxe rooms, 12 suites and one presidential suite. Prices vary depending on whether the rooms have a garden or marina view. There are also a number of residences with living room, dining room, private pool, shore frontage, and bedrooms varying in number up to six.

Route Map

Departure Dates

This tour has no set departure date and can be tailored to suit your travel requirements. Contact us for more details.

Travel Information

Are International Flights Included?

No. Please contact us for a quote if required.

Flight Info:

BA has direct flights from London Heathrow to Mahe. Or choose from Qatar, Emirates and a number of other options.

Best Visited:

March to March

Are you ATOL Registered?

Yes. This means we are legally able to book your international flights in conjunction with your ground arrangements so you can book with us with complete confidence. Read more about our ATOL license here.

Alan Godwin

Area Specialist

If you have any questions regarding this Tour, please feel free to contact me on +44 (0)1803 866965

Having now returned from our Seychelles holiday, I thought that I would write to tell you how much we enjoyed it – it really was first class – thank you for the arrangements…all in all, it was a great holiday, with just the right balance of activity and relaxation.

Mr R P - Surrey