Seychelles – Bird Island – Beach
If the ‘blue lagoon’ is in reality even more beautiful than in any imagination, the white sandy beaches are even gentler and the azure blue with the turquoise green advertise the most beautiful watercolours, if buried treasures and pirate hideouts, the largest turtles in the world and the exotic-erotic Coco de Mer have led the visitor to an island world near Africa and Madagascar and perhaps seduced him a little, then you are in the Seychelles.
The beaches of the Seychelles are among the most beautiful in the world, so that even most die-hard globetrotters go into raptures. We include ourselves in this. Despite this, or perhaps because we have already seen most of the beaches in the world, we feel the uniqueness of this remote island in the Indian Ocean here on Bird Island. When we set foot on this island immediately after landing with the small Islandhopper, all the hustle and bustle and travel stress of the last few days falls away from us. The strange silence, broken only by the call of birds and the sound of the surf, has a strange effect on our psyche.
The fine-grained white sandy beach, which runs completely around the island of Bird Island, sometimes widening and narrowing, is just as unique in its kind as the island itself.
On the first night in our small palm roof bungalow (shown in the picture below) we wake up frequently. We actually miss the otherwise omnipresent soundscape of street noise and passing cars. Here we hear only the quiet murmur of the Indian Ocean, which is only a few meters away. There is neither television nor radio and so we are glad that we have our little world radio receiver with us (as always on our travels) to be able to establish contact with the outside world at least occasionally. The next morning we are greeted by a glowing red rising sun on the horizon. The few clouds plunge into a sea of colour. It’s like being woken up with fireworks. The sun quickly rises higher and bathes the island of Bid Island in a glaring light. The temperatures on the beach quickly rise to over 30 degrees.
The entrance sign to the Bird Island Lodge, as the few bungalows are called, lies abandoned and unnoticed on the beach. No wonder, because the facility does not need to advertise. You don’t have to hope for passing ships. The island is far away from the usual shipping routes. Insiders and lovers of the Seychelles know how to find this place as well. Bird Island is completely flat and protrudes only slightly from the turquoise blue sea.
Due to the small number of bungalows, there is never any cramped or crowded on the beach. You can choose “your place” on the island in peace and quiet and otherwise you won’t be disturbed all day.
Every morning we set off on a circumnavigation of the island. In jogging style, you can complete the circuit in half an hour. But there are always new and interesting things to see on the beach, so we take our time. So it can take a few hours until we return. In the water near the beach we see a wide variety of fish species. We even meet small baby sharks. Brigitte collects different types of shells. When it gets too hot for us, we take a cooling bath in the light surf of the Indian Ocean. We forget the time very quickly and lie dozing in the white sand. There are only a few palm trees that offer a little shelter from the scorching sun. On the other side of the island are extensive mangrove plantations that have grown into the sea. At this point, when the tide is high, we have to tie our seven things together on our heads and swim around the obstacles.
The bungalows are located just a few steps from the beach. The front bungalow (picture left) was our temporary home. The exact location of the bungalows can be seen on the map of the island on our page “Bird Island”. Life on this desert island requires us to completely change our rhythm of life. After a short time, the restlessness and busyness typical of us Europeans falls away from us. A special kind of serenity and inner peace spreads. Slowly we understand the mentality of the local population. It is not only the seclusion that imposes its own rhythm on us. The mercilessly shining sun with the tropical temperatures also helps to reduce all activities to a minimum.
The upcoming evening hours with the approaching sunset are particularly spectacular.
Every evening there is a new fireworks display of nature, which is presented impressively and even completely free of charge. At first, the sky turns in wonderfully shallow pastel tones. The falling twilight underlines the approaching finale of the setting sun. We sit on the beach like in an open-air theater and wait for things to come.
In these minutes we let our thoughts wander. Couldn’t the days be endless, accompanied by a perpetual sunset? Couldn’t we live on this island forever?
We reject these thoughts. We are still too firmly rooted in our well-trodden paths and structures.
The fireworks of the final sunset wipe our thoughts aside and take up all the space in us. The rainbow colors are reflected in the almost smooth water of the Indian Ocean like in a mirror.
One thing is certain, we will come back……..
