Praslin is the second largest of the Seychelles inner islands, a beautiful sleepy isle fringed with white sandy beaches and turquoise waters. What Praslin is most famous for however, is not its award-winning beaches, but the Vallee de Mai.

When I visited here I was taking a break from a work placement on Mahe, which is a pretty laid back island. Praslin in comparison is fast asleep, and yet when I entered the Vallee de Mai, I was taken back by the sudden peacefulness. There was dead silence, the air was still and absolute serenity. Indeed, I walked for a good half hour before I came across another human being, with only a few babbling brooks interrupting the silence. There are several paths through the jungle-like valley. I started with the circular path which takes around 2 hours, and was certainly my favourite, as it included traversing several streams, which are the source of drinking water for most of the island, passing giant granite boulders and a climb up to a shelter which gave a wonderful view over the valley as far as the sea. I then cut down the Cedar Path and along the Central Path, which is where I stumbled across hoards of shouting European coach parties. The silence was completely shattered, and I had to battle my way through the masses, which did rather spoil the atmosphere. Still, these groups only seem to stick very near to the entrance, so for independent visitors, and any coach members with sense enough to break away, the best way to appreciate the Vallee is to head to the farthest reaches. At the time of my visit, May 2005, there were no paths suitable for visitors in wheelchairs, but there are plans to provide them, and the sooner the better.

Other plants to be found in the Vallee include various screwpines, latannyens, and palmiste, the very tip of which was once the sought after ingredient for millionaire's salad, alongside jackfruit, breadfruit and bwa rouz. Animal wise, bats are the only mammals native to Seychelles, and fruit bats can be seen here along with the introduced tenerec, a weird hedgehog-like shrew, geckos, skinks, tree frogs, crabs and some fantastic snails. The very lucky visitors (not me!) see black parrots (Coracopsis nigra barklyi), as well as bulbuls, blue pigeons, sunbirds, kestrels and swiftlets.

Entry into the Vallee is free for Seychelles residents, but everyone else will need to pay in foreign exchange - US$10 or equivalent Euros. The Seychelles government prohibits hotels and many attractions from excepting local currency from tourists to maintain a regular flow of much needed forex into the country, so my top tip would be to bring forex and not Sey Rupees from home - I found US dollars generally get a slightly better rate than Euros, but this changes constantly and is often at the whim of the proprietor.

When General Gordon visited the Vallee de Mai he claimed it to be the long lost Garden of Eden, the coco de mer to be the Tree of Knowledge, and its nut the Forbidden Fruit. Every visitor to Praslin should see if they agree.