Vallée de Mai

Protected since 1966 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, this small reserve on the island of Praslin preserves one of the last all but intact primary forests of coco de mer palm, whose seed — up to 25 kg — is the largest and heaviest in the plant kingdom. Before the tree that bears it was found in the 18th century, its seeds turned up now and then floating on the beaches of the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia, giving rise over centuries to legends of a mythical underwater tree, until the first European explorers to reach the Seychelles solved the mystery by finding the living trees on Praslin. It is also one of the last refuges of the endangered endemic Seychelles black parrot.