Exactly forty-five years ago, it was the first modern tourist resort to open in Seychelles.  It accommodated the first generation of our airline tourists.  Tony Mathiot recalls the glory and the fall of the Reef Hotel.  There it is, on your left, a short distance after the Anse Aux Pins Police Station, opposite the Victoria Car Hire, 9 miles from ...

President Danny Faure has officially signed the Appropriation Act to start the process to release the national budget for the year. This follows the approval on Wednesday by the National Assembly of a supplementary appropriation which authorises reallocation of budget for the STB ,the Tourism ministry as well as other entities which had requested additional financial assistance. It is the ...

Former designated minister and minister responsible for Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports Vincent Meriton was sworn in yesterday morning  as the new vice-president. During the same ceremony, the Minister for Education Macsuzy Mondon became the first woman to occupy the position of designated minister while Dr Peter Larose took his oaths as a new minister. The swearing in ceremony, ...

A chronological account in words and images By Tony Mathiot The Seychelles which consists of some 115 islands and islets in the Indian Ocean were sighted by Arab navigators as far back as 851.  In 1501, the Portuguese Explorer, Joao de Nova discovered the islands of Faquhar in 1502, another Portuguese Admiral, Vasco da Gama discovered the island now known ...

Danny Faure was sworn in to office on Sunday, becoming the Seychelles’ fourth president since the island nation gained independence from Britain. Faure succeeds outgoing President James Michel, whose resignation announced last month took effect Sunday Faure, 54, took the oath of allegiance and the presidential oath in a ceremony held at State House in the capital, Victoria. Outgoing President ...

Here are the National Monuments of Seychelles! A gallery created especially for you by Tony Mathiot. The unique value of each one them resides in its historical, architectural or geological interest. Whilst some will galvanize and revitalize interest and concern for our architectural patrimony, others constitute powerful punctuation marks in the history of our political and social evolution and development.  ...

 Julien Durup a student of history wrote in a recent historical article titled “An Early Seychellois in Micronesia”, that the Clémentine as a bark which had left Sydney in mid-1836, with Louis Corgat a Seychellois as first mate en-route to Oahu Island, the third largest island in Hawaii.  We did so without knowing where the Clémentine was built. However, it was ...

Father Edwin Mathiot celebrated 50 years on July 3 since he was ordained to the order of priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church. A special mass was held on Sunday to celebrate his golden jubilee. Father Mathiot — the first-born in a family of seven – has served in several parishes — the longest being 25 years in Bel Ombre, ...

By Tony MATHIOT  Created almost 240 years after the first Indians arrived in Seychelles, the Vinayagar Temple is more than just a spiritual sanctuary.  It’s a veritable artistic wonder.  TONY MATHIOT (Marie-Cécile Sullivan) shares his (her) fascination…. It was a momentous occasion for the Hindu Community of Seychelles.  It was an event in the history of Seychelles.  It was the ...

Thirty-eight years ago, if you were boarding the Isle of Farquhar, you would have been told ‘bon appetit’ instead of ‘bon voyage’,… because our old beloved three master schooner moored at Les Mamelles had been turned into a floating restaurant with a capacity for 32 people. The schooner was built in Holland in 1906 and she was named ‘Zeemeeuw’. In ...