Abrupt and wild like Jurassic Park, it seems, from afar, impregnable: Silhouette, the third largest island of the archipelago. However, this mountain set in the ocean does not owe its name to its imposing profile, but to Etienne de Silhouette, comptroller of finances for the island of France. Although they are very close to each other, with only 20 km separating them, civilized Mahé and wild Silhouette have nothing in common, except for their granite origin and their luxuriant vegetation. Without roads or cars, this big emerald of 25 km2 has remained intact. And unique! While the other granitic islands of the Mahé group are 765 million years old, this young Silhouette is only 63 million years old. Remains of a volcano that rose to 3,000 m altitude, it takes us back to a time when a cataclysm caused the mass extinction of several species on earth, including dinosaurs. It is this submerged forest, with the appearance of an African jungle, but without the danger, that hiking enthusiasts and other ecotourists come to find... if not wealthy, at least well off. What a pleasure, indeed, to climb between these big rocks from which springs an exuberant nature! Palm trees, lataniers, albizzias, gayacs, vacoas, badamiers, jacquiers, calices du pape, among others, cover the most beautiful equatorial forest of the whole Indian Ocean, where live innumerable endemic species, as much for the fauna as for the flora, from vanilla to cinnamon and from majestic tree ferns to extremely rare medicinal herbs. What a bouquet of scents along the way, especially those of ylang-ylang and rare sandalwood!A primitive forest. This devouring greenery is a gift from the heavens, which feed numerous rivers, regularly topping the mountain with an imposing crown of clouds, the island being the rainiest of the Mahé group. A rain blessed for the thick vegetation of this mountainous plateau crowned by the Dauban, Gratte Fesse, Corgat and Poules Marrons mountains. It is on the most beautiful beach of this mountain still original that Italian-Seychellois built a quarter of a century ago the first hotel of the island, in a very natural spirit, in the extension of La Passe, the only village of the island, managed by the parastatal company Island Development Company (IDC). This one, in the good times of the progressive regime, at the same time, had made of it one of its showcases of the development "à la prezidan René". Bought by the state in 1983 from the eighty French shareholders who had owned it since 1960, Silhouette was soon transformed. The archipelago has entered the market economy and has been open to foreign investors since 2006. A health center and new houses have been built, the 5-star Labriz, managed by Hilton, having in fact had many effects on the functioning of the island. The hotel having quintupled the population (up to 200 customers and 350 employees!), it was necessary to treat, before the opening, the drinking water supply, the waste disposal and the sanitation. La Passe, in any case, continues to take it easy, in a certain nonchalance. The old creole huts have now almost all disappeared. Housing a carpentry, the old calorifier, a vestige of the time when the island was a great supplier of copra, has fortunately been preserved. Another survival of the colonial era, facing the two landing piers, the superb Gran Kaz has also been preserved. Restored to provide a typical setting for the Creole table at Labriz, this national monument also recalls the time of the Daubans, who employed up to a thousand farm workers on the island.The miniature Madeleine. The Daubans in Silhouette? A whole history and a family, the son of Catherine and Auguste, Henri, builder of sailing boats and copra heaters, planter and breeder. He became famous for his participation in the 1924 Paris Olympics as a javelin thrower. This Seychellois figure rests today among the palm trees, away from the village, in the monumental and incongruous family tomb, surrounded by superb blue lataniers. Continuing the path leading to this singular monument, one reaches other remarkable sites, natural ones, with the Big Blue in the picture and palms galore. On one side, a short path leads to Anse Cimetière, whose small beach is adorable. On the other side, the path leads to the wild Anse Patates, preceded by Anse Lascars. Between the two, from the heights of Zeng Zeng point, a photo pose is necessary, in blue and green. Even more breathtakingly beautiful, in a more plunging version, the panorama, which one enjoys from the heights of the sloping glacis (a rocky hill) that overlooks the road to Anse Lascars, is worth the effort to reach the vacoas, up there. Like Robinson dominating his island, one feels for a moment master of this land floating in the blue of the maps, in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Less panoramic, but more sportive, the walk to Anse Mondon is also a beautiful objective. From the end of Cipailles Bay, an hour and a half is necessary to climb this small morne and go down to this hidden cove. But the real hike, the big hike, the one by which one really conquers Silhouette, is the one that leads to Grand Barbe, on the other side of the mountain, at the foot of the imperial Mount Dauban. It takes three hours (two up, one down) to reach this magical setting on a path that sometimes makes its way between Mount Gratte-Fesse and Mount Corgat, a journey that sometimes forces you to turn back. Also, if you dare to undertake the expedition, don't hesitate to burn a candle at Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire, the modest local church with a tin roof, located just in front of the beginning of the trail, which, ten minutes higher, after the reservoir, splits in two: for Grande Barbe, it is on the left. With the strength of your calves, very much in demand here and there by roots that act as steps, all that remains is to follow the path which, in the last third, becomes less obvious in certain places. At the arrival, ecstasy assured, in front of this vast coconut grove of sea front which was worth these three muscular hours. Once in the village, the enchantment remains intact with this site of any beauty, in which are inscribed high coconut trees and some old Creole buildings still in their juice, and in which one would see oneself spending some days. How many other places worthy of a stroll... at the top, such as the Marron garden, in the center of the island, where several coconut trees, planted in the 1940s by Henri Dauban, have flourished.

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Magnifique plage de l'île Silhouette. Joerg - Fotolia
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