Plants and forests of Praslin and La Digue

What plants and forests can you see on Praslin and La Digue?

Praslin's hills hold endemic palm forest, including the coco de mer, in the Vallée de Mai, Fond Ferdinand and Praslin National Park. La Digue and the nearby islands add native takamaka woodland, mangroves on Curieuse and old coconut and vanilla plantations.

Seychelles' fourth national report to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) says valuable timber forests once grew on Praslin and La Digue. The national biodiversity strategy (NBSAP) says forest cover has recovered to nearly 90% since the 1950s and 1960s, but the forest is secondary and heavily invaded by introduced species.

Which six endemic palms grow in the Vallée de Mai?

The Vallée de Mai on Praslin is the only place in Seychelles where all six endemic palms grow together, according to the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF), which manages this 19.5-hectare UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Coco de mer (Lodoicea maldivica): grows wild only on Praslin and Curieuse. Adult trees pass 25 m, and the female nut takes five to six years to mature and can weigh up to 20 kg. The IUCN moved it from Vulnerable to Endangered in 2011 and still lists it as Endangered.
• Palmiste (Deckenia nobilis): up to 40 m. Cutting its heart for "millionaire's salad" kills the palm, so it has been protected since 1998 and using any part of it is illegal.
• Latannyen fey, or thief palm (Phoenicophorium borsigianum): the most common endemic palm, found on eight islands including Praslin, La Digue, Curieuse and Félicité, and once used for thatch.
• Seychelles stilt palm (Verschaffeltia splendida), latannyen milpat (Nephrosperma vanhoutteanum) and latannyen oban (Roscheria melanochaetes) complete the six.

Where else does the coco de mer grow wild?

Besides the Vallée de Mai, the main wild populations are at Fond Ferdinand, reached from Anse Marie-Louise on Praslin, and on Curieuse.

SIF says Fond Ferdinand was the first property bought by the government to protect the coco de mer, in 1895; SIF has managed it since 2020. A SIF census completed in 2024 counted 5,497 adult trees in the Vallée de Mai, the largest population, and suggests numbers have risen since 2004. On Curieuse, the Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority (SPGA) says the palm grows on the rocky slopes of the central hill, on eroded red soil. A 2011 study by Fleischer-Dogley and colleagues found Curieuse trees shorter and slower-growing than those on Praslin, with fewer seeds.

Where can you see takamaka and other native coastal trees?

Takamaka (Calophyllum inophyllum) is a native tree of the coast and lowlands. You will find it behind the shore on Curieuse's west coast and in the Veuve Special Reserve on La Digue.

The CBD report lists it with Thespesia populnea and Cordia subcordata among the coastal trees of the granitic islands. SPGA says Curieuse's west coast, between Caiman and the Doctor's House, has coastal trees and shrubs backed by native plants dominated by takamaka. At the Veuve reserve, black paradise flycatchers prefer badamier and takamaka trees for nesting, and SPGA warns that hardwood trees are being removed rapidly from the rest of La Digue's plateau.

When Seychelles began replanting its hills for timber in the 1950s, takamaka was planted alongside introduced trees such as Tabebuia pallida, the CBD report says.

Where can you see mangroves near Praslin?

Go to Baie Laraie on Curieuse, where a boardwalk on piles crosses the mangrove swamp and stays usable at high tide.

SPGA says six of the seven mangrove species known in Seychelles grow there. Other sources differ: the Tourism Board's Curieuse page says the swamps hold eight species, and the CBD report says eight mangrove species occur naturally in Seychelles. On Praslin, the CBD report says only a few isolated mangrove patches remain around river mouths.

How did plantations change the forests?

Timber cutting, coconut plantations and cinnamon oil distilling cleared most of the original forest on the granitic islands. You can still see the plantation crops at L'Union Estate on La Digue.

The CBD report describes early settlers felling hardwoods, a shift to coconut plantations on the coastal plains from the 1850s and, in the early 20th century, secondary forest turned into cinnamon coppice, with hillsides cleared to fuel the distilleries. Its examples come mostly from Mahé; the NBSAP says the same loss happened, to a lesser extent, on Praslin and La Digue. A 2021 study by Etongo and colleagues, citing Kueffer and colleagues, dates the cinnamon phase to about 1910 to the 1970s.

SIF says even the Vallée de Mai stayed relatively untouched only until the 1930s, when clearing and planting of exotic species began; it became a nature reserve in 1966.

At L'Union Estate, at Anse Réunion, you can walk through rows of vanilla vines and see the wood-fired copra kiln, where coconut kernels dried for two to three days, and the ox-driven copra mill (moulin kopra) that pressed them for oil. The estate's Tourism Board listing says coconut farming was once La Digue's main industry. Nature Seychelles says Cousin was largely a coconut and cinnamon plantation when BirdLife International's forerunner bought it as a reserve in 1968, and has since regrown native Pisonia grandis forest.

Why is cinnamon a problem in the forests?

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) is an introduced tree that spreads into natural forest and is now one of the trees dominating the canopy of Seychelles' secondary forest.

A 1993 paper in Oryx called cinnamon very invasive in natural forest. A 1997 survey on Mahé and Silhouette named it first among the most prominent of 34 invasive woody species, but found palm forests among the least invaded habitats and the thief palm able to hold its own in damaged forest. SIF says the thief palm is used to restore areas dominated by invasive plants such as cinnamon. The Global Invasive Species Database lists Praslin among cinnamon's alien locations, and the NBSAP says more than three quarters of Seychelles' forests are dominated by introduced species.

In the Vallée de Mai, SIF says several introduced plant species had been eliminated or much reduced by 2015.

How has fire shaped Praslin's forests?

The NBSAP calls fire a particular concern for the palm forests of Praslin and Curieuse, and bare red earth and bracken fern on some slopes are signs of past burning and erosion.

SIF records a major fire in 1958 that threatened the Vallée de Mai and was stopped by fire fighters from Praslin and Mahé. Etongo and colleagues, citing earlier work by Senterre, write that from the 1960s to the 1980s fires broke out about twice a year (their results section gives an average of five in the 1960s and 1970s) and burned up to 20 hectares, falling to 1 to 2 hectares in later years. Their damage figures disagree: the paper says fire and erosion have affected more than 80% of the land on Praslin and Curieuse, while local opinion leaders it interviewed put Praslin at more than 40% and said Curieuse was almost entirely burnt.

Among 180 Praslin households surveyed, 40.6% blamed cigarette butts, 31.1% the long dry season and 13.3% honey hunting. The Terrestrial Restoration Action Society of Seychelles (TRASS), founded in 2009, replants burnt land, including in Praslin National Park.

SIF's fire plan says the Vallée de Mai relies on the Praslin National Park firebreak, since its own leaf litter cannot be cleared, and steps up prevention in the dry season, April to October.

What will you see on Glacis Noire and other forest walks?

Glacis Noire, the only official trail in Praslin National Park, climbs 1.4 km from the Vallée de Mai road through forest where SPGA says you can see all six endemic palms.

SPGA says the first stretch passes bracken fern (Dicranopteris linearis), typical of fire-prone ground, and introduced calice du pape and cocoplum, among which endemic café marron grande feuille (Paragenipa wrightii) and Pandanus multispicatus still flourish. The path then narrows into native palm forest and ends at a fire tower.

Other places to see forest plants:

• Vallée de Mai: routes of about 1.5 to 4 km through palms, screwpines and broadleaf trees.
• Fond Ferdinand: guided walks through the palm valley and a longer climb to a viewpoint, according to SeyVillas.
• Curieuse: the mangrove boardwalk, takamaka on the west coast and coco de mer on the central hill. SPGA says lalyann dile grows naturally only on Curieuse.
• La Digue: takamaka and badamier woodland in the Veuve reserve, and vanilla and coconut plantations at L'Union Estate.
• Cousin and Aride: Cousin's restored Pisonia forest, and Wright's gardenia, which the Tourism Board calls Aride's most special plant.

What are the rules for plants and fire?

Do not collect or damage plants in protected areas, do not smoke in the Vallée de Mai, and never light an open fire without a permit.

• SPGA's marine park regulations, which cover Curieuse, ban collecting shells, plants or corals. The Tourism Board says Aride visitors may not damage any plant or walk without a guide.
• The Vallée de Mai, its visitor centre and surroundings are no-smoking.
• SIF's fire plan notes that the Lighting of Fires (Restriction) Act, 2019 bans open fires without a permit and allows fire bans in the dry season.
• Using any part of a palmiste is illegal. The coco de mer is protected by Seychelles law and its kernel is listed on CITES Appendix III; if you buy a nut, choose one sold with certification, as the Vallée de Mai shop does.
• Entry fees apply at each reserve; see its own page.