Above Port Glaud, on Sans Souci Road, lie the tea fields of Mahé. The road winds from Victoria over the spine of the island, and at about 400 metres altitude, between the hillsides, stand the low bushes you otherwise know from Sri Lanka. That tea grows on the Seychelles surprises almost every visitor.
The tour
It lasts about twenty minutes and costs 35 rupees. Someone shows you how the leaves arrive, wilt, get rolled, fermented and dried, and at the end you stand in the shop. It is not a big production, more a look into a small business that has done the same thing for decades.
The shop
This is the reason most people stop: tea with vanilla, with cinnamon, with lemongrass, in bags and loose. This is the souvenir from Mahé, light, cheap and actually from here.
What you should know
It is open on weekdays, and most reliably in the morning; it may be closed at weekends. If the tea factory is important to you, let us know beforehand: your guide will call ahead before we drive up, so we do not end up at a locked door.
The view
From the terrace you look down over the west coast as far as Port Launay and the islands in front of it. On clear days Silhouette lies on the horizon. It is the same view you would otherwise hike up for an hour to see, except there is a car park in front of it here.
How to get there
Via Sans Souci Road, from Victoria or from Port Glaud. On the island tour we pass the factory and stop if you like. The path up Morne Blanc begins right next to it.
Nearby
Mission Lodge is on the same road, a few bends further on. Down at the coast await the Sauzier waterfall and Port Launay.
