How are things on North Island? The newlyweds have just spent their honeymoon on the tiny Seychelles island
The most wonderful hotel for a honeymoon … I cried when we had to leave.” So reads a recent entry about the island resort North Island on Tripadvisor, the world’s largest so-was-my-travel-really website, written by a Londoner with the alias “Oscarlake”. North Island? Guests from London? Interesting, you suddenly think. Could Kate Middleton, the recent Duchess of Cambridge and wife of the heir to the British throne, have reported on her most recent trip on the Internet under a pseudonym? As is well known, it led to North Island, which is known to be a paradise (which you only leave in tears), and the royal children are known to have spent their honeymoon there, as Prince William’s office has since confirmed.
However, as good as the internet entry would fit the Duchess, it cannot have been written by her, as it was created on February 22. However, the royal wedding did not take place until April 29. Too bad. The world will hardly know more about the honeymoon than what was officially announced: the couple enjoyed their trip very much and are grateful to the Seychelles government for their help. This consisted of the coast guard guaranteeing that no paparazzi boat would be allowed onto the remote island. Photos of the young couple on North Island have not yet surfaced, and as the island was completely rented out to the royals, there were no curious fellow vacationers.
Nevertheless, we want to do justice to our journalistic duty to provide information and take a look into the world that the royal family and the coast guard had hermetically sealed off, in other words: we present North Island from our own perspective. To avoid giving the wrong impression, our editorial team was not present on the island during the honeymoon. But the author was there some time ago and saw with his own eyes that it has so much to offer that even spoiled blue-blooded people are left speechless – from the exquisite spacious villas and four-poster beds under the open sky to giant tortoises burying their eggs under palm trees outside the bedroom window.
What sounds like paradise for guests and turtles was not always the case. It is said that the crew of the British East India Company’s expedition boat that discovered the island in 1609 took many giant tortoises with them as provisions. The next generations (first French colonists, then the British, then the independent Seychellois) transformed North Island into a mixture of vegetable garden, coconut plantation and cattle enclosure. Many native species disappeared within a few years, from the giant tortoise to the paradise flycatcher, a rare bird. Instead, tomato bushes and lettuce heads, pigs and cattle, cats and rats populated the island. Apart from the coconut palms, it looked like Holland. That was until the end of the 1990s, when Wilderness Safaris, a South African eco-luxury tour operator, took over. He developed the “Noah’s Ark” plan – pigs and cattle disappeared into the cooking pot (except for one cow, which evaded capture by fleeing into the dense undergrowth), the island was cleared of rats, non-island plants were cut down and replaced with native greenery. Slowly, turtles and displaced bird species returned. Historical records from the 17th century, in which the original flora and fauna of the island were described, provided orientation.
At the same time, North Island was opened up to tourism. The result is eleven villas on East Beach, so perfectly hidden in the dense greenery that you can’t see the neighboring property from your bungalow. And this despite the fact that each of the villas 1 to 10 measures exactly 450 square meters; villa 11 is even larger, where Kate and William are likely to have stayed, on 750 square meters. They are spread over a bedroom (as big as a dance hall), a bathroom (with double bath), a lounge (with cozy sofas and dining area), a kitchen (with Bosch appliances), a terrace for flitting (with two four-poster beds). In each villa, a private butler ensures that the rooms are kept tidy and that towels and ice cubes are replenished. It is not known whether there has recently been an increased demand for Earl Grey Tea or gin & tonic with cucumber.
And what did Kate and William do for ten days on North Island once they left their four-poster bed? They probably left the moderately stocked library behind. Rather, they went to the beach, where the luxury problem arose every day: Which one do we go to today? To the Petit Anse? To the East Beach? The West Beach? Or would they rather go to the smallest beach on the island, aptly named Honeymoon Beach? When they weren’t jogging or strolling, they went there in an electric buggy, which is part of the basic equipment of every villa. Driving the vehicle through the dense jungle feels a bit like being in Jurassic Park. With the pleasant difference that the largest reptiles on North Island are not dinosaurs, but lizards or turtles. Perhaps you have also gone snorkeling – some of the best diving spots in the world are practically on your doorstep – or had a massage at the island’s own spa, where Dr. Hauschka products are used.
But they must have been back at the open-air restaurant for dinner. Firstly, the Creole island cuisine is fresh and light and great; secondly, food and drinks are included in the price, because North Island is an all-inclusive paradise, only top wines and champagne have to be paid for separately. Which brings us to the prices: A stay on North Island is not cheap. A day in one of the villas 1 to 10 officially costs 2115 euros per person, villa 11 is even more expensive. According to reports in the British press, the royals have paid a total of around 442,000 pounds for the entire island. Fortunately, William has a grandmother who likes him. She is said to have slipped him a few bills for the trip, as befits a good grandma.