Oh yes – that’s another nice report I’ve just discovered online in a Swiss newspaper – even if I had to correct a few spelling mistakes first… 😉
An island for flying foxes and lazybones
Frégate Island, where Bill Gates and Claudia Schiffer say goodnight to each other
This island has a reputation that precedes it. If you are on Mahé, the main island of the Seychelles, and are looking for Frégate Island further east, you have to be prepared for something. “Frégate Island? I’ve heard it’s compulsory to wear a tie in the restaurant there,” sniffs a hotel manager.
Mandatory tie in the middle of the Indian Ocean? “And there are animals crawling around in the villas. Horrible: you live in the middle of nature there!” adds a journalist. And the guest pays at least 2700 euros per night for this? Where does that take us?
No problem. Both rumors quickly turn out to be completely exaggerated. Well, the gentlemen have to wear long pants when dining in the main restaurant, who could object? And every now and then a salamander or beetle gets lost inside the villas, whose doors are often left open when the air temperature is 30 degrees. However, the reservations are not completely unfounded: Frégate Island is luxurious, but at the same time a natural paradise inhabited mainly by insects, birds and reptiles.
Villa with its own butler
The luxury of the island can be explained by the ratio of guests to employees alone: 16 villas with an average of 2 to 3 people to 140. The staff includes butlers, one of whom looks after each villa and its residents. Up to three employees work in the villa during the clean-up period. And if you want to eat at Anse Bambous beach, for example, you will find a waitress patiently waiting for you at any time of day. If you whizz around the island on the few roads with the available solar-powered golf buggy, encounters with other guests are a rarity, but employees are always to be seen.
Frégate is also a small natural paradise. The only mammals here are the people and the fruit bats that flit from tree to tree in the evening at aperitif time. The immigrant rats, dogs and cats were removed from the island because they threatened to decimate the rest of the wildlife, some of which was endemic. Two such species have not even been definitively identified yet: a small tarantula and a skunk without forefeet. The two biologists Greg and Julie from South Africa look after the fauna and flora and help the newly hatched Hawkbill sea turtle babies on their arduous journey from Grand Anse beach to the sea. But they are also always on hand if you want to go on a two-hour jungle safari. A further 30 employees work in the gardens, on the plantations and in the forests. Frégate grows practically all the fruit and vegetables used in restaurant kitchens. If you feel like it, you can let the chef guide you through the large plant garden and then enjoy a fresh salad right there.
But what makes Frégate Island so magical? Why can you recover so well here in five days when you can’t do so elsewhere in three weeks? Is it the silence, broken only by the sounds of birds and bats, or the rhythmic beating of the sea against the rocky coast, the countless shades of green of the vegetation, the over-excited sparrows whose red-orange plumage flickers in the sunlight? Is it the freedom of being able to eat anywhere and anytime, for example high tea on the highest peak on the island, Mont Signal, or breakfast on the most beautiful beach in the world, Anse Macquereau? In the end, will it be the almost motionless Aldabra giant tortoises that wait all over the island for things to come and only duck their heads with a deep sigh (or so it sounds) when a biped comes along every few days?
For the high-profile guests who visit Frégate Island, it will probably be the fact that “privacy” is a top priority. “Our guests are delighted that they can spend the whole day in an old T-shirt,” says Marc Aeberhardt from Bern, who manages the island, which incidentally belongs to a German engineer. He lives in his private villa in the east of the island, which can also be rented when the owner is not present. Guests have included top shots such as Bill Gates, Pierce Brosnan, Claudia Schiffer and Roman Polanski. For such “faces”, who would be recognized even in Amazonia by any Indian who happened to walk by, it must seem like paradise that they can enjoy themselves here undisturbed.
And you can bet that some of the guests, some of whom are well-known, will never leave their villa. Because this alone is actually enough to relax. The rest of the island is a nice bonus for couch potatoes, a backyard so to speak. All villas have an indoor and outdoor area of at least 300 square meters. The sleeping and living quarters are colonial-style buildings with large window fronts and high wooden roofs. The two buildings are connected by a smaller entrance area. The outdoor space consists of several levels and includes an eleven-meter pool with Jacuzzi, as well as an open bed area and a covered dining area. The villas face the sea and are practically invisible from the outside. If you want to treat yourself to a little more space, you can rent the Spa Villa or the Presidential Villa. In the latter, the sleeping area alone is as large as a dignified family apartment, namely 150 square meters. The Presidential Villa has space to accommodate six adults and three children. Fully occupied in this way, the 10,000 euros per night are almost acceptable again.
Not to forget: All meals and non-alcoholic drinks are included. In concrete terms, this means that anyone who wants to can eat lobster and fillet of beef all week – which is not advisable on Frégate Island, as wonderful fish and seafood from the local waters are also served here. The vegetable and fruit variations on the menu are no less recommendable. If you have a plate of freshly picked island fruit in front of you for breakfast, you’ll immediately set to work with a different vigor. Whereby the work can consist of reading by the pool, hanging out on the beach, diving in the reefs, sailing, deep-sea fishing, kayaking, playing bowls or hiking.
But as I said, the Frégate feeling is also accessible to the lazy person who prefers to adapt to the island’s oldest inhabitants: the sluggish and friendly giant tortoises.
At a glance
How to get there: Air Seychelles flies daily from Paris to Mahé (from approx. 1800 Fr., www.airseychelles.com). Alternatively, Emirates flies daily from Zurich via Dubai to Mahé (approx. 1300 Fr., www.emirates.com). From Mahé, Frégate Island can be reached in two hours by boat (free for guests) or ten minutes by plane or helicopter (approx. 1200 Fr./way).
Where to stay: A one-bedroom villa for two people costs €2700 to €2950. per night (full board incl. non-alcoholic drinks). Children up to 5 years stay free of charge.
Info and booking: www.fregate.com