I HATE MOSQUITOES!

Up early and was picked up by the Seychelles tourisit board and taken to the other side of Praslin. We then hopped on a boat for a 15 minute boat trip to Cousin ... a nature reserve. Here I met up with Mary Ledlie - scientist and conservationist - who showed me round the island. It is filled with wonderful almost-extinct birds, lizards, giant tortoises ... and evil, cruel, cunning, diabolical, miserable, horrid, obnoxious, verminous mosquitoes - in their millions. Of course as the area is a sanctuary and there is no spraying, the mozzies breed in their gazillions and are only eaten by the birds. The problem is that they also eat visitors ... and Tim, James and myself were molested, attacked, bitten and gourged on by billions of hungry, blood-sucking, ugly mozzies. Ouch. By the way, Cousin Island is a MUST see here on Praslin ... mozzies or not ...

Anyway, Praslin is famous for the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Vallee de Mai. But the locals say that to see everything - Coco de Mer trees etc - but without the crowds and in a more intimate setting, head to Fond Ferdinand - which we did. I saw the male & female Coco de Mer trees and their male & female nuts ... it is Mother Nature's little joke ... how Tim giggled.

The rest of the day was spent nursing bites and sitting in my cool swimming pool.

SADLY, tomorrow evening we leave the Seychelles ... but still have one more day of work and fun ...

 The female nut from the Coco de Mer tree weighs up to 25 kgs!

 Mary Ledlie - Conservation Scientist at Cousin Island

 Mary wakes Timmy the tortoise!

 I say hello .. this one licked my hand!

Tiger the Pooch

I LOVE MY JOB!

It's been another long but quite lovely day here in the Seychelles. The weather has been superb and we have beavered away with the filming of Raffles.

Up early and after breakfast we started filming the resort. There are 86 villas - all with a Butler. There's a groovy spa with 13 treatment rooms. Also a Kid's Club .. 2 main restaurants and 2 bars.

I went to the Spa this morning and was shocked & intrigued to find James was trying on women's hats and sunglasses. See below ...

We used a Sunseeker boat to film the mock arrival ... and in the evening took a "sunset cruise" which was lovely.

The General Manager - Olivier Heuchenne and his adorable PR - Jennifer Delord have been marvellous - both for fun ... and helping to in make the day's shoot go smoothly!

The highlight for me was me cooking for the crew (BBQ) while doing the suite review. I have a 2-bedroom (yes - once again, 2 bedrooms and only one of me ... next time, I am travelling with a friend!) ... suite with a lovely lap pool and views of the Ocean.

Raffles is VERY contemporary in design - quite unique in the Seychelles. I like it ... ! It's Seychelles when you leave the Suite but more "home" when you are in bed with the curtains pulled!

Just had an awesome evening with Jennifer & Olivier ... the boys & I have been smiling all day! Success!

Robert Graham - awesome shirt!

James? or Sandra?

Olivier

Jennifer

BARBEQUE!

into the Sea ... you & me!

Greetings from Raffles on the island of Praslin ...

OK - I am totally wiped out this evening so the Diary will be short and sweet.

Goodnight!

Haha! Only joking ... but yes ... I need sleep. My ears hurt ... I am sniffling ... and my body hates me.

Up early on Denis Island to cook with the General Manager (and celebrity chef) Jean-Paul Barallon. Was very pleased to see his taste is shirts is similar to mine! Ha! He has a fabulous story. His Grandmother had 18 children by 18 different men! He comes from Praslin ... so statistically, if he ran a political race, his "family" alone would mean an easy ride to the top! Can you imagine how big that family is??????

From Denis we popped back to Mahe to interview Michael Adams ... the greatest living artist in the Indian Ocean. He - with his adorable wife Heather - have a studio & home near actually the Four Seasons. They have dogs, cats, chickens ... all rescued and he paints, draws & sketches. A truly lovely and happy family!

Finally we flew the 15 minutes to Praslin ... and drove 30 minutes to the resort where I am now. It's quite contemporary and I can't wait to start filming in the morning!

Jean-Paul - chef, General Manager and shirt-guru!

Red snapper ... yum!

Resort PR - Natalie - with her favourite champagne!

Denis Island

A piece of Michael's work

The great man himself!

Greetings from Denis Island ... a one-night stopover ... I am here to do some diving and mainly for a "secret" project which we at ILT are yet to unveil.

Ah - the Leica blog - where was I? The answer: http://bit.ly/h94J5X ... please tell me my photography is getting better!

I don't do "requests" but a friend has asked me to highlight - http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/. It's celebrated today and reminded me a lot of my visit to a school in Phinda (KwaZulu Natal, South Africa) last year where there were little school kids running around without shoes ... anyway, please click the link ...

SO - boohoohoo - checked out of my Four Seasons suite ... said goodbye to Alastair and Katharina and hopped onto an inter-island Air Seychelles flight to Denis. It was just 30 minutes and was actually quite cool, calm and entertaining!

Checked in and immediately headed out onto the Indian Ocean with Divemaster - Mr Ted Charles. Not only is he a great dive-buddy, he is a fabulous underwater cameraman too! I saw fish (!), white tipped sharks, Hawksbill turtles and a white lobster ... and before you ask, I did NOT catch it, sautee it lightly with garlic butter and enjoy with fries, ketchup and a flute of fresh Dom Perignon Rose 1974 ...

On board the Air Seychelles hopper to Denis Island

"into the sea .. you and me ..."

Had problems equalising ... my eustachian tubes are still bunged up ... grrrr

James to the rescue with a much needed Coke ... now THAT is service!

Ted Charles ...

Tomorrow we are off to Praslin ... via Mahe to Raffles ... have heard much ... curious AND excited!

Last day at The Four Seasons, Seychelles ... sad ...

The day began with an early start and a 35-minute car journey to the capital city of the Seychelles - Victoria. It was named after the 15-year old Princess Victoria ... her mother Queen Elizabeth gave her name to the city as a gift to her! This is the famous Clock Tower ...

The Natural History Museum is interesting ...

I visited the Sir Selwyn Market ... nice ... and colourful!

My guide for the morning ... Mister Christopher Pool ... a fun chap ...

He took us to Le Jardin Du Roi ... the Seychelles was "fruitless" until the French arrived. Now it has pineapple, mango, coconut, apples, bananas, space ships ... and every spice known to man! The weather here is that good!

Timmy the Tortoise

Zil Air - the number one helicopter charter company in the Seychelles lent us a helicopter for a while to get some fabulous aerials of the resort and island ...

My last sunset here at resort ... I will miss it ...

Mothering Sunday.

It's been filming day at the Four Seasons Resort - Seychelles. I am so pleased that after a decade of doing this job, I am still working with people who love their jobs ... and appreciate what we do too ...

This property was opened in February 2009 and features 62 treehouse villas and 5 suites - ALL with infinity swimming pools. There are also 28 residences here ... upto 8 bedrooms I believe, costing gazillions of dollars!

A Kids Club, 500 metres of white sandy beach, Dive Centre and Hilltop Spa. The latter is  80 metres above the sea ... has 8 treatment rooms ... and a Yoga teacher - Guru - who gives lessons three times a day ...

There are two restaurants, bars and a rather yummy sushi lounge. Phew! So much ...

The boys have worked fabulously today ...

We finished the day in my suite ... 2 bedrooms ... 500 square metres. 15 metre infinity swimming pool, living room and fruit bats in the nearby trees! Oh and amazing views of the Indian Ocean - especially at sunset ...

Today was a success all down to our "minder" Katharina who ensured that everything was smoother than smooth!

Oh! India won the cricket - STILL hurrah!

Alastair McAlpine - the General Manager. We have known each other for over a decade ... !

The cooking feature - Octopus. I am not a fan ... I am not sure I ever will be! The creole recipe made it better though ...

Vernon Nagapin - great chef ...

Hello from my pool terrace!

The Boys with Sharon my Butler!

Freddie the Fruit Bat

Massage in the Spa - with Natalie

Katharina

Greetings from Mahe, Seychelles!

The flight via Paris was long ... nearly 10 hours ... it felt like 10 days. James and I arrived in Mahe and it was heaving with rain. The honeymooners on the flight were mortified ...

We were driven the 20 minutes to the Four Seasons Resort. Tim arrived a couple of hours later - he had flown direct (with the equipment) from London ... via Milan - work that one out.

To get over my "jet-lag", I was treated to a 90 minute massage ... Natalie my therapist had to put up with me snoring on the treatment table. I felt so good after it though - almost human!

I have a 2-bedroom suite overlooking the Indian Ocean. It is rather lovely. I wish I had friends (!) to share this suite ... I feel rather lost! The infinity pool is stunning!

Much more on the resort tomorrow - India are playing in the cricket World Cup final - I am glued ... the boys are begrudingly stuck with it too! Ha!

Arrival in the rain! It's 77 degrees ...

At CDG, there's a Concorde suspended in the air. Very effective. The airport is a mess ...

Daybreak over the Indian Ocean at 35,000 feet

My pool ... fancy a dip anyone?

The view

Greetings from Heathrow T5. In a few minutes I am flying to Paris and then on to the Seychelles. I am meeting James in Paris .... and Tim in the Seychelles ... this is the first time there is no start of trip "team photo" ... quite distressing!

ANYWAY - I have internet and it's speedy - so FINALLY I can talk about Heinrich Heidersberger. He was a German photographer - arguably the most famous to have ever come from the home of Leica (!) ... born 1906 - died 2006.

He was noted for his architectural photography.

His legacy - the Institute - is located in Wolfsburg Castle in Germany. Last week I was given a show n' tell by it's curator - Bernd Rodrian. He showed me through the archives. Heidersberger was a genius ... his rhythmograms are superb!

One thing I love about his work is his addition of clouds! Yes - blue skies needed clouds so he added them! He even had a "clouds library"!

Anyway - I have shared now ... so I better get onto my flight!