TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert WalsheLiving

With almost half of men ad-mitting in a recent survey that they do not know the date of their wedding an-niversary, the Everglades hotel is giving one lucky couple the opportunity to make sure their anniversary is one the groom won’t for-get with a date to remember on 12/12/12. One lucky cou-ple can snap up this date to remember in the 4 star Ev-erglades hotel in Derry for only £1,212.12 for up to 60 guests which includes room hire, refreshments on arrival, a three course meal and luxury bridal suite. Couples having their wedding recep-tion at the Everglades hotel will enjoy the personal su-pervision of an experienced wedding specialist, who will assist them every step of the way in ensuring their special day fulfils all their dreams. From the first step on to the red carpet with a glass of champagne on arrival, to the sumptuous local cuisine, ex-perienced staff and luxurious surroundings, every detail is considered and thoughtfully planned. www.hastingsho-tels.com

Holiday Hotspot – La Digue – Seychelles

www.seychelles.travel

Named after a ship in the fleet of French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne who visited Seychelles in 1768, La Digue is the 4th larg-est inhabited island of the Seychelles. Formerly a quar-antine station for sailors and slaves carrying infectious

diseases, it was also used as a penal establishment for political prisoners de-ported from France and Re-union. Surrounded by coral reef, the island has no natu-ral harbour, but it is served by a jetty where boats from Mahe and Praslin bring day trippers & long stayers by their thousands. La Digue’s flat roads are easy to explore with transport mostly by bi-cycle or ox cart. the Veuve Nature Reserve situated in the island’s interior, is home to the rare Black Paradise Flycatcher with only 100 in existence. Although it was once widespread on Praslin and all its surrounding is-lands it is now restricted to La Digue, where it is quite common. the surrounding lagoon is also visited by a wide variety of underwater creatures like butterfly fish, eagle rays, murray eels and many other species of fish. Also divers and snorkel-ers are lucky enough to see blacktip reef sharks or even whale sharks while green sea turtles live on the very edges of the coral reefs and they sometimes venture closer to the island. One of the most visited sites is the L’Union Estate a protected nature reserve between Anse La Re-union and Anse Union on the southern end of the island. An old plantation house is at the centre of the estate flanked by a giant granite boulder and a large habitat where giant tortoises roam. A handful of hotels and guest-houses have opened

in recent years with Le Do-maine de L’Orangeraie by far the most stylish offering 45 villas. the garden accommo-dations surrounded by stone Buddha’s and Japanese pa-godas are exceptional while in the hills above, the villas de charme elegance offer a private whirlpool if you feel like splashing out ! . Since La Digue is an island inhab-ited by many different ethnic groups, the cuisine is a spe-cific mix of world cuisines put together. Le Combava at Le Domaine excels on all levels serving à la carte food only. With an abundance of fish all around Seychel-lois people have learned to make hundreds of recipes out of this simple ingredient and the red snapper is ad-dictive. www.orangeraie.sc the range of island accom-modations are varied and self catering options include the wonderful “Paodise” guesthouse offering two en-suite bedrooms (the Forest Room, and the Frangipani Room) with orthopedic mat-tresses, you can also use the central living area with open plan kitchen, and large ve-randah. For grilling fish and meat there is also a large outside BBQ for your enjoy-ment. www.paodise.com . For those interested in history Chateau St Cloud a former Vanilla Plantation House still retains the feel of its

colonial past. On the estate hotel guests can also visit one of the few coco de mer trees still remaining on the island, or the giant tortoises which have been on the es-tate for generations, and now are considered part of the St Ange family. www.chateaust-cloud.com For independ-ent travelers transport by boat to la Digue is easy with regular and efficient fast ferry services between Mahé and Praslin operated by Cat Cocos. www.catcocos.com Creole travel Services offer a selection of options aimed at providing everything that you could want in a holiday whether that means provid-ing excursions on or simply professional assistance with itineraries and reservations. www.creoletravelservices.com

You can also day trip from Mahe or Praslin to experi-ence traditional Creole life, unchanged for generations. the local people are relaxed and friendly and many peo-

ple speak the native language as well as English, French, and also italian and German. Emirates Airline operates a Dublin to Dubai daily serv-ice departing at lunchtime. Dubai to Seychelles is a double daily service depart-ing at 2.05hrs or 8.25hrs.and was the 52nd route launched by Emirates. Current prices start from €765 (Economy Class) inclusive of taxes or €2586 Business Class Fare. Passenger flying First Class can enjoy a very generous baggage allowance of 50kg, in Business Class, its 40kg and in Economy, a healthy 30 kg. the airline’s Chauffeur-drive service is available to both First and Business Class passengers across the island of ireland. All of Emir-ates’ customers can enjoy in-flight telephones, SMS and email and children’s activity packs. highly trained cabin crews from across the globe, including irish nationals are

on hand to serve gourmet chef prepared meals. www.emirates.com For all travel related information to the truly wonderful Seychelles visit www.seychelles.travel

Weekly Best BuySunway will resume their

programme to Morocco on 22 September for the winter months. Morocco is a favour-ite winter sun destination with the island of ireland market. All the usual Sunway favourites available include 3* intouriste Aparthotel S/C from €449, 4*+ Royal Atlas hotel B&B from 729 & the 5*+ Sofitel Agadir Royal Bay hotel B&B from 929 www.sunway.ie

Robert Walshe is a free-lance contributor / broad-caster and Travel Editor for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ireland. www.robertw-alshe.com

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray

Home and Away ExtraJessica Alba has come out on top for hav-

ing the best bikini body in the world ac-cording to a survey by hotels.com stealing 16% of the votes.

Following closely behind are Beyoncé in second place with 15% of the votes and Kate Middleton sneaking in third with 5%.

When it comes to the men, David Beckham took the top spot for having the buffest beach body in the world with almost a quarter (23%) of votes. Brad Pitt comes in second place with 13%, and Channing tatum in third place with 11% of the votes. www.hotels.com

n Paodise Guesthouse La Digue Seychelles.n Anse Source D’Argent La Digue Seychelles.

n Seychelles Fish Curry

iF YOU don’t have an en-closed, safe space for your dog to go out to the toilet, then you could easily lose it if you open the door and just send it out. the dog could just be at the end of the gar-den and you wouldn’t see it in the dark evenings.

it may have just run off down the road after a cat and you would have no idea where to start looking for it because you couldn’t see which direc-tion it went as it was too dark. Anything could happen to it when it is away from home. it could get knocked down by a car and be in agony on the roadside and on top of that it

could cost you a lot of money. When dogs are away from the house, by themselves, they can be up to anything.

Even if it is a saint at home it will not behave like that in the outside world… espe-cially with other dogs to influ-ence it. the excitement of the chase can take dogs a long way in a very short time, if they are after a cat or another small animal of some kind.

Your dog could be follow-ing a bicycle or a neighbour walking down the road. it’s not difficult to lose a dog but it can be incredibly difficult to find them again. If your dog causes an accident you

are responsible for any costs involved. these costs can be anything from paying for a tel-egraph pole (if the car has to swerve to avoid the dog) to any damage caused to the car itself or an injury to a driver or passenger.

Other problems that your dog, and you, may experience are, if the dog pulls out some-one’s bin.

there are many things in a bin from used bleach bottles to empty plastic bags that have food smells on them. there could be bones from a chicken. Any of these things could cause a lot of dam-age to your dog if they are

eaten and the vets bills could mount up.

Your neighbours won’t be very happy with you or your dog either if your dog is at their place often and unsupervised. there will be complaints.

the most common com-plaint about “Loose” dogs is their preference for going to the toilet in the neighbours garden. Another complaint is about dogs following walkers or joggers. Dogs that run along the road or charge out of a gate when your passing, with a dog on a lead, is a very scary and dangerous thing. the dog

could be attacked or the owner could get bitten.

A major problem with dogs on the loose is the chasing of livestock. this is a very sad sight to see. it is sad for the dog that it’s owner didn’t think enough of it to keep it under control and at the house, and incredibly sad for anyone looking at the sheep, not for-getting or taking away from the horrifically savage encounter for the poor sheep. Don’t be an irre-sponsible owner. Know where your dog is at all times.

Do you know where your dog is?