Seychelles

The Seychelles are geologically ancient - granite islands, not coral atolls, remnants of the supercontinent Gondwana sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Aldabra, the most remote atoll, has the world's largest population of giant tortoises and is harder to reach than most places people bother to name. Praslin has the Vallee de Mai, a forest of coco de mer palms that produce the largest seed in the plant kingdom and that Victorians briefly believed was the original Garden of Eden. The beaches, meanwhile, need no mythology to justify themselves.

Our guide is being written from the ground up, with the time this place deserves.

We are still gathering the notes that make a guide worth keeping: inner island guesthouse routes, Aldabra access logistics, Creole kitchen addresses and the snorkelling spots that the resort maps do not mark because they are just offshore and free.