At a Glance
- Morne Seychellois National Park protects rare wildlife across nearly one-fifth of Mahé Island.
- Trails like Morne Blanc and Coppolia offer sweeping coastal views and serene forest paths.
- Once home to Creole settlements, the mountain still echoes Seychelles’ rich cultural roots.
Rising 905 meters above Mahé Island, Morne Seychellois National Park is the highest peak in Seychelles and its beating green heart.
Covered in mist and ancient forest, it shelters rare wildlife, hiking trails, and the island’s quiet soul. From cinnamon trees and mossy ridges to panoramic views of the Indian Ocean, this park is where Seychelles travel meets pure serenity.
From below, the mountain seems to dissolve into the sky. Its slopes are draped in dense forest where cinnamon trees grow wild and ferns cover the damp ground. A faint sweetness lingers in the air, a mix of nutmeg, salt, and earth, and every path seems to lead to somewhere both hidden and familiar.
Where the island gathers its calm
Much of Morne Seychellois belongs to the national park that bears its name, a vast stretch of protected land declared in 1979. Covering nearly a fifth of Mahé, the park shelters a web of life: rare owls, tiny frogs, pitcher plants that feed on insects, and palms that rise like pillars through the mist.
As you climb, the forest changes. The warm, leafy lowlands give way to cool moss-covered ridges and short trees twisted by the wind. Streams tumble through narrow ravines, their water clear and quick, slipping toward the sea.
Walking the old paths
The trails that cut through the park reveal its many moods. The Morne Blanc Trail, steep and green, leads to a lookout high above the island’s west coast, a place where the world seems to pause. The Coppolia Trail wanders past old tea fields, where the scent of leaves still hangs in the air.
The toughest route, the Morne Seychellois Trail, asks for patience and good shoes. It winds across thick forest and rocky slopes, often through drifting cloud. But on a clear day, the summit opens up the island in every direction, forest to the east, ocean to the west, silence all around.
Echoes of the past
Long before it became a park, the mountain held small Creole settlements. Families planted cinnamon and distilled its oil in wooden huts.
The old tea estate near Port Glaud still stands, and visitors can watch the process, the steam, the leaves, and the faint aroma of something unchanged.
For many Seychellois, Morne Seychellois is not simply a mountain. It is a place to breathe, to think, to remember.
Those who climb often describe a stillness that feels almost alive, a quiet that presses gently against the ears until only the sound of birds and rustling leaves remains.
The soul of Mahé
Seychelles is known for its beaches, but its spirit runs deeper, into the hills where clouds drift low and the forest hums with life. Morne Seychellois is that reminder, a mountain that holds the stories of the island, steady and unchanged.
From the streets of Victoria you can see it rising in the distance, a soft green outline against the sky. Whether you climb it, walk its trails, or simply watch it from below, the mountain has a way of staying with you, part landscape, part feeling, wholly alive.
