Breakfast on Denis…

GIF is working with Denis Island to provide an ecotourism product to guests including evening presentations, guided walks, the development of an information centre, pamphlets etc… The wildlife on Denis however is abundant and one does not necessarily have to go looking for it; you can also choose a comfortable location and let it come to you.

A prime example is in the hotel gardens around the restaurant. When the main hotel complex was rebuilt at the end of 2006 the restaurant was extended westwards with a covered decking area that projects out into the gardens. Those choosing to sit there for breakfast, find themselves surrounded on three sides by the natural beauty and wildlife of Denis Island.

Looking North: guests will see flocks of birds feeding on bread put out on the ground by the restaurant staff – typically there will be large numbers of Madagascar fody, Seychelles turtle dove and barred ground dove; 5 or 6 moorhens, mynah birds and the occasional endemic Seychelles fody in a busy whirl of feathered activity. Despite this distraction as the number of clients at table increases some of the Madagascar fodies will take up position on the decking rails in the hope of a titbit from the guests. The few Seychelles fodies that attend take a different approach – perched on the back of a chair across the table from a guest they will, in the manner of a pet dog, fix a diner with an unyielding stare until such time as the induced “mind control” or simple guilt results in the provision of a few choice morsels!

Looking West: the coastal casuarina trees and the veloutier serve to frame and provide vistas of the sea. In the foreground there is a stand of beautiful cordia trees that give shade and provide perches for various birds. There is currently a fairy tern incubating an egg in full view of diners. The egg is on an interesting perch that the bird can not fly directly to. Rather it has to land further down the branch and then climb, through a combination of flapping and sidling, up the branch before carefully lowering itself once more upon the egg. All the birds mentioned above utilise these trees including the moorhens that I have seen well up in the branches on several occasions. The trees also form part of the territory of a pair of endemic Seychelles warblers which can be seen, by the more observant, from time to time gleaning insects from the cordia leaves.

The view south is more open taking in a small garden area with young Guettarda and Casuarina trees. Beyond that lies the hotel’s pool and surrounding decked area and then large veloutier and smaller Bay cedar bushes in an idyllic island holiday scene. The endemic blue pigeon is a common sight in the veloutier bushes feeding on the white berries they produce. The birds thus occupied are particularly indifferent to human attention and make for good photographic subjects.

The airspace in view forms a busy flight path in particular for White terns often in groups of 2 or 3 undertaking their characteristic swooping aerial displays. White-tailed tropicbirds often also pass by amongst others and in November when the island was visited by 500-plus bee-eaters the air was alive with their hawking flights and trilling call as they hunted their insect prey in flashes of colour from dozens of perches.

Every morning is different whether in terms of the breeze, the colour of the sea, the quality of the light or of course the attendant wildlife; and all over a delicious breakfast and a leisurely coffee!

What do you think - worth a visit?