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Love, Actually in the Garden of Eden
Legend has it that on a night lit by a full moon, in a tiny jungle forest on the isle of Praslin in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Seychelles, a rather bizarre mating ritual takes place between the forest’s principal inhabitants.
Below the canopy, the jungle is enveloped in a misty sweat as the lovers, locked in rhythm, sway back and forth in a primitive dance, while palm leaves rustle and tiny blooming flowers float through the air in a dazzling finish to a mystical ceremony that will ensure the forest dwellers of generations to come.
The ‘lovers’ in this case happen to be ancient, endemic palm trees, and so the ritual is more a figment of Seychellois folklore’s collective – and wildly entertaining – imagination more than anything else. But this rare palm found nowhere else in the world, with separate male and female plants, is one of nature’s most baffling specimens. The female plant bears the coco de mer, a double coconut that curiously resembles the female pelvis, and its male equivalent is nothing short of suggestive, either: a phallus that can grow up to a metre in length.
Symbolically, the coco de mer (often called the ‘love nut’) is perhaps Seychelles’ best ambassador to amorous travellers, because in many ways this rare and astonishing specimen represents all that is magical and surreal about the islands’ romantic charms.
The history of the coco de mer has its roots in myths and the unknown, and the strange coincidences surrounding its biology have done nothing but fuel its saga.
In fact, the coco de mer was among the principal reasons that British General Charles Gordon (of Khartoum fame), first spawned the theory that Praslin and its Vallée de Mai, a primeval forest where the coco de mer grows in abundance, was the original Garden of Eden.
General Gordon based his claim partly on the fact that the Seychelles were the only granitic (and thus the most ancient) of any mid-ocean islands in the world, being the highest peaks of a submerged remnant of an ancient continent that broke away from India and Africa, the last surviving relics of Gondwana. But his theory was also fuelled by his belief that the coco de mer palm was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. With the coco de mer nut’s erotic curves in mind, his assertion gave rise to a new meaning for ‘forbidden fruit.’
The Vallée de Mai is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, mostly because of its overall status as a preserved natural forest that hosts a range of rare species (in addition to the coco de mer), that are unique to Seychelles.
But the valley has never lost its mysterious romantic allure and is one of the main attractions for tourists venturing to Praslin, as the damp, primal atmosphere under the forest canopy gives off definitive vibes that hark back to the origins of man and the concept of untouched natural beauty.
Weddings in the Vallée de Mai, which can be arranged through the Seychelles Islands Foundation, are a chic alternative for those in the know. What better way to consummate a union than in what many still perceive to be Adam and Eve’s original stomping grounds?
For more information visit http://www.seychelles.travel/en/home/index.php
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