SHF visits historical monuments on Sainte Anne |21 May 2016

A group from the Seychelles Heritage Foundation (SHF) this week travelled to Ste Anne Island to assess the state of the nature trail there, which is a 7km walk.

The activity was organised by the SHF in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, and the Beachcomber Sainte Anne Resort & Spa management.

The island has got many historical architecture and important elements that have shaped our history and the Seychelles we see today.

The island is surrounded by tropical vegetation, and was discovered on Sainte Anne’s Day, which is how it got its name. The island has become famous and was popular among early French settlers who later populated Mahé. In earlier years, Sainte Anne Island had been used as a safe haven for an escaped prisoner, and as a whaling depot during the 20th century.

Until the year 1992, Sainte Anne was the home of the National Youth Service (NYS). Here young people aged 15 to 17 spent time studying and working on the island as part of their mandatory education. Since that time, however, Sainte Anne has been urbanised and includes a large hotel (Beachcomber Sainte Anne Resort & Spa) that was opened in 2002.

While walking for four hours amid the tropical vegetation of the island, signs of the historical monuments are still visible such as the NYS buildings, which were inaugurated in 1983 by President France Albert Rene. Today, the ruins of several houses of NYS and other facilities are still visible on the hiking trail leading to Anse Manon. The ruins are part of the history of the island. The sites are regularly visited by tourists and locals. Today it is part of the valuable heritage which raises several souvenirs for those who have lived there at some point in their lives.

World War II further gave Sainte Anne once a national mission, to ensure the best defence of the first line of the country. The island was fortified by two coastal guns, and their remains are still visible.

After the war, the guns were left in a state of abandon for decades but now they are among the most admired historical relics of the island.

The Sainte Anne trail is one of the trails in Seychelles that is well maintained for tourists and locals, but more demarcation must be added as well as an explanation board for the historical monuments for the benefits of those walking the trail.

The chief executive (CEO) of SHF Miera Savy pointed out that such activity was to evaluate the Sainte Anne trail, and discuss with the Beachcomber Sainte Anne Resort & Spa management to find ideas on how to add more important notices and demarcation for the benefit of users.

“It is important to keep our national heritage in good state. Today’s walk was really hard on all of us but we all managed to cover the seven kilometres.