Whether it's birdwatching in ancient forests or spa treatments and watersports you're after, you'll find it on these islands, writes Elizabeth Sleith

AT around noon today, like every day, a Twin Otter will swoop over an island just 3°48' south of the equator. And while the pilots go through their pre-landing checklist, someone on the ground will perform an equally vital task: scouting for tortoises on the runway.

Most days it's all clear but if there is some giant jaywalker, whose average 250kg make lifting it impossible, a team will heave it over on its shell and slide it out of harm's way. Imagine what a tortoise - that hero of fables about wisdom and calm - might think to suddenly find itself gliding on grass, legs akimbo, so utterly discombobulated.

For the people of Denis Island, though, it's just another task in the care of this world that whispers of another time.

Ninety-six kilometres north of the main Seychelles island of Mahé, 143ha Denis is a five-star tourist destination, a working farm and an ongoing eco-project. This means that while, on one side of the island, guests may be snorkelling on the reef or sipping daiquiris by the pool, on the other side, workers will be fashioning furniture for the guest villas or making rose-apple jam for the breakfast buffet. And all across the island, birds that once deserted are winging their way back.

Their story begins in 1773, when the island was discovered by a Frenchman, who naturellement named it after himself. By 1975, when the first hotel was built, what lay behind was 200 years of hunting and farming that introduced alien invaders and ruined natural habits, wiping out some of the original inhabitants (including the tortoise).

In recent decades, though, conservationists have done much by way of repair. New tortoises have been imported and native trees replanted, so today's visitors might wander the forest paths with Indian almonds, casuarina trees, pisonias and old palms knitting overhead.

It is on such a ramble one day that I happen upon a curly-haired man crouching by a tree, whistling skittishly. Turns out he's not entirely mad, just an ecology student from the Netherlands named Sanne Ploegoert. He is part of a project here to rescue rare, endemic birds. Several species, he tells me, have been translocated to Denis from neighbouring islands and are now breeding successfully. These include the warbler, whose numbers plunged to 50 in the 1960s but are now at 2500; the fody, of which there are 3500 in the world; and the critically endangered Paradise Flycatcher. The hatching of two of these here last year was the first time in over 60 years that a chick had fledged successfully outside nearby La Digue island. At last count, Ploegoert beams, there were 25 on Denis.

Of course, this means any guest's chances of spotting one are slim, yet still a magical possibility that is part of the island's spell - as are the sure encounters with its commoners: the kryptonite-tinted day geckos that swagger fat across walls; and the cardinal birds, plump and scarlet, that twitter in gangs about the breakfast buffet like civil servants on the march.

The other part of that spell is the lazy luxury. The resort's 25 villas are well spaced for solitude; and comfortably romantic with open-air bathrooms, wooden shutters, four-poster beds - and no TVs. Instead, outside, there is a massage bed by a frangipani tree, where a therapist will lull you with strokes as rhythmic as the sea beside, then slip out through the garden gate.

For meals, the restaurant alternates between à la carte and buffet, serving dishes with curious ingredients and evocative names, such as palm-heart gratin (nutty and sweet) and blueberry frangipani pie. With fishing an optional activity, guests' catches often end up on the menu and, one afternoon, my group enjoys a demonstration from speciality chef Viju Mandiri, who cooks up a curry with tuna so fresh it seems only right that it's swimming in sauce.

Too soon, though, we are back in the Twin Otter (goodbye tortoise!) and headed for Mahé. Though our hotel here is only a 40-minute journey away, it couldn't be more distant from Denis's castaway fantasy. The Constance Ephelia is a resort so sprawling it has staff whose job it is simply to drive buggies along paths, taxiing guests to and from the central pavilion. This, housing the reception and main buffet restaurant, is built amid water features so vast we ask if we can swim in them ("Why not?" shrugs the GM, but no-one actually does). Probably because there are also two beaches and proper swimming pools; plus a spa with jet pools; walking trails; restaurants; a gym; a kid's club; shops; movies on demand . so much distraction, in fact, that guests can make their stay as hyperactive or lazy as they like and never venture beyond the gates.

My group, though, does do some exploring, starting with the capital. Victoria has the faded, rustic charm of any tropical town, where extreme humidity makes for deep verandahs, peeling paint and jaywalking locals. Our guide Steve declares it the smallest capital in the world (though Google disagrees) and its people the laziest (Google says Mexicans, obviously). At the grubby Victoria Market, though, there are some signs of industry, as tables heave with gobsmacked fish and fat packets of fruit and spices.

Leaving Victoria, we set out on a steep and coiling road for the dizzying climb to Mahé's mountains. At the Mission Ruins in the clouds, where a school for freed slave children was built in 1875, only a pile of mossy stones remains, but there are walking trails and the view alone - a luscious canopy that stretches to the sea and, faint in the distance, Mahé's slumbering neighbours - is worth the journey.

In the afternoon, we lunch at Chez Batista in the south, with long wooden tables on a verandah by the beach and calypso music playing from the bar. The spread includes banana chips and pan-fried snapper, but my favourite is a salad of grated mango and red onion, sprinkled with olive oil, salt and lemon juice. Delisye, as they say in Creole.

Back at the hotel that evening, I try out a meditation at the spa. This is led by the resident yoga teacher, Jiten Bhadat, who has been imported from "the yoga capital of the world", Rishikesh, India. He claims to be 28 but looks about 12, so he must be a very good yogi. As the sun sets over Mahé, and the casuarinas watch from the hills, Bhadat sing-songingly urges me - and the two other people lying sprawled on spongy mats - to "breeeeeethe" and "feel your boooo-deeee". I am supposed to be present in the moment but I am not. I am floating on a beautiful island under a burning blue sky, and suspect I could lie here happily for 100 years. Someone is going to have to roll me over - like a tortoise.

• Elizabeth Sleith was a guest of Flight Centre, Seychelles Tourism and Creole Travel Services.

ISLAND SPECIALS

Flight Centre has the following offers to the Seychelles:

1.Five nights on Denis Island and one on Mahé at the Constance Ephelia Resort. From R27990 per person sharing. For travel between November 1 and December 9.

2.Three nights on Denis and three nights at the Constance Ephelia. From R27800 pps. Valid November 1 to December 9.

3.Six nights at the Constance Ephelia from R14750 pps. Valid August 23 to September 12.

• All packages include return flights from Johannesburg on Air Seychelles and transfers; breakfast, lunch and dinner daily on Denis Island and breakfast and dinner daily on Mahé.

.Contact Flight Centre on 0860 400 747 or visit www.flightcentre.co.za for more information.

Recipe: Tuna and Coconut Milk curry (Serves 4 -6)

Ingredients:

• 1 large aubergine, peeled
• 45ml (3 tbsp) oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 6 curry leaves
• 20g cumin seeds
• 4 tbsp curry powder
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 3cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 500ml coconut milk
• 500g fresh tuna, cut into small pieces
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Large handful of fresh coriander

Method:

Cut aubergine in small cubes, blanch in boiling water for 10 minutes, then strain and mash roughly into a paste.

Heat oil in a pan and cook the onion, curry leaves, cumin seeds, curry powder, garlic, ginger and aubergine paste.

Add the coconut milk, bring to the boil and allow to reduce for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Add tuna pieces and allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Season, sprinkle with coriander and serve with boiled cassava, sweet potato or rice.