The island of Praslin, measuring just 38 square kilometres in area and containing some 5,000 inhabitants, is many people's idea of paradise.

The island's coast is scattered with large rocks and surrounded by coral reefs teeming with life, while the interior is mainly untouched forest. On the west coast is one of the world's most beautiful beaches, Anse Lazio.

Praslin, lying 40 km northwest of Mahé, is the second largest Seychelles island. It was named the Island of Palms by the first recorded visitor, Lazare Picault, in 1744. An airstrip on the northwest coast provides access from Mahé in just 15 minutes, while the equivalent journey by boat takes 60 minutes.

Praslin contains the Vallée de Mai National Park, a Unesco World Heritage site since 1984, and is also home to three of the world's rarest birds. Visitors to the national park will find the coco de mer, an extraordinary and much prized palm tree whose fruit, a double coconut in the shape of a female pelvis, features in many Indian Ocean and even European legends.

The island's many hotels conjure up an image of luxury in perfect harmony with nature - quite simply, paradise on earth.