The Sey­chelles is one of those dream des­ti­na­tions in the Indian Ocean, just north of Mada­gas­car. The Sey­chelles are actu­ally 115 islands and offer lush rain forests, gor­geous beaches, and are sur­rounded by unri­valed marine life.

The Sey­chelles is one of those dream des­ti­na­tions in the Indian Ocean, just north of Mada­gas­car. The Sey­chelles are actu­ally 115 islands and offer lush rain forests, gor­geous beaches, and are sur­rounded by unri­valed marine life.

The Four Sea­sons Resort Sey­chelles will cel­e­brate its one-year anniver­sary this Feb­ru­ary. Despite its secluded loca­tion on the south­west coast of the main island of Mahe, it’s still close to the inter­na­tional air­port as well as the cap­i­tal of Vic­to­ria (a 30-minute drive).

This is the type of place you’d be crazy to pass up. The 67 vil­las and suites are more than spa­cious and all vil­las have their own pri­vate plunge pools, out­door show­ers, and sun­set views of the bay. There are two restau­rants and bars, spa, fit­ness and recre­ation cen­ter as well as meeting/banquet facilities.

Dur­ing 2010 Four Sea­sons Resort Sey­chelles is offer­ing an excel­lent deal on lodg­ing here: its stay longer pro­mo­tion, which is valid from:

Jan­u­ary 10 – March 31, 2010
May 11 – June 30, 2010
Sep­tem­ber 16 – Octo­ber 31, 2010
Decem­ber 1 – 18, 2010

Enjoy a com­pli­men­tary 4th night for 3 con­sec­u­tive nights stay
Enjoy a com­pli­men­tary 6th and 7th night for 5 con­sec­u­tive nights stay

The pro­mo­tion is valid for indi­vid­ual book­ings only and not for groups.

For reser­va­tions, call Four Sea­sons Resort Sey­chelles at 248–393-333; fax: 248–393-331; or send an e-mail to reservations.sey@fourseasons.com.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Four Sea­sons Resort Seychelles

Head­ing to the Mal­dives soon? The island chain just wel­comed its first Hol­i­day Inn Resort on Kan­dooma Island on the South Malé atoll. For those of you who aren’t crazy about trans­fer­ring from Male Inter­na­tional Air­port to your resort via sea­plane (I’m rais­ing my hand right now), you won’t have to when vis­it­ing this Hol­i­day Inn. It’s just a 40-minute/22 mile speed­boat ride from MLE.

There are 160 vil­las here in eight cat­e­gories offer­ing every­thing from gar­den views to those entic­ing over-the-water bun­ga­lows. Each villa offers pic­ture win­dows, out­door show­ers, iPod dock­ing sta­tions, flat-screen TVs, and wire­less Internet.

The resort is hop­ing to lure busi­ness trav­els as well as vaca­tion­ers inter­ested in surf­ing and div­ing; the Hol­i­day Inn is nearby the Kan­dooma Chan­nel, Kan­dooma Caves, and Kan­dooma ‘Thila” (under­sea mountain).

You’ll be able to relax as much as you want or take part in a range of activ­i­ties. There’s a Dive Cen­tre and the Kan­dooma Spa as well as cata­ma­ran, wind­surf­ing, kayak­ing, and snor­kel­ing out­ings. Oh, and don’t for­get surf­ing lessons!

If you’ve got kids in tow, you’ll want to check out the resort’s Kids’ Club that offers babysit­ting ser­vices and age-specific activities.

Bren­dan Cor­co­ran is the gen­eral man­ager of the Hol­i­day Inn Resort Kan­dooma Mal­dives, which opened on Decem­ber 15, 2009.

Spe­cial intro­duc­tory rates start­ing at $290 per night are avail­able through March 31, 2010. Air­port trans­fers are an addi­tional $140 one-way for adults and $85 for children.

For more infor­ma­tion, speak with your travel agent or visit the web­site of the Hol­i­day Inn Resort Kan­dooma Mal­dives.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Hol­i­day Inn

I really like what Aber­crom­bie & Kent is doing with its orga­ni­za­tion, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy. The tour pack­ager that’s known for high-end expe­di­tions to the far cor­ners of the globe is now offer­ing indi­vid­u­als the chance to be part of the solu­tion to a local prob­lem in a far-off location.

As the hol­i­day sea­son approaches, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy is remindng every­one that dona­tions make fan­tas­tic gifts for friends and fam­ily who have everything.

“This year the focus is on what money can­not buy—shared expe­ri­ences and trea­sured mem­o­ries,” says Aber­crom­bie & Kent Vice Chair­man Jorie But­ler Kent, who guides Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy. “Our guests are look­ing for more mean­ing­ful ways to cel­e­brate with their fam­i­lies and asked us to cre­ate a Gift Pro­gram that makes it easy to donate to projects mak­ing a dif­fer­ence in places they have visited.”

With the help of A&K’s 62 world­wide offices, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy has iden­ti­fied grass­roots orga­ni­za­tions, spear­headed by ded­i­cated local experts in con­ser­va­tion, edu­ca­tion, com­mu­nity devel­op­ment, and pub­lic health.

These are inspir­ing gifts designed to honor a friend or fam­ily mem­ber.  Dona­tions range from $10 for a sim­ple HIV test to help pre­vent the trans­mis­sion of AIDS to an unborn child to $500 for a field trip for Maa­sai chil­dren who have never been on safari.

Here are three pro­grams being offered right now. Visit Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy to read about all dona­tion pro­grams through­out the world.

HIV Test­ing in Uganda
Uganda Bwindi Com­mu­nity Hospital
—$10 helps assess the HIV sta­tus of a local res­i­dent with a sim­ple field test.

Restore a Nat­ural Land­mark 
in Morocco
Morocco—Protection of the Palmeraie—
$50 plants a tree to help restore the del­i­cate ecosys­tem in this thousand-year-old date palm grove, a Mar­rakech landmark.

A Safari Field Trip
Kenya — Friends of Conservation—
$500 gives 20 Maa­sai chil­dren the chance to dis­cover their nat­ural her­itage and learn the value of pro­tect­ing wildlife with a field trip to the Masai Mara National Reserve.

Dona­tions can be made online through Aber­crom­bie & Kent Philanthropy’s secure web­site www.akphilanthropy.org with 100 per­cent of all dona­tions going directly to the project selected.  Gift cer­tifi­cates will be deliv­ered to the recipient(s) elec­tron­i­cally or printed and mailed.

To make a dona­tion as a family—or in honor of a loved one—go to www.akphilanthropy.org. One hun­dred per­cent of your char­i­ta­ble gift to Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy goes directly to sup­port local projects world­wide. Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy is estab­lished in the United States as a 501©(3) not-for-profit orga­ni­za­tion. Your char­i­ta­ble gift is tax deductible as pro­vided by law.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Four Sea­sons Explorer

This past Sep­tem­ber, the 128-foot Four Sea­sons Explorer 11-cabin, three-deck cata­ma­ran was refur­bished for three-, four-, and seven-night excur­sions around the Mal­dives in the Indian Ocean. While the ves­sel usu­ally draws those inter­ested in div­ing and snor­kel­ing, even those who aren’t nat­ural water babies enjoy see­ing the Mal­dives from this inti­mate ship that caters to just 22 passengers.

Accom­mo­da­tions are what you’d expect at any land-based Four Sea­son resort and fea­ture 10 state­rooms and one Explorer Suite. The suite includes a king bed, a daybed, an indoor din­ing area, couch, writ­ing desk, bar, DVD/CD player, tele­phone, and in-cabin safe. The bath­room fea­tures a full bath tub, and sep­a­rate shower. Reg­u­lar state­rooms can be out­fit­ted with either a king bed or two twins. State­rooms also fea­ture a sofa, desk, DVD/CD player, bar, phone, and safe. These bath­rooms have a tub/shower combo.

The cata­ma­ran pro­motes a casual atmos­phere and shorts and sun­dresses are accept­able attire, even dur­ing din­ner. The casual vibe doesn’t skimp on ser­vice though…the entire boat is air-conditioned and you’ll find an onboard masseuse and a PADI dive cen­ter with Nitrox. Laun­dry ser­vice is also available.

As of the first of Octo­ber 2009, Four Sea­sons Explorer began weekly itin­er­aries. The first part explores the north­ern atolls of Baa and Raa and includes a stopover at the Four Sea­sons Lan­daa Giraavaru. The sec­ond part of the cruise expolores the south­ern regions, which may include Ras­d­hoo, North Ari, South and North Male atolls.

Dur­ing the cruise, you’ll enjoy water activ­i­ties like div­ing, snor­kel­ing, wind­surf­ing, kayak­ing, water­ski­ing, and fish­ing. Other activ­i­ties include vis­its to local vil­lages and other island excursions.

Four Sea­sons Explorer video footage:

Four Sea­sons Explorer sails until Decem­ber 20, 2009 and then she goes into dry-dock. She’ll be back on the water as of June 8, 2010.

For more infor­ma­tion, talk with your travel agent or con­tact Four Sea­sons Resort Mal­dives at Kuda Huraa or Four Sea­sons Resort Mal­dives at Lan­daa Giraavaru.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Four Seasons

Four Sea­sons Resort Mau­ri­tius at Anahita has added a perk to lure those who love to golf: com­pli­men­tary unlim­ited play, includ­ing a cart fit­ted with GPS. And, this is indeed a bonus since the Four Sea­sons Golf Club Mau­ri­tius is the only golf course in the Indian Ocean built to USGA (United States Golf Asso­ci­a­tion) stan­dards. (Unlim­ited golf priv­i­leges kicked in on Octo­ber 1, 2009.)

“We want every guest to have the oppor­tu­nity to play the course at Four Sea­sons Mau­ri­tius,” says Andrew Har­ri­son, gen­eral man­ager of the Resort. “Ernie Els has cre­ated a cham­pi­onship course that is a chal­lenge for expe­ri­enced golfers, but also encour­ages play at all lev­els, so fam­i­lies can golf together.”

“Intri­cately woven into the scenery, the course is designed with a close eye on pre­serv­ing the coastline’s nat­ural beauty,” says Ernie Els. “The way we have routed the course means it moves in and out of the trees, along the water and back, giv­ing play­ers great variety—including spec­tac­u­lar rocky out­crops, large native trees and jaw-dropping views of the moun­tains and Indian Ocean.”

On July 26, 2009, Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort and Spa on the Mal­dives greeted its first guest. This is not only Shangri-La Hotels first resort in the Mal­dives, it’s also the first inter­na­tional lux­ury resort on the southern-most tip of Addu Atoll in the South­ern Mal­dives Archipelago.

The 142 stand­alone vil­las range from ocean­front to tree top, with tree house vil­las perched 10 feet off the ground—a first for accom­mo­da­tions in this region. Enjoy the dra­matic ele­vated infin­ity pool offer­ing panoramic views of the Indian Ocean or lounge on the white sand beach.

Spa enthu­si­asts will spend plenty of time at CHI, The Spa. Chi­nese, Himalayan, and Asian treat­ments are offered along with Kandu Boli expe­ri­ences and unusual indige­nous treat­ments incor­po­rat­ing the tiger cowrie shell and other native elements.

Divers come here to explore the British Loy­alty ship­wreck and to dive with giant manta rays with wingspans of more than 13 feet. Surf­ing, scuba, and snor­kel­ing are also pop­u­lar in the area.

The three-dining-room Khaz­a­anaage Restau­rant serves eclec­tic menus based on the regional cuisines of the Indian Ocean, South China Sea, and Ara­bian Gulf.

From now until Octo­ber 31, 2009, the hotel is offer­ing a “stay seven nights and pay for five” pack­age. Ben­e­fits include trans­fer flights from Male to Gan, daily half-board, and a CHI spa expe­ri­ence for two.

For more infor­ma­tion, visit Shangri-La’s web­site or call the resort at (960) 689‑7888.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com