With the ever increasing coverage of the violence around the Horn of Africa we felt inclined to ask Peter Rippin of The Fly Fisher Group who sends many anglers each month to the Seychelles a question..

Peter, how has the increasing media coverage of the pirates and hostage taking near the Horn of Africa had an impact on your business?

Peter: We’ve had the odd question about piracy in Seychelles but once fishers understand that Alphonse, although remote and private, is not nearly as far south or as exposed as the outer islands (Aldabra Group, Cosmoledo, Providence etc) they are pretty relaxed. Also remember that Alphonse is land based operation with full communication facilities and an airstrip and is only a hour and a bit south of Mahe so its not really a piracy target.
We of course comply with the Seychellois government advice on these matters and whilst they are sometimes not encouraging far outer island liveaboard trips for diving/fishing etc, they are very happy with Alphonse running as per normal.

In so far as the recession is affecting Alphonse, bookings are down on previous seasons but not as bad as one might expect given that the normal booking ’season’ is February – July for the following fishing from October – May. The months of February to July being some of the darkest days for decades in terms of global finances. In fact, the past three months have been really busy with lots of fly fishers deciding that they were not going to miss out on what we believe is still the best mixed saltwater flats fishery that’s been discovered. In fact the fishery seems to be going from strength to strength, for example a lady landed five good GT’s in a day only last week!

For those needing a little encouragement there are some fantastic deals this month, in January and selected weeks beyond that. The rack rate is US$7,350 per fisher ex Mahe and we have some weeks at US$6,000 based on single occupancy of a chalet.

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