Seychelles climate

The climate is hot and humid, and so the islands are thickly covered with tropical vegetation. The heat hardly varies throughout the year; the average rainfall varies from 84 mm in July to 386 mm in January. For comparison, the average monthly rainfall in Stockholm is 46 mm; in London, 49 mm; in Milan, 85 mm.

The average daily maximum temperature is about 28°C in the shade, dropping to 24°C at night. Subjectively, it's very pleasant in the morning and evening, but oppressively hot if you go walking in the sun in the middle part of the day. Near the equator, the sun burns fiercely.

Noël Coward summed up the situation in 1932: "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun."

On the last morning of my holiday, I went for a two-hour walk on footpaths through the hills behind the hotel, and after a while I found that the sweat was running down my arms and dripping off my fingers.