The pace of life on the island of La Digue is so slow that even the local giant tortoises seem relatively dynamic. There are only ten vehicles on the island - everyone else meanders around on bicycles, and even a wedding party are taken to their beach-side ceremony by ox cart.
The tortoises themselves live in the shade of a giant hunk of granite - the type of rock which forms the Seychelles islands. This group range in age from 30 to 90 years and in scale from the circumference of a large dinner plate right up to something the size (and probably twice the weight) of a substantial coffee table.
Tourists can help themselves to fresh leaves from a nearby pile and feed the tortoises over a low wall. They're greedy creatures, their mouths opening and shutting as if by clockwork, even when they're half asleep.
Our favourite, who we nicknamed Fatty, was the largest and greediest of all. He happily knocked to one side or even bundled over his smaller cousins to reach the leaves if we attempted to share them with other tortoises.
In the space of half an hour he ate the best part of a tree and tried to mount two of the other tortoises. Neither seemed keen, the second repelling him so forcibly he was turned right over on to his back. We did worry he might be stranded with his legs waving in the air, but after a few minutes swaying from side to side he managed to right himself. Don't let anyone tell you tortoises are slow or boring - at least, not on La Digue.
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