Sven Olof Lindblad made Seychelles’ cultural ambassador |14 April 2015

• As he hosts Seychelles’ Founding President Mancham as ‘global perspective guest speaker’ on National Geographic Orion Indian Ocean cruise


 


Sven Olof Lindblad, son of the late Lars Eric Lindblad who pioneered eco-tourism globally and who brought his cruise ship Linblad Explorer to Seychelles in the mid 60s before the opening of the Seychelles International Airport, was on Saturday night conferred with the title of an International Ambassador of Seychelles culture by the Minister for Tourism and Culture Alain St Ange at a special reception which the founding President of Seychelles Sir James R. Mancham hosted at his residence in honour of Mr Lindblad.

Mr Lindblad’s company, Special Expeditions Ltd, headquartered in New York, is in a joint venture agreement with the National Geographic and together operates four cruise ships offering expedition type luxurious travelling to different parts of the world.

Yesterday, Sir James and Mr Lindblad departed Mahé on the way to Assumption Island where they will join the National Geographic Orion on a ten-day cruise that will include cruising to and around the Aldabra archipelago – a Seychelles World Heritage Site – and other islands of the Seychelles group before a scheduled return to Mahé on April 23.

According to the website of Special Expeditions Ltd, Sir James will be on board as “a global perspective guest speaker”. The write-up about him states that he is a “colourful and jovial personality who is listed in the ‘International Who’s Who in Poetry’ and who is seen as being clever, determined and tough, and popular in his own country and outside it”.

A dominant topic of discusssion during the dinner reception on Saturday, which was also attended by Ambassador Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, chief executive of the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF), focused on Aldabra, now and in the future.

The late Lars Eric Lindblad, the late Tony Beamish and Sir James are the three personalities who spearheaded the campaign to stop the Anglo-American decision to turn Aldabra into a militarty base and which eventually saw the build-up of the Anglo-US military complex shifted eastwards to the Chagos archipelago.