In the heart of Praslin, the second largest island of Seychelles, is Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve, the smallest UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world, and the best place to see the prized coco de mer, the largest and heaviest nut in the world. Touted to be the probable Garden of Eden by British army officer Charles Gordon, who visited the area in 1881, the park is home to several endemic species, the most notable being the love nut.
Shaped like a green heart, the outer husk when removed reveals a two-lobed nut that looks like buttocks on one side and a vulva on the other. No surprise then that the nut has always garnered a lot of attention, right from early explorers to botanists, and faces threat of extinction today over its purported aphrodisiac properties.
