Rocks on Anse Source d'Argent beach, La Digue Island, Seychelles

© Roland Gerth/eStock Phot

An island hopper's paradise

Welcome to the sunny Seychelles, an island nation just south of the equator in the Indian Ocean, roughly 900 miles off the eastern coast of Africa. The gorgeous beach you see here is the Anse Source d'Argent on the island of La Digue, one of 115 islands that make up this tropical republic. Anse Source d'Argent has long been a favourite of photographers, who are drawn to its contoured, dark granite boulders, pristine white sand and turquoise water. Beachcombers and sun worshippers come for the balmy weather, with daily high temperatures of between 24C and 32C all year round.

Today, 29 June, is Independence Day in the Seychelles, commemorating the nation's 1976 independence from centuries of colonial French and British rule. It also happens to be the UN's International Day of the Tropics, a day of special recognition for the Seychelles and other countries within the zone between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. That accounts for about 36% of Earth's land mass and close to 40% of its population. The day celebrates the extraordinary diversity of this zone while also highlighting its challenges, including poverty, climate change and deforestation.