Granite coastal boulders and sailboat on Indian Ocean, Praslin, Seychelles

Haze on the waves

Home to barely over 100,000 people across 115 small islands, Seychelles is considered the smallest African country by both population and area. About 800 miles of Indian Ocean waves separate Seychelles from the second-largest continent, and the island group's granite bedrock (seen here in the form of protruding coastal boulders) is unusual in a place this far from any mainland—long cited as evidence for continental drift. These particular rocks peek through ocean mists along the coast of Praslin, the country's second-largest island after the main one, Mahé.