Returning to Mother Nature
by Victoria Rivers | photography by Les Veilleux
Like any morning, I’m still in a bit of a fog, yawning as I flip on the bathroom light. The sight, the dreadful revelation, is so shocking that my jaw remains open, aghast. I look in the mirror and declare, “It’s official: I’m old.”
While I’m not exactly the icon of healthy living, I try to eat well, exercise, and avoid as many chemicals as possible. I feel twenty-sevenish, even though I’m not. But, I’m only thirty-six, and that’s really not old. So why am I so appalled by the creases, pores, and water pooling under my eyes in small overnight bags? Am I so weak that I succumb to society’s pressure to superhumanly combat aging? Yes.
Condemning the tubes of half-used wrinkle cream and vowing to detox, I seek out a newsworthy spa getaway for my next article. Frégate Island Private is located off the coast of Kenya and north of Madagascar, within an Indian Ocean chain of 115 tropical islands. First from the lips of several well-heeled travelers as a must-see, this three-square-kilometer island has topped lists of ‘world’s finest’ since replacing a rustic nature outpost in 1998. Rumblings of new private pools being added to each of the sixteen luxury villas, as well as the spa going all-natural – using only ingredients grown on island for treatments – will be just the news peg I need. For those religiously alleviating potentially harmful toxins, what better than an island that pampers spa guests with ingredients pure enough to eat?
A Fertile Playground
To merely classify this as a luxury private-island resort would be insulting, at least for the likes of Steve Hill, Frégate’s Ecology Manager. Hill dedicated the last decade of his life to restoring the delicate balance of the ecosystem destroyed by the island’s coconut plantation 300 years ago. Removing many of the life-strangling palms and replacing them with 120,000 indigenous trees, provided a canopy of protection for 73 different species of birds – including two that once topped the critically endangered species list. Frégate has also pioneered extensive preservation efforts, including ridding the island of all rodents and pesticides. As a result, feathered friends like the Seychelles Magpie Robin, White-eye, and Fairy Tern now thrive and breed here unlike anywhere else in the world. “It’s evolution in isolation,” Hill tells me during our nature walk, a traveler must in order to truly appreciate the magnificence of this unique destination. Gigantic land tortoises (only found a couple of other places in the world, such as the Galapagos) roam freely along interlacing island trails like Smart Cars on a super highway. Millipedes are so big, they put garden snakes to shame; and perhaps the best testament to this untouched corner of the world, the Frégate Beetle – the only other in existence at a London zoo to preserve the species should something happen to this Seychelles island.
Becoming the proverbial Garden-of-Eden that Frégate is today goes beyond planting trees and protecting wildlife. Creating equilibrium in the overall ecology of the island ultimately improved the fertility of the soil. Now, numerous fruit trees, cinnamon, and even vanilla wildly abounds. In addition, the widest range of vegetables grown throughout the Seychelles grows on Frégate, much of which is exported to other resorts and hotels within the island chain. Situated a mere 4 degrees south of the equator, the climate does not lend itself to growing many herbs and vegetables, so Frégate also developed a hydroponics greenhouse to feed the plants minerals and nutrients unavailable outdoors. Barry Luckerman, agricultural manager, takes guests on tours through the huge rows of heirloom tomatoes, lettuces, and herbs being grown by hydroponic technology, all of which they will see decorating their dinner plates later the same day.
The extensive gardens also stock all of the 140 ‘products’ used within the spa. Hill and Luckerman supply the spa daily with the ingredients necessary to create the concoctions used in the treatments. Much of the spa menu is comprised of treatments handed down through generations verbally by Seychellois medicine men and women. At Frégate’s spa, Madam Dibwa specially blends many of the teas and skin applications in accordance with stringent ancient rituals.
Return to Basics
The Rock Spa balances on the edge of the earth, atop a granite cliff overlooking ocean expanse. Imposing black rock encircles the newly built glass-encased gym, creating a disparity between the interiors equipped with the latest technology and, quite literally, earth’s original surface. I sip herbal tea on the open-air veranda, studying patches of sand swirled in a series of Zen circles. Chirping birds and water trickling in the lily-clad ponds are the only sounds surrounding the series of Balinese-style pagodas, which host a total of six spacious suites. A soft tap on the shoulder breaks my trancelike state and indicates that my therapist is ready for my treatment.
While The Rock Spa boasts an outdoor Vichy suite complete with a hydrotherapy table and bath – a treatment I rarely resist – I opted for the popular ninety-minute Lekor Experience. This delicious head-to-toe treatment starts with a ritual footbath and massage followed by a scrub blending oranges, sandalwood, coconut oil, and ocean salt. My skin is then covered with a mix of papaya, banana, and turmeric, before being wrapped in huge banana leaves. After cleansing my face with aloe vera and breadfruit, the therapist whips up a batch of avocado and yogurt to apply to my hair to accompany a scalp massage.
Incorporating natural and indigenous ingredients into spa treatments is common practice across the globe. However, strictly using ingredients grown on-island sans any chemicals or preservatives proves novel – especially for a demographic financially privy and traditionally inclined to the wiles of glycolic peels, Botox, and latest product-technology. At The Rock Spa, this very finicky customer actually prefers this return to nature, with the guest surveys showing an increase in spa product satisfaction from the 80th percentile range to 99 percent. These numbers reassured Frégate’s chairman that their brave departure from commercial products was a good one and confirmed that it’s something people around the world appreciate.
While this was a hit to the bottom line in terms of retail sales, Spa Manager Heather Rothwell feels that it’s merely a sign of the times. She says, “I think women are sick of buying cosmetic products. The thousands of choices out there make them feel overwhelmed.” The Rock Spa puts a priority on healing from within and nurturing the body with what Mother Nature provides. “You can have the best products in the world, but if you’re an angry and bitter person, I can tell you that shows more on your face than anything you can try to fix using ingredients from a jar.” Thus, the spa’s mission to treat the ‘entire person,’ opposed to merely performing beauty regimens.
This approach requires therapists to rely heavily on intuition and observation to guide them. Rothwell explains, “It’s about feeling yourself and becoming involved with another human being, seeing the cues and listening. That, to me, is a lot more valuable than putting cream on somebody’s skin. Putting a balm on somebody’s soul could change them for eternity and even change next generations.”
Reflecting on the Future
The day before my departure, I sat down with Rothwell to learn more about the spa and get a few recipes for treatments that I can do at home with ingredients added to my grocery list (see sidebar). While discussing various techniques, treatments, and future plans for the spa, she says something that inspires personal reflection.
“You can’t stop aging 100 percent. All of these products claim to be anti-aging products; I’m not for anti-aging. Let me age! Let me get wrinkles. Let me live life. Why are we anti-it? I’m for aging, but let’s do it as gracefully as possible with what nature has given us. Part of this is your emotional health.” Her words are like an unavoidable mirror.
How could I forget all of those carefree days spent on the beach in my twenties? Even though they proved a bit tough on my skin, I wouldn’t trade them. And, I smile a lot because I lead a very happy and fulfilling life. The lines around my eyes are mere reminders that I choose to be vibrant versus vacant. Perhaps this clarity is merely a contrived, temporary pacifier, dispensed by omnipresent Mother Nature on Frégate. Who knows? But for future early morning glances in the mirror, I plan to have a new declaration: Wear sunscreen and drink more water.
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