Coco de Mer, Seychelles: Buying One and Vallée de Mai

A coco de mer is not a coconut you can pick up from a beach and pack. Every nut sits inside a legal system that has treated the seed as a controlled national resource since at least 1978, because poaching is the main thing standing between the palm forest and its next generation. That system, not airport customs, decides what you can take home.

Why is a coco de mer controlled at all?

The palm, Lodoicea maldivica, grows wild only on Praslin and neighbouring Curieuse, according to both the Ministry responsible for the environment and the Seychelles Islands Foundation. It produces the largest seed in the plant kingdom. SIF's figures explain why losses hurt: a nut takes five to six years to mature on the tree, weighs up to 20 kg, and needs three to six months to germinate after it falls; a palm reaches maturity somewhere between 15 and 50 years and can live more than 200 years. Kew gives up to 25 kg for the heaviest seeds and put the wild population at about 8,000 mature palms in 2020.

Each nut removed illegally is a seedling that never grows. UNESCO's listing states that illegal removal of the seeds "is a serious problem that affects future regeneration" and that the forest is kept going by collecting and planting seeds "before they are stolen and sold." In the site's 2021 periodic report, Seychelles described poaching of the seed as "still the most challenging illegal activity our property has to face."

The money explains the poaching. The Ministry's page says the kernel is valued in oriental medicine and dried nuts are sold to tourists as a curiosity. Kew reported in 2020 that single nuts were selling for £500 to £2,000.

Official sources disagree on the threat category: the Ministry's page says Vulnerable, while Kew's 2020 article says Endangered on the IUCN Red List. The Kew figure is the more recent of the two.

What the law requires, and what we could not confirm

The core statute is the Coco-de-Mer (Management) Decree. The Ministry's legislation downloads page lists it in the 1994 revised edition (Chapter 37) together with the Coco-de-Mer (Management) (Amendment) Act 17 of 2015, and both titles appear on SeyLII's legislation list. IUCN's 1983 evaluation for UNESCO describes the earlier 1978 decree this way: collection of nuts "is controlled by law" and "their commercialisation is a government monopoly," with a registration system for nuts that are sold.

That is as far as the official record we could read goes. The Ministry's links to both legal texts returned errors on 27 September 2026, and SeyLII did not serve the documents. So we cannot confirm, from the law itself:

• the exact name of the document that must travel with an exported nut (certificate, permit or both);
• which office issues it, and whether it is issued automatically with a sale;
• whether a separate fee is charged, and how much;
• the current fines and penalties. The 2021 UNESCO report adds that the decree was then "outdated in regards to the fines and penalties."

We also found nothing on coco de mer in the Seychelles Revenue Commission's customs brochure for passengers or its 2023 prohibited and restricted goods regulations, which deal with imports. That silence does not make an uncertified nut legal; it means the control sits in the coco de mer legislation.

Where can you buy one legitimately?

SIF, a public trust set up by the government in 1979 that manages both of Seychelles' natural World Heritage sites, is the one seller whose legitimacy we can document. Its Vallée de Mai page says the visitor-centre shop "does sell coco de mer nuts that have the appropriate certification", that nuts are also sold at the SIF head office in Victoria (subject to availability), and that there are a variety of souvenir shops on all the inner islands. SIF's contact page gives the head office as the La Ciotat building, Mont Fleuri, Victoria (+248 4321 735, info@sif.sc), which is the Mahé option if you are not going to Praslin.

Stock is not guaranteed. SIF warns that the shop may have none "due to our sustainable forest regeneration scheme", which means some nuts are left to germinate rather than sold. The 1983 evaluation recorded the same principle in an earlier form: every four to five years, nuts were not collected so the forest could regenerate. Buying from SIF also funds the reserve; SIF says its income comes primarily from Vallée de Mai entrance fees and sales.

Your choices, in practice:

SIF did not publish a nut price on its visitor page, so budget by asking at the counter. A large seed is heavy and bulky, so ask your airline about the extra weight before you commit.

Visiting the Vallée de Mai on Praslin

The reserve is on Praslin, not on Mahé, where Victoria is. UNESCO inscribed it in 1983; the property covers 19.5 ha inside the 300 ha Praslin National Park and holds the world's largest population of the palm, alongside five other endemic palm species.

According to SIF's visitor information:

• Entrance: SCR 450, covering all facilities and services at the site.
• Hours: 8:30 to 16:30, last entry 15:30.
• Closed: 25 December and 1 January only.
• Tickets: at the visitor-centre ticket office; independent guides also offer tours.

SIF last revised its prices from 6 March 2023, its announcement says, the first revision in about 20 years, and it noted a discount of about 10% for tickets bought online. The visitor page we read did not show a separate child rate, so ask at the ticket office if you are travelling with children. The 2021 UNESCO report recorded roughly 99,000 to 119,000 visitors a year, and says "revenues collected are used to partially finance the operation of the property."

Before you fly, confirm what else Seychelles asks of departing and arriving visitors in our Seychelles travel authorisation guide. If a seller cannot show you the certification for a nut, do not buy it; the SIF head office in Victoria can tell you which paperwork a legal nut should carry.