Zil Pasyon: The Island Dream of Mukesh Valabhji & Kishore Buxani

 From the 1970s until 2007 Félicité Island in the Seychelles laid dormant, populated only by the abandoned remains of a coconut plantation.

Located within Seychelles’ inner islands, Félicité was secluded while remaining conveniently close to its neighbouring islands and was well known for its stunning views & nature. It was no surprise when international luxury resort brand Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas announced they were coming to Félicité Island. 

In August 2007 the Seychelles government granted a 99-year lease on Félicité Island – also known as Zil Pasyon (or "island of passion" in the local Seychellois Creole language), to a group of investors who aimed to build a luxurious world-class resort and residential villas. The project initially stalled for several years due to the 2008 global financial crisis, leading to a halt in construction. In 2013 a new pair of investors became involved, restarting development. 

One man was Singaporean real-estate mogul Kishore Buxani, a former Goldman Sachs banker and the founder and CEO of Buxani Group, a Singapore-based private investment group focused on investing in real estate and businesses globally. His partner was Mukesh Valabhji, a fourth-generation Seychellois entrepreneur & the owner of Intelvision, the dominant telephone, cable television and broadband Internet provider in the Seychelles, alongside numerous other businesses in the telecom, financial & real-estate fields that Mr Valabhji founded over the past 40 years. The two men had worked together previously on multiple property investments in Singapore throughout the early 2000s. In just three years, they were able to open Six Senses Zil Pasyon to the public in 2016. 

Six Senses Zil Pasyon offers guests 33 villas and residences ranging in size from 175 sq.m to a palatial 1,416 sq.m, all conveniently located a 20-minute helicopter flight from Mahé or a 20-minute speedboat trip from Praslin Island. Guests are ensconced by tropical vegetation and vistas of the ocean shoreline with massive granite boulders. The warm tropical weather of the Seychelles ensures that any time of year will be a pleasant time to visit. 

Unlike many other luxury resorts, ecology is at the heart of the Six Senses mission on Zil Pasyon. Instead of re-engineering the island’s unique ecosystem, the resort has taken steps to enhance and restore what was previously devastated by monocultural coconut farming. Non-endemic ornamental plants have been discarded in favour of indigenous varieties, and an entire team has dedicated years of work to the complete removal of invasive, non-indigenous plant species like coco plum from the island. The aim is to facilitate the return of endemic birds, including the Seychelles Magpie Robin, Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher, Seychelles Whiteye, Seychelles Warbler and Seychelles Fody to the island. 

Now only in its sixth year of full operation, Six Senses Zil Pasyon is just coming into its own as one of the world’s premier luxury vacation destinations. Even more felicitous, returning guests will get to see the reintroduction of local wildlife, as well as the complete rehabilitation of a unique ecosystem alongside their eminently luxurious vacations.

Zil Pasyon: The Island Dream of Mukesh Valabhji & Kishore Buxani (bangkokpost.com)