Whilst it might be considered a dirty word in many airlines these days, ffs, guys & gals there's this thing known as AIRMANSHIP !!!
There was certainly a mistake by ATC (for not picking up on the incorrect read back, by EK). That said, there was a lot of pertinent information being passed by ATC, though none of it was evidently picked up and / or acted upon by the EK crew (and / or the Seychelles crew... assuming that the latter were on frequency?)... and one would surmise, from their transmissions, that ATC were passing a big clue wrt opposite direction traffic (albeit EK were evidently not 'listening to' and / or interpreting upon that).
So perhaps instead of sitting there fat, dumb, and happy, try instead listening-up to what's going on around you (especially when climbing & descending), i.e. try forming your own 'mental radar' picture / 'Situational Awareness' of where other aircraft are and where they are going to / where they are cleared to, and TCAS - when used in 'tactical mode', assuming you have it? - can often help here too... none of it's exactly f'ing rocket science, is it ?!