Mauritius – A land of Struggle, Colors, Sea and Sand

First thing that hit me was the colors, the colors of the green belt and the vividness of it all. But maybe it was because I was stuck in a plane for around 8 hours! Landed in Mauritius in the afternoon and it took more than an hour to reach the north beach side where our resort was located, the Trou Aux Biches. Trou Aux Biches appeared to be a quaint town with a beach line, some resorts, a small community and pine trees! Had a stroll along the shore on my first day there and found that the blue water had lots of surfers, some beach sports, paddle boats n sails, pretty as a picture!

My second day there took me to the South Island. Mauritius is mainly segregated as north island n south island. South Island - took us more than an hour to reach our destination...the volcanic crater at Curepipe. Hidden within a deep gorge, this crater has been dormant since 6000 years and is filled with water which is usual for dormant volcanoes. We also got to visit the Chamarel village, where there is a waterfall and a sand dune of seven colors! We learnt about ship making too, at a ship making factory!

 

Volcanic crater at Curepipe

 

Chamarel waterfall

 

7 colored earth

Some facts of Mauritius I learnt during the day:

Mauritius, officially known as the Republic of Mauritius, is an island of volcanic origin, which explains the interesting elevations of mountain ranges, waterfalls and cliffs.

Dodo is the national bird despite it being extinct, as a tribute to the bird. Mauritius was the only home of Dodos which got extinct during the Dutch rule as it was easy to hunt.
Ethnicities such as African, French, Asian and Chinese reside in this country, so everybody feel at home here!

National flag has red, blue, yellow and green. Red as a tribute to the struggle of blacks, blue for the Indian ocean , yellow for the independence and the sun and green for its lush vegetation.

Major economy runners are sugarcane which is grown in plenty (you find them all through the island), diamonds imported from South Africa and designed here and ship making since this also was a major port.
South also boasts of the world’s second biggest statue of Lord Shiva, Shivrathri is celesport with pomp and glory. There is a statue of Shiva here known as Mangal Mahadev as he does not hold the Dumru, nor has the 3rd eye; he has a smile on his face. There is a crater lake beside the statue known as Ganga Talao due to the fact that Indira Gandhi had got lots of water from Ganga and poured it in here. On the way to this place we saw the Black River Gorges National Park.

 

Ganga Talao

History of Mauritius: first occupied by Arabs, this island has seen many invaders. The Portuguese followed, seeing its potential as an important port to refresh before reaching Africa.  Then came the Dutch who all but destroyed the land plundering it for its ebony trees. Slavery was the norm there and soon the Dutch abandoned the island due to cyclones (unfavorable south west winds), drought, cattle illness and poor harvests. During this time the dodos were exploited as they were easy to catch (they could not fly) and were tasty. The dodo soon became extinct.
The French, who arrived next, did not cause more harm but due to the deplorable conditions here, left soon after. Then came the British who brought in some progress, many Indians were migrated during this time, as there was a shortage of sugarcane field workers, and one can see a lot of Indian influences here. Indian food is cooked superbly here and the people enjoy Hindi movies. Hindi songs are widely played here!
Indians are accepted and treated so graciously here, as part of their own...maybe that is because Indians are a vital part of Mauritians. There is even a day, November 2^nd, to commemorate the immigration of the first Indians who came to work in sugarcane fields.

The North Island – the most important of this part of Mauritius is Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius. There is a waterfront which is a replica of the waterfront of Cape town, Africa. The Le Caudan waterfront is interesting to explore! The north also includes the Fort Adelaide (also known as La Citadelle) built by the British. It offers a view of Port Louis and its harbor.

 

View from La Citadelle

 

Caudan waterfront

 

Port Louis harbor

Ile Aux Cerfs - the most beautiful island around here. It’s a privately owned island (owned by the Touessrok Hotel ) and only a part of it is open to the public where they have water sports, a pretty place to swim, changing rooms and a restaurant to eat!

On the way to the eastern coast (where Ile Aux Cerfs is located) is the Bella Mare beach where we enjoyed our sea walk activity! They take us away from the shore in a speed boat (which is total fun!) to a boat equipped for it. We climb down from the docked boat into the sea where they placed a glass helmet around our face and take us for a walk on the sea floor to see the coral reef and the fishes. Priced a bit high, but if you have not done it before, it’s worth it! They even click your photos and provide them in a CD at an extra cost!

 

Bella Mare

We then went to another beach to get transferred to the ile by a speed boat, exhilarating ride, scary as an amusement park ride! Speed boats are maintained very well.
Once at Ile Aux Cerfs, we were again transferred to a platform for parasailing. I had a wonderful time high above as the winds were quite high that day. Back to the beach to enjoy a pizza at the restaurant and enjoying the sight of the water, wish we had more time to laze around but we had pre-booked to go round the island and see a waterfall. The ride was again on a speed boat n we braced ourselves for a back jarring ride as the water was choppy due to high winds. They take you up close to the waterfall and it’s a great experience if you like going up close to a waterfall. If you have experienced waterfalls up close and played under it quite often and are not so excited about another waterfall, then I recommend that you skip this. Instead you can pay and play any other water sports or enjoy the beach!
Ile Aux Cerfs is again a little more than an hour away from north island (everything seems an hour away from the north island).

Grand Baie: closest place to hang out around Trou Aux Biches, its about 15-20 minutes from here. We went by bus, the conductor seemed to understand us perfectly and was helpful when we asked him to let us know when our stop arrives. Grand baie seemed to be a posh area and none of the shops seemed to give out a fair price (or atleast what seemed fair for us!) despite them offering discounts!

We stayed at Casuarina Resort & Spa: a big hotel, good service and hospitality. There is a beach right opposite to the resort and they even offer some free activities like paddle boat, glass bottom boat and kayaking. You can even do parasailing and water skiing, but tats not free!
There are other water, under-water activities around here like scuba diving n blue safari.

Casela Nature Park - Famous for its lion encounter activities, Casela was on my must-places-to-go list. We went there mainly for the lion interaction, but we saw many birds, peacocks, zebras, emus and ostriches up-close-and-personal. During the lion interaction we were grouped into a group of 10 people who had to stick together, we had a few instructions given to us before entering their enclosure that we had to stick to. There were about 3 lions in the enclosure and I got to pat one of them! It was a heady experience!! There were also other activities in the park such as ziplining and quad biking but due to limited time and availability (we had to catch our flight in the eve) I was unable to do it! We went of a photo safari where animals such as emus, ostriches and zebras came running upto us and it was pretty sight! So I even got to pat a zebra! Casela turned out to a lot of fun!!