Port Louis, Mauritius

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We arrived early morning and walked into town (which took about 15 minutes) rather than take the ferry, just to see a little of the local life. In the event, our seeking of an internet cafe took us to a shopping centre close to where our fellow passengers were arriving. M did the internet stuff whilst D took a few beers on the waterfront with a fellow passenger from Wales.

Mauritius is an independent country in Africa. The republic of Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands, a group of islands created by volcanic activity in the Indian Ocean. The Republic of Mauritius includes the main island of Mauritius and the island of Rodrigues to the east of Mauritius, as well as many smaller islands and archipelagos. The Republic of Mauritius thus includes the North Island and South Island of Agalega and the island of Tromelin - France also claims the territory of this island. There are also the Cargados Carajos (Saint Brandon), an archipelago, and the Chagos Archipelago which comprise 58 islands of which the largest is Diego Garcia.The Mascarene Islands also include the various islands of Mauritius as well as the island of Réunion which is our next port of call. The island was named ‘Mauritius’ in honour of Prince Maurice van Nassau by the Dutch explorers who landed on the island in 1598.

We returned to MSVG and lined up for the 'Mauritius - South of the Island' ship's tour and weren't disappointed. Once everyone was on board, our coach meandered down the west coast and then turned inland to the fabulous Chamarel Waterfall. This is the highest waterfall on Mauritius and plunges more than 100 meters down against a scenic backdrop of forests and mountains. Next we journeyed to Chamarel’s 'Terres des Sept Couleurs' ( Land of the Seven Coloured Earths). The area provides a unique opportunity to discover millions of years of history through its geology. The land is covered with of various volcanic sands in seven different hues (approximately red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple and yellow). The main feature of the place is that as these differently coloured sands settle in different layers so the dunes acquire an out of this world, striped colouring. Since the earth was first exposed, rains have carved beautiful patterns into the hillside, creating a magical effect.

We travelled up into the mountains in the south west of the island passing more waterfalls and volcanic craters as we went until we reached the Grand Bassin (lake and Hindu temple). We missed the main annual ceremony by 3 days only. The sacred lake also called Ganga Talao represents the mighty Ganges river of India and is surrounded by colourful Hindu temples and gods. Grand Bassin was discovered by Pandit Jhummon Giri Gossagne Nepal who lived in a village in the North of the island called Triolet. The Hindu priest had a dream and in his dream he saw a holy lake which was connected to the sacred river Ganges in India. Grand Bassin is a crater lake about 550 meters above sea level with a depth of between 50 and 55 feet. In 1972 a priest from India brought sacred water from the Ganges and amid much ceremonial poured the holy water into the lake. From then on the lake would be known as Ganga Talao. Ganga for Ganges and 'Talao' means 'pool'.

We proceeded to the town of Curepipe (which means Pipecleaner in French) where M procured her mandatory T Shirt . The town is so named because when people used to ride across the island, they would stop here, change their horses and clean their smoking pipes. We finished our fairly long tour with the finest volcanic crater of all - Le Trou des Cerfs (“the hole of the deers”- literally 'Deer's Arse' )- which is spectacular for being 200 metres in diameter and 100 metres deep. This enormous volcanic crater created the island. Now cloaked in trees, this giant hole is now a bird sanctuary.

We returned to the MSVG for our onward journey to Reunion. Our only observation was that Mauritius was flatter than we expected and whilst pleasant, not as spectacular as we anticipated. M was fascinated that although the official language is English - and everyone speaks it - the only lingo we heard anywhere was French or Patois!

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