Advertisement
Published: November 8th 2007
Edit Blog Post
We decided to go to Mauritius to visit a mate of ours from London, but due to a bit of a cock up with telephone numbers and dates, unfortunately he wasn't even on the island when we arrived! Determined to make the best of a bad job, and not knowing much about Mauritius, we scoured the web in search of information about places to stay and things to do here.
We finally settled on a little place towards the North of the island called Pereybere, and landed a pretty nice unit complete with all mod-cons, sea-views and a pet kitten?! At some point of the the bus journey from the airport to Pereybere, we wondered if we were even in Mauritius. It was almost like being in India with the huge Hindi population prominent in all the towns and villages we passed through. Our first impressions were far from what you see in the brochures! Unfortunately for us, Mother Nature wasn't very kind and we walked into the middle of an anti-cyclone caused as a result of the change in seasons. We expected beautiful sunshine and ended up with scattered showers and high humidity. Ah well, not to worry doesn't
Lotus Flower
Pamplemousses Botanical Garden need to be good when you go diving.
Yep, keen to get back under the water, we booked ourselves straight onto a double-tank dive with the little dive centre right underneath our unit. Because coral reef pretty much surrounds the whole of Mauritius, it creates a lagoon between the shore and the reef, and the water here is perfectly still and turquoisey green. As a result, the visibility is amazing getting up to 20 metres in places. We saw a lot of the same fishies we saw in Tofo but also saw some rarer varieties and a huge Moray Eel. Plus, it was warmer in the water than it was on the surface!
Global warming has really taken its toll on the island, and the local beach of Pereybere is now only about 2 metres wide and looks nothing like it does in the photos. Because of this, we decided to head over to a little island off the East coast called Ile Aux Cerfs which is rumoured to have the nicest beaches on the whole of Mauritius. The weather really sorted itself out when we needed it to and we scored an absolutely gorgeous day on the
island. For a measly 9 quid each we were collected from our unit, taken to the local port, ferried to the island, took a speedboat trip to a waterfall, then had a slap-up BBQ lunch complete with free booze. Bargain! This island really does live up to its reputation and the white sands and turquoise water make it a true paradise destination.
On another one of the crappy weather days we caught a local bus to check out the Pamplemousse Botanical Gardens. If you're into your flowers and landscapes there is plenty to keep you amused here. Apart from the prehistoric giant tortoises there is also a pond filled with the biggest lily pads in the world (originally from the Amazon) and a few other interesting flora related things all around the gardens. We took it as an opportunity to pack a picnic lunch and hang out with the local birds that occupy the area.
The shopping in Mauritius is appalling and all the clothing and souveneirs seem to have been here since the 1980's. If you're a fan of tye-dye and brightly coloured hideous floral designs then this is the place for you!
With the weather
Giant Lily Pads
Pamplemousses Botanical Garden bad again, we headed back under the water to the deepest depth we've explored so far - 19 metres. This dive site was massive and had some really funky corals and fish. We were enjoying ourselves so much that Sal forgot to check her air and very nearly ran out before she got to the surface. Dramas!
In a nutshell, I am sure that Mauritius is great if you stay in one of the many 5 star hotels and resorts but from a backpackers point of view, it's not exactly tourist friendly, and if the weathers bad and you don't dive, you're gonna struggle to find things to do. As the title of our blog suggests, this is our last stop in our OS adventures. It's been a good seven months of tripping around but it is time to seek the normality of Australian life, but before hitting the Sunny Coast of Queensland which we are soon to call home - It's off to Perth to see how things are done on the West side!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.053s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0315s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
David and Niks
non-member comment
hope youa re having fun
Hey Guys despite the few trouble it still sounds like you are having fun and loving the whole thing. not long left now wow hared to believe. be sure to keep us updated when you get home cheers David and Niki