Port Louis, Mauritius

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After two days at sea, having left the Seychelles with a whole new direction and itinerary, we spent time working out the details of a possible safari with Norm Pieters and the other six. It was a bit challenging for Norm as he was coordinating and putting everything together with his son in their Florida office via his phone, texting and email. Things were coming together but he needed to be sure we were all committed. The ship was still working on several things, so they did keep us in the loop, but in the final analysis, the eight of us all felt that Norm’s deal was definitely the best, most reasonable and easiest, as we had a charter flight from Richard’s Bay directly to the Mala Mala Camp airstrip. He felt this was one of the best game reserve camps in the entire Krueger Park area.

On the evening of the 4th, we were signed up to attend Jimbo’s Diner in the La Veranda Restaurant. It’s a diner dress-up event, but not the dress-up you might think. The photos offer the best description. Annette decided to dine in the room tonight, so Doug went. We went to one of these on last years’ cruise.

We arrived in Port Louis, Mauritius about 7:00am and were signed-up for the limited capacity (eight of us) “On the Way to Les Mariannes” tour that departed the ship about 8:30. When the new tours for the unexpected ports were announced, we hopped on our selections right away.

Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. Port Louis is the capital of Mauritius, its largest city of the country and the main port. Based on the 2003 census, it has about 150,000 people. Port Louis was founded by the French in about 1735, and is named in honor of King Louis XV. One of the most popular attractions is the country’s national derby called Champ de Mars, which is the oldest racecourse (1812) in the Indian Ocean and the 2nd oldest in the Southern Hemisphere.

The island of Mauritius is renowned for having been the only known home of the dodo. The strange looking bird was first sighted by the Europeans around 1600 on Mauritius, and became extinct less than 80 years later. They are still big souvenir attractions.

The main languages spoken are Mauritian Creole, French and English. English is the only official language but the lingua franca is Creole, and the newspapers and television programs are usually in French. The majority of the population is Indian, and this is the only African nation where the largest religion is Hinduism, although Christianity and Islam also have significant populations.

After leaving the port in our small bus, we stopped at a local market in Goodlands, a town of about 10,000 people. An interesting market, as they all are, but Doug found a vendor and bought a couple pairs of light cargo pants for $10 each. We then stopped at Mrs. Buleeram’s basketry shop, where we watched as she sat in a small dimly lit room filled with handmade baskets, etc. and weaving materials and did her finger magic, weaving her next creation.

We then took a short drive to Mr. Selva’s vanilla nurseries, where we walked around the nursery. We also got to taste his famous “Vanilla Alouda” a typical Mauritius drink and bought several packages of vanilla beans to bring home. We then walked to a very colorful Hindu Temple next door.

We then drove to Eureka where we stopped at a finely restored colonial house from the mid 1800’s, which was formerly a plantation. It had beautiful antique furniture from the period and was surrounded by the Moka mountain range. After a guided tour of the house we were treated to a fabulous Mauritian/Indian style lunch on the porch, served by the lady that oversees the property. Our next stop was in Les Mariannes for a stop at Mr. Deepak’s, a pineapple planter. We got a brief tour of his pineapple field and a demonstration of how to properly cut a pineapple. After we all tasted some of their homegrown pineapple, we headed for our last stop in Pereybere at ‘galerie de Moulin Casse’, an old sugar mill that is now the gallery and home of Mrs. Diane Henry, a well known photographer, due to her special production techniques. After thanking her for this special visit and viewing, we headed back to the ship, having a very nice tour that we know was set up with very short notice.

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Photos

Welcome to Jimbo's
A colorful and fun evening. Put on four nights so many can attend.

Jamie and Dana
Jamie (Jimbo), our Cruise Director and Dana, his wife, Asst. Cruise Director welcome everyone at the door.

Roseanne
Our bridge instructor.

Maureen
Assistant bridge instructor and looks like she's been fooling around.

Evy the Waitress
Evy is Jimbo's typical waitress with Catherine and Kerry on each side.

Glenmore and Suzanne
Our resident spies...we almost didn't recognize Suzanne.

Kevin and Manuella
Kevin, our Cruise Specialists representative and Manuela, the ship's Head Concierge having some good clean fun!

Kerry and Pat
Smile Pat.

Evy Serving Up Some Champagne
Like some bubbly Kerry?

Dana and Norm
Norm is the guy getting our safari together. He doesn't really look like that.

Dana Posing
Dana gives us her best pose.

The Entertainers
Part of the entertaining cast having a good time.

Main Street in Goodlands
Our first stop on todays' tour is in Goodlands, a small town with a colorful Hindu temple and active market.

The Market
An interesting covered market doesn't provide much light, but it's packed with vendors selling almost everything.

The Changing Room
Doug found a couple pairs of cargo pants but because of the strange sizing systems they have in this part of the world, you have to try things on. So, he had to do it right in the marketplace, and Annette catches him. They fit...and $10 a piece! a

Colorful Baskets
A collection of handmade baskets at Mrs. Bulareem's basketry shop.

Mrs Bulareem at Work
She weaves these baskets in this small dimly lit room.

More Color
Basket and flowers accent this painted wall outside the basketry shop.

Nice Lady
Mrs. Bulareem comes out to give us a tour of her place and show us how she gets, stores and dries the long leaves that she uses to weave her baskets.

Vanilla Nursery
A lot of vanilla beans growing on the vines. He grows herbs and plants other than vanilla as well.

Vanilla Plant
We walked through Mr Selva's nursery This is a growing vanilla plant. a