Colourful Mauritius & Enchanting Rodrigues

It was a long journey to reach Mauritius with an overnight stay in Vancouver, followed by an overnight flight to Paris, and then another overnight flight to Mauritius. We booked a hotel near the Mauritius International Airport; it would become a hub for our flights to Reunion and to the Seychelles.

During our three days of partial jet lag recovery, we walked the local beaches, snorkeled Blue Bay, hiked Lion Mountain and wandered nearby Mahebourg.

It was a two bus trip to reach the trailhead for Lion Mountain (490m). The hike took about 4 hours and it was meant to contribute to our preparation for trekking in La Reunion. "fitsy.com" was a good resource for planning walks in Mauritius.

Blue Bay caters mostly to Mauritian day visitors and there were a couple of restaurants. The Blueberyl Guest House owners made delicious dinners on request. We accompanied the owners to a nearby supermarket on one occasion.

We flew to La Réunion for 2 weeks and returned to Blue Bay for a further 3 nights thereafter.

On our return from the Réunion trekking trip , Sheila wore a brace on her left ankle and the prospect of giant tortoises seemed to enhance the healing process The 30km trip to La Vanille Nature Park was three bus journey, so it took a while.

Giant tortoise once roamed freely on Mauritius but were brought to extinction by European sailors. Only the aldabra species remains, living in small sanctuaries such as La Vanille Nature Park.

It was onto the Seychelles from Mauritius for 2 1/2 weeks. On our return, we transferred to a domestic flight and went to the outer island of Rodrigues, 600km to the east.

We flew to Rodrigues for an 8 night stay and set ourselves up at a B&B at Pointe Coton. We were met a the airport and we arrived at our guest house in the dark. Whereas Mauritius has an "Indian" feel to it, Rodrigues is very much a creole island.

The walk from Pointe Coton to Graviers was riddled with beaches. It is a beautiful coastal hike.

Pointe Coton was a sleepy place. There was a small resort and a couple of other places to stay and eat. It was the terminus of a bus line.

We did a couple of days of diving with a French operated dive operation at the Coton Bay Hotel.

We went into Port Mathurin for the Saturday Market Day. We found it very welcoming. Roughly 90% of the people are creoles, descendants of Malagasy and African slaves. English is the official language of the island.

Graviers had nice beaches that came alive on Sundays. Everyone seemed smiley especially when they got into the water.

We made an excursion to Île aux Cocos, arranged by our B&B (taxi to the boat dock, boat trip, guide & lunch). It is a nature reserve with plenty of nesting noddies and terns.

It was another multi-bus journey to the other side of the island. We took the guided tour of the Francois Leguat Tortoise Park and caves. Once the guided aspect was over, we could spend as long as we wanted with the giant tortoises.

On our final morning, we caught the bus to airport and the flight back to Mauritius.

As we approached the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport (Mauritius), it provided perspectives on the island. Parts of Mauritius are densely populated, however there are also vast sugar cane fields and with volcanic mountains running throughout island. Indo-Mauritians make about 2/3 of the total population (Indians were brought in as cane workers). As a tourist, Mauritius felt like "India Light".

We booked 4 nights at an apartment in Moka, slightly above the capital, near the large, modern Bagatelle Mall.

We caught a bus from out front of the apartment and hiked up "Le Pouce" (812m)

Our next outing was a little more logistically complicated. We took a couple of inland buses to Pamplemousses to visit the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden.

From Pamplemousses, we caught a bus into the capital of Port Louis and had a look around.

Our last excursion from Moka was to reach the summit of Mont Deux Mamelles (584m) . We started in the sugar cane fields near Beau Bois.

From Moka, it was onto Flic-en-flac and its well known beach. We arrived on a Sunday and it was full-on.

Our last day excursion was to hike to the top of Le Morne Brabant (556m). It took a couple of hours in the warmth to reach the summit. The buses to the south western section of Mauritius were minimal, so we ended up hitching a ride part way back to Flic-en-flac.

From Flic-en-flac, we took a taxi, first to Blue Bay to collect a bag that we had left at Blueberyl Guest House, then to the airport and a series of long-haul flights back to Vancouver. The taxi that had been arranged by our landlord, was late and it added a stress factor to our relaxing stay on Mauritius. We checked our bags in, passed through immigration to a final boarding call for our flight to Paris. We managed to spend the last of our Mauritian rupees at a gift shop on the way to the airport gate.