Port Louis, Mauritius – March 25

Port Louis, Mauritius – March 25

Mauritius is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 1,200 mi off the southeast coast of the African continent. The country includes the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues.

This was our first visit here and I booked a South Island tour. http://www.visitemaurice.com/south-tour/

Today we were joined by Sultan & Lou, Horst & Mark and Tina & Ken. Super group of friends today. 

The storm seemed to be moving away and we felt very lucky that we got to make port today. It had been a bit bumpy the last couple of days, but not too bad for most of us.

 sail in

There were dancers and drummers performing as we left the ship. 

A young man came to welcome us and said that the van was coming in to pick us up. We went over the itinerary and discussed lunch options. (not all of it made it to the driver & guide)

Our driver was Anil and he seemed to know the “program”. Our guide was Sandia and she was sweet, but she consulted the driver several times on what we were doing next. We aren’t complaining about any aspect of the tour as we didn’t pay for a guided tour, but merely transportation so anything she told us was a bonus. (It was $15. per person for the entire day)

 Our first task was to go to an ATM for local rupees for lunch and admissions. Traffic in the city was bumper to bumper. We went to Phoenix Mall where we were able to get our cash. The other 3 couples had issues with their cards, so we did some lending back and forth. That task finished we headed south. 

 murals inside the Phoenix Mall

Our first stop was at Trou aux Cerfs a  volcanic crater. Unfortunately, it had started to rain so it wasn’t overly scenic. It is millions of years old and measures almost 1,000 feet in diameter. Greg got some photos before it started to rain. I’m sure in better weather it would have been beautiful.

extinct volcano - Greg got the shot just minutes before it started to pour

We had a couple of surprise stops. One was for rum tasting and it was in a store with clothing labels that we can buy at home. We tasted the rum and it wasn’t great and no one bought any.

Voiliers de l’Ocean was the next stop and it demonstrated how craftsmen make 18^th century ship models out of teakwood. It was quite interesting to watch how that was done. Of course, it finished in their huge gift shop. I got my token magnet. As a side note, while I was waiting to pay for the magnet a guy on a Princess tour was asking the sales lady if she has ever visited Madagascar. She said “no” and he responds “don’t go, it’s too poor. The poverty there is terrible.” After he left, I told the lady that what he said was ignorant and rude. It was beautiful, and the people were kind and gracious. I also told her that so far, it’s been my favorite stop. She seemed pleased to hear that for some reason.

The guide asked if we wanted a stop to buy diamonds and we all said no. 

We continued on to Grand Bassin and stopped to take a photo of the largest lake on the way.

 

 small portion of the Grand Bassin Holy Lake

Grand Bassin is the Holy Lake and the Jain Hindu Temple that is built around it. The Holy Lake is in the crater of an extinct volcano. This holy site is where many Hindu Mauritian people make a pilgrimage to gather during the Maha Shivaratree Hindu festival. It was beautiful and peaceful there. We have visited Jain temples before and they are always colorful and interesting. Before going all the way to the temple, we stopped to take photos of the HUGE statue of Shiva. 

entering the Grand Bassin the Holy Lake and the Jain Hindu Temple complex

Then we went to lunch. The young man at the start of the day suggested we try the local food served on banana leaves and I said that sounded great. However, we were taken to a regular restaurant which was good, so I was only slightly disappointed that we didn’t get the other place. I had prawns in coconut curry sauce and Greg had fish creole. Both were very tasty.

 

  

We then went to Chamarel, a geological phenomenon resulting from volcanic activity and erosion. Actually, we went to La Vallee des Couleurs Nature Park. Earlier on in the day we were presented with a choice to make. We were scheduled to go to the land of 7 colors, but the guide said there was also a park that has 23 colors and more things to do. I wish that had been explained when I booked the tour, so I could have researched them both to make a more informed opinion. We all agreed to do the 23 colors. It was more expensive than the 7 colors and we told her we needed to know how much so when we went to the ATM we’d get enough cash. That also would have been a good time to explain the cost of the different options once we got there so we could have had enough local currency. Once we went inside, they sat us down and gave us the “sales pitch”. We could choose to ride in dune buggies, zipline, Luge, suspension bridge and a few other options. We all just wanted to walk around the park and see the colors, so no one wanted the upsell, just the general admission. The weather held out with no rain, so we were able to follow the trails and see the waterfalls, the colored sand dunes, visited tortoises, saw some deer and a few other critters. I’m sure the colors would have been more spectacular if the sun had been shining, but it still was very interesting. 

  

 

 

 

 Madagascar Turtle-Dove

 Common Waxbill

We sat outside of the restaurant and had a cold drink and I picked up a colorful Dodo bird, since this is one of the few places where it used to live. 

Our last stop was at the Black River Gorge. It had started to rain a bit again, but the Gorge was obliterated in fog. We did get a brief look as the fog cleared slightly before clouding over again. We did see an adorable monkey family which made the stop worthwhile. It was raining a bit harder but was gone as we got closer back to the port. It didn’t look like it rained much or at all in town.

They then (at our request) stopped at a grocery store called Winners. People picked up the local beer, wine and snacks to take back on the ship. 

  

Back on the ship I used my cell phone as a hotspot and uploaded about 5 albums of photos. I was hoping to finish the rest the evening we were in Reunion Island, but our signal wasn’t strong enough to do that. Maybe in Durban or Cape Town. 

The ship had a culture show tonight. I had tried to book an evening dinner on land with the Sega dancing, but I didn’t find anything that seemed to work online. I was pleased to see that the ship had a Sega folkloric show scheduled. Sega dance is a fusion of Madagascar’s ritual music and the mainland of Africa. This local group did a Mauritian twist on this style of dance signifying joy and liveliness. 

It was a great performance and they started with the traditional style with the women wearing the white dresses. Then, they finished with the more modern style in the lovely colorful dresses. What a fun show!

Then, it was early to bed for our visit to Reunion Island and I have a large group of 24. Yikes!

Port Louis Mauritius –  https://photos.app.goo.gl/owFCbytq3knMBowMA