We spend seven weeks on the dream island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The island is really a dream to relax, enjoy the beautiful beaches, go sailing or do other water sports. There are some nice excursions to waterfalls, the Black River Gorges National Park or the botanical garden in Pamplemousses. Otherwise, there is not too much to do. There are also no towns or villages worth seeing. The villages remind us of a mixture of India and Africa.
We use the time mainly to prepare for the Panamericana starting in Canada/Alaska in May.
Our first stop is in Bella Mare in the east of the island at the Hotel Attitude Sunrise. We stay for a week because the mandatory Covid tests are done at the hotel. The hotel offers excursions, cooking classes or other activities every day. In the evenings, local bands perform and create a good atmosphere. Attitude is a pleasant adult-only hotel with moderate prices and no aggressive entertainment.
The snorkelling excursions and the glass-bottom boat tour can definitely be done. Unfortunately, the corals are almost all bleached or dead.
We make small excursions near the hotel to get a little closer to the bizarrely shaped mountains, which is only partially successful.
We spend another week in La Gaulette on the southwest coast in a holiday flat. From here, there are most excursion possibilities.
We book a sailing trip from Black River with our friends from Vienna with barbecue, lots of drinks, snorkelling, swimming and meet a large school of dolphins.
We recommend a visit to the Black River Gorges National Park with the coloured earth in Chamarel and the turtle enclosure,
a waterfall and a hike with beautiful viewpoints.
The Rochester Falls near Suriname are very photogenic. They also invite you to take a swim.
On the way to Le Morne, the dangers of the road are pointed out in a sympathetic way.
Le Morne with its beautiful beaches and the striking 'Le Morne Brabant' is the epitome of Mauritius.
You could visit the underwater waterfall at Le Morne with a seaplane. But we do it with the drone:
A trip to this area is also worthwhile at sunset
In the northwest we rent a modern, new flat near Grand Baie. As it is much too hot for hiking, we keep fit with a 45-minute swim every morning. Most of the time we need for our Alaska/Canada planning and to process the many photos.
Of course we also visit the many small sandy beaches in our area.
A worthwhile excursion takes us to the botanical garden in Pamplemousses with many different species of trees and plants. It is advisable to take a guide, otherwise you will miss too many interesting things.
The 'shower heads' appear after flowering:
Beautifully designed ponds:
The imposing trees from all over the world:
The bats, which are roused from their sleep by our guide:
Here in the north we take another cool sailing trip to the Ile Plate Nature Reserve, where we visit two islands in the shallow water.
For the next ten days we head back to the southwest to Tamarin. Here we enjoy a daily swim on our small sandy beach.
An excursion to Port Louis is a must, but from our point of view there are few great sights to marvel at.
On the way there, we make a small detour to the Kailaisson Temple just outside Port Louis.
We spend New Year's Eve on Île aux Cerfs in a cool bubble hotel with only three 'bubbles'. We are taken by shuttle boat to the island, where we spend the afternoon on the beautiful private beach. We enjoy a delicious dinner on the romantic beach with only four other guests alone on the island.
We wish you all the best in 2022.
Until next year, when we hope to start the Panamericana in Canada/Alaska in May.
Now it's back to Switzerland for a month of skiing and cross-country skiing and then two months in Costa Rica.
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