Mixed up in Mauritius
Mauritius - November, 2007
Mauritius is a wonderful mixed up island. Despite sitting off the African coast it feels more like India. The locals speak Creole, English, Chinese and several Indian dialects and are passionate about English football and brew their own Guinness. Towns and signs are in French but they drive on the left. The island is covered in prehistoric mountains and the sugar cane is picked by hand but they have their own airline and banks.
You could easily believe you had flown back in time and were landing on a prehistoric island
The first thing you notice about Mauritius is how beautiful it is. As you approach the runway you fly over dramatic volcanic mountains surrounded by swaying green fields of sugar cane. You could easily believe you had flown back in time and were landing on a prehistoric island instead of one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.
The volcanic earth may be fertile and the climate perfect for growing sugar cane but the fields that cover the island are entrenched with boulders making it impossible to harvest by machine. Due to the heat workers start at 4 am in order to be finished before midday and it's becoming harder to find people willing to undertake this gruelling work. Combined with the fact that sugar is not the popular commodity it once was and with cheaper Cuban sugar keeping the prices low, the island's economy is rapidly changing.
Tourism has now pushed the plantations to the No.2 position with textile manufacturing and fishing following on behind. It is rumoured that if tourism keeps growing at the current rate tourists will outnumber residents 2:1 in the next ten years and when you think that the island has a population of 1.2 million that's a lot of visitors.
Mauritius is often referred to as the 'Jewel of the Indian Ocean' and lies next to Madagascar off the South African coast. It might be closer to Africa but the island has a very Indian feel. Over 50% of the population is Hindu and most are descendents of Indians transported across the ocean to work on the first plantations. The remainder of the population is made up of Christian, Muslim, Buddhists, Sikhs and Tamils and every town has churches, mosques and colourful temples.
With great weather, direct flights, an insignificant time difference and 330 km of white coral beaches it's easy to understand why so many people choose to holiday here. The hardest part is deciding where to stay. The West coast below the capital of St Louis is relatively unspoilt and has the added beauty of amazing sunsets. The North end of the island is the original tourist hot spot and hotels sit side by side along the coastline from St Louis all the way round the top to Grand Baie and beyond.
The East is the most exclusive and home to several deluxe hotels hidden inside large estates although they have the disadvantage of being both isolated and windy. The South, as well as being closer to the airport, gets more rain but the island is small so regardless of where you stay, it will take less than two hours to reach your hotel.
Once settled it's extremely hard to pull yourself away from the amazing clear blue sea. The coral reef that almost surrounds the island sits 200 metres out causing an unusual double wave effect with the main waves crashing against the reef before gently rolling up to the beach. The waters are therefore perfect for swimming parallel to the shoreline although the tide can be so strong that you might find yourself swimming in the one spot which is extremely amusing.
Luckily the island is perfect for exploring in half day trips. As you drive around Mauritius the first thing that strikes you, despite being on the left hand side, is that the place names and road signs are in French. The French colonised the island after the Portuguese and the Dutch and after the French came the turn of the British who gave the island its independence in 1968.
The official language may be English but Mauritian Creole is more widely used and is an island slant on French with words like bonjour and merci being translated to bonzour and merzi. Although the French had a huge influence on the language it appears the British left their own unique mark - football.
...gives you a glimpse of the real Mauritius as you pass through plantations and small villages that lie off the beaten track.
We didn't expect to see so many English football shirts and there is even a town, just North of Port Louis, called Arsenal with its own football team and a shop called The Gunners. During our stay Liverpool played Porto and it was all our driver could talk about. Even the midnight kick off, due to the four hour time difference, didn't phase him but thankfully Liverpool won 4-1 so he was very happy when we met him the following day.
A popular place to visit in the North is the botanical gardens of Pamplemousse. The garden's origins date back to 1735 and covers 60 acres and unless you have a whole day to explore it's recommended you accompany one of the local guides who are experts in pointing out the highlights in under an hour. The gardens are stunning to walk round with different shaped ponds filled with tropical lilies and shady walkways under enormous palm trees. But make sure you leave enough time to meet the giant turtles.
Afterwards you may wish to visit the island's busy commercial hub of Port Louis but although the old fish, meat and fruit markets are interesting and the newly regenerated harbour area, reminiscent of Cape Town's V&A, is a pleasant place to stop for lunch and do some duty free shopping there isn't much else to see.
Mauritius is a duty free haven with outlets scattered all over the island and you can buy anything from designer clothes, diamonds, rugs and every other kind of Indian craft. The island has put in place a clever system whereby small duty free purchases are delivered to the airport for collection on the day you leave. However, in order to ensure that it's only the tourists that take advantage of the tax free prices you collect your goods after you've passed through security.
Once you've escaped the shops a trip to the South is where you will discover the island's volcanoes and waterfalls. Near the town of Curepipe, sits the volcano Trou aux Cerfs where you can look down inside the tree covered crater but it's the panoramic views that makes the visit worthwhile.
From here the next stop is Grand Bassin, one of the island's two natural lakes located 550 metres above sea level in the crater of another extinct volcano. The sacred lake is an important pilgrimage site and many Mauritian Hindus walk here from all over the island during the Maha Shivaratri festival.
At the entrance you are greeted by a 30 metre high statue of Lord Shiva and next to the lake other brightly coloured Hindu gods await worshippers and monkeys. Visitors are allowed inside the main temple and for a small donation you can be blessed and have your forehead painted as a reminder of your visit. However, once you leave you may feel slightly self-conscious particularly when you bump into other 'blessed' holidaymakers and realise you may have fallen into a tourist trap.
...different shaped ponds filled with tropical lilies and shady walkways under enormous palm trees.
Further South is the Black Water Gorge, a national park covering 6,575 hectares and created in 1994 to protect the island's remaining forests. A short stroll through the forest brings you to a viewing area where you can admire the dark green gorge and its waterfalls but the main attraction lies at the bottom of the valley where you will find an 83 metre high waterfall and the coloured earth of Chamarel.
These smooth undulating dunes are located in the middle of a picturesque sugar plantation and cover the area of two football pitches. They are surrounded on four sides by dense forest but nothing will grow on this strange ground of seven colours. This natural phenomenon is thought to be due to mineral rich volcanic ash but even after a tropical downpour the different colours always remain separated.
A scenic drive across the middle of the island allows you to compare the contrasts of the East and West coastlines. It also gives you a glimpse of the real Mauritius as you pass through plantations and small villages that lie off the beaten track. If you are fortunate you may even see sugar cane workers leaving the fields and being picked up in rusty old trucks. With Wellington boots on their feet and scarves and hats on their heads their tired sun baked faces say it all as they climb wearily into the back of the trucks clutching their tools.
After a week staying in luxury this was a poignant reminder of how tough it is for some of the locals to make a living. Although change everywhere is inevitable and its impossible to blame the sugar cane workers for wishing cleaner and better jobs it would be a shame if the island's beautiful fields were replaced by more hotels and textile factories. Fingers crossed the tourists remain on the beaches and the rest of Mauritius stays as green and beautiful as it is today and doesn't follow in the footsteps of its infamous bird, the Dodo.
So Mauritius may be mixed up but in today's unsettled world any country where different religions, cultures and languages work and live happily side by side is idyllic to me.