Postcards From Mauritius and Reunion

Mauritius

Indian Ocean Paradise

When and Where: 03/2023 – Port Louis, Black River Gorges Biosphere Reserve,

La Vallee des Couleurs Nature Park, Flic en Flac Beach

65^th Country Visited; 2^nd African Country Visited

Interesting Facts:

- Mauritius has the highest population density of any African country.

- Mauritius was the only known habitat of the dodo bird.

- Mauritius has no official language but English is widely spoken.

Reunion

French Overseas Territory

When and Where: 03/2023 – La Possession, Saint-Gilles

This blog post is about the country of Mauritius and the French Overseas Territory of Reunion. Both are part of the Mascarene Islands.

Cruise lines excursions tend to be expensive. And on this cruise, there are many passengers with mobility issues. Hence loading and unloading tour buses can be time consuming and cuts into time when I could be sightseeing. I cancelled my two ship excursions and went touring with two people from the ship.

After spending a full day on the island nation of Mauritius, I fell in love with this beautiful country. It offers so much: the cosmopolitan capital of Port Louis, dramatic mountainous landscapes, fascinating state parks, and pristine beaches. Upon disembarkation, we found a cab driver who offered to drive us around the island and see all that Mauritius has to offer. It was half the cost of the shorter Holland America excursion and included much more. Prior to landing in Mauritius, I had high expectations. My experience exceeded those expectations.

Once outside the traffic filled capital of Port Louis, we headed south to The Magnanimous Hindu Deities: two statues over 100 feet tall depicting Hindu gods. Given that more than half of the population is Hindu, there is a lot of Indian influence and culture. One statue depicts a man in front of a lion. The taller statue depicts a woman holding a trident with a serpent around her neck. Next, we stopped by the spiritual and serene Ganga Talao, an ornate orange temple at the base of a manmade lake. Around the lake were statues of Hindu gods and goddesses. Many Hindus were silently praying and washing their faces in the sacred lake. Next, we headed to the Black River Gorges Biosphere Reserve. The reserve had several tall waterfalls, an enormous crater lake, and stunning views from above of the east coast of Mauritius.

La Vallee des Couleurs Nature Park, the largest park in Mauritius, was our next stop. By now, we were all quite sweaty as the outside temperatures were above 90 degrees. Walking through the park, we traversed steep uneven cobblestone paths down to waterfalls. The highlight of the park is something called Seven Colored Earths, which is a unique geological site. Basically, Seven Colored Earths are mounds of hilly naturally colored volcanic ash. The mounds are layered in extraordinary hues of yellow, blue, and red soil. This phenomenon is unique to Mauritius and photographs do not fully capture the beauty of the mounds. After a brief lunch stop, we moved on to our final destination, Flic en Flac Beach, known to be the most beautiful beach on the island. US News & World Report ranked Flic en Flac as the third most beautiful beach in the world. Upon arrival, it was evident why. The beach, though narrow, had sparkling white sand. The shimmering water was crystal clear with varying turquoise and deep blue hues beyond the reef. I got into the water and waded around for a bit. The coral at the water’s edge was razor sharp and I cut up both my feet. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the hour and a half spent relaxing at Flic en Flac.

As we made our way back to Port Louis, we passed by several enormous mountains. One looked like the rock of Gibraltar. We encountered a lot of traffic in route back to Port Louis. Mauritius is the most densely populated African country and Port Louis is a bustling city. Our driver dropped us off in the central shopping area, which also was beautiful. The shopping promenade has a colorful umbrella canopy. I bought a small piece of original art before we headed back to the ship. Mauritius is one of my favorite destinations thus far on this cruise.

The French island of Reunion was our next stop. We docked at La Possession, the main port, which is a half hour drive to the closest two cities. I traveled with the same group from the day before. We opted to visit the seaside community of Saint-Gilles as opposed to the capital of Saint-Denis. We grabbed a shuttle at the port and made our way south to Saint-Gilles. Much like Mauritius, Reunion is lush and tropical. However Reunion is much more mountainous. Saint-Gilles reminded me of a remote California surfer town; the main street lined with shops and rustic restaurants. We opted to go to the beach first. Once there, we noticed no one was in the water. The lifeguard told us there was a dangerous rip tide and that there were sharks around the reef about 40 feet off the coast. We weren’t allowed to go into the water beyond our knees. We sat on the beach for maybe 45 minutes and then walked back to downtown Saint-Gilles and stopped for a coffee at an outdoor café. Language was a bit of problem in Reunion as French is the mother tongue and the majority of Reunionese we encountered didn’t speak English. Somehow with my very rudimentary knowledge of French, we were able to get by. After walking around a bit more, we stopped at a beachside restaurant called Pasta & Burgers. As we ate our lunch, Reggae videos played on the television and the musicians were all wearing New York Yankees hats and jerseys. Saint-Gilles was cute and had a fun vibe, but it was nowhere near as interesting as Mauritius. After lunch, we headed back to the ship early. Reunion was kind of a bust overall, but I’m glad we had the opportunity to stop for the day.

Just before departure from the port, the ship’s captain announced that our next port, Tolanaro Madagascar has been cancelled due to Cyclone Freddy. Freddy has been meandering around the Indian Ocean for weeks now. It had crossed from Mauritius over Madagascar and into central Mozambique. Now it is headed back to Madagascar. So now we have four consecutive sea days. In my life, I have spent more than 210 days at sea cruising. Today, our first sea day, has had the worst motion I’ve ever encountered on a ship. And we haven’t begun to go through the cyclone. We have been warned it is going to be a rough ride the next four days (see the cruise ship's new route below.