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The Mauritius Itinerary
Category Archives: Africa
Seven Coloured Earths and Seaplane rides – Hidden Gems of Mauritius
The only Jyotirlinga outside India
After visiting Casela Nature Park, the next part of our journey took us to the mountains as we drove towards Grand Bassin – home to the Mauritiuseswarnath Jyotirlinga (yup, it is actually called that!). There are temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and Durga next to the Ganga Talao – a volcanic crater lake. We were greeted by a sight of the giant statues of Durga and Shiva as we got closer to the temples. The Durga statue here is the tallest statue of the goddess in the world. We stopped, offered prayers and continued on our way.
Where to go for lunch?
We started driving towards Bois Cheri for lunch. It was in the opposite direction of our next destination – Chamarel. So we ditched it mid-way and decided to go straight to Chamarel instead. The route to Chamarel was through the Black River Gorges National Park. At the junction where we had to turn towards our route, we could see cars making U-turns and coming out.
Apparently the road was blocked and no vehicles could go through. However, there were cars coming out of the same road – it looked like it was operating as a one-way. We hoped this was not a regular phenomenon as we were planning to pass through this National Park over the next few days as well.
Our next plans were suddenly thrown in the air. We stopped and checked the map – the road to Chamouny was open. This route would go through Bel Ombre and then turn inwards to reach Chamarel. We could still get there in time for a late lunch. What should have been a 28 mins drive ended up being a 1 hour drive. We drove through small towns, got some beautiful views of the ocean from the hill and even saw a beach with waves crashing near it – there are very few such beaches in Mauritius.
Keep reading for the best photos and moments from the trip.
Continue reading Seven Coloured Earths and Seaplane rides – Hidden Gems of Mauritius
Breakfast with Giraffes and (not) Swimming with Whales
Day 4 – The journey to the south
After a couple of relaxed days, we had an early start at 5 am. We packed up and said goodbye to our lovely room. We had a couple of unique places planned for the day. The first one was a 45 minute drive away near the town of Flic en Flac. The road took us back to Port Louis and we drove through and crossed the city – it was early morning on a Sunday and the roads were empty.
We reached Casela Nature Park at 7:15 am, well before our reporting time. The park had not opened to the public yet and we were among the first people to reach. We had booked a special excursion – breakfast with giraffes! This was a package they offered based on advance online bookings with limited slots – we were lucky to get this!
Breakfast with Giraffes
A bus took us to the giraffe feeding deck. It was a raised wooden platform with two giraffes on one side. The other corner of the deck had a table with food for the humans. Overall, there were around 6 families. Each group took turns to walk up to the giraffes to feed them. As we waited for our turn, other visitors arrived to greet us. A couple of zebras walked by and a peacock flew up to join us on the deck. It walked from table to table hoping that someone would feed it – with bad luck.
Ile Aux Cerfs, a Chateau and Finding Paradise in Mauritius
Day 2 starts with a hearty breakfast
We had a slow start on day 2 – catching up on the missed sleep from the previous day. (The links to the entire series are at the bottom of this blog) There was a cafe called Flynbos Meeting Place we had identified for breakfast. The eggs benedict, pancakes and breakfast spread was just too good! Perfect way to begin the day!
The agenda for the day was to visit Ile Aux Cerfs – an island to the east of the mainland. It was 1 hour and 15 mins away and we had to pass through a bunch of small towns to get there.
As we got closer, Nam warned us to disregard any street signs which pointed to the public ferry port and just follow the map. This was much needed – the signs were made exactly like the official signboards to trick tourists and lead them to a port where they were overcharged.
The best way to get to Ile aux Cerfs
How to avoid this scam? Well, you’re at the right place to learn that! Look for a place called “Point Maurice” on the map – it is very close to the Shangri-La hotel. As you keep going along that road (it looks like a private road), you will reach a gate with a barrier. Just make an entry on the register there and mention the name of your hotel. This leads you to a dedicated parking area.
Continue reading Ile Aux Cerfs, a Chateau and Finding Paradise in Mauritius
Mauritius Travel Blog: First Day of Island Life
It was an early start from Bangalore. Our flight was at 4 am from Kempegowda International T2 and was a direct one to Mauritius. Thanks to Indigo, a lot of international routes have opened up from Bangalore – very convenient instead of taking long layover flights via Mumbai, Delhi or another country.
Quick side tip: 4 am flights mean hardly any sleep which usually translates to acidity and discomfort for me. After many such flights, I made sure I was prepared this time – eat light the previous day, pack luggage one day in advance with checklists and sleep at 8pm to get 2 hours of deep sleep.
Journey and arrival – first sights
The flight was almost 6 hours long – that’s a long sitting for an Indigo flight with its hard seats, no entertainment system and no food. The good part was the weather – we got beautiful sunrise views and there was no turbulence throughout the journey. As we reached the island, we could see how huge it was – our reference point was Seychelles (you can read it after this story). There were hills strewn across the island with plains in between and we could see the weather changing every few kilometres.
Continue reading Mauritius Travel Blog: First Day of Island Life
The Pyramids of Giza and Cutting a Cake in Cairo
When we met last, we were on the VIB overnight train from Luxor to Cairo. We had a private coupe and it was a comfortable journey.
Day 6
It was a special day. Nam’s birthday! Also, our last day of sightseeing in Egypt – we would leave next morning to Amman, Jordan (don’t forget to check out those blogs after this one).
We woke up early expecting to reach Cairo. But to our dismay, the train was running more than 2 hours late. I was annoyed – this meant that we would have to cut off something in our itinerary for the day. Our tour operator, Massimo from Cleopatra Tours, called and told us to get down at the Giza station. Franco, our interim guide, was waiting for us at the station. We picked up our actual guide, Mohamed Gamel, on the way to the pyramids.
After turning at a signal, we spotted the pyramids at a distance – they were huge even from here! We went on a round-about route that gave us views of the pyramids from different angles. The pyramids complex had very high security – we had to unload all our bags from the car (we hadn’t checked into our hotel yet) and put them into the scanner.
These were the oldest structures that we would see on our trip.
Continue reading The Pyramids of Giza and Cutting a Cake in Cairo
Meeting Tut in The Valley of The Kings, Luxor
We reached Luxor, Egypt – our destination after the Nile cruise. It was evening and the orange setting sun covered the city with a very warm and welcoming vibe. It was a lot cleaner than Cairo and far less crowded.
Luxor, known in ancient Egypt as Waset and later Thebes, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It was the capital of Upper Egypt at a time when Egypt was split into two kingdoms. Today, it is called the largest open-air museum in the world as it is home to temples, tombs, monuments and giant statues.
We headed to the Luxor temple. The promenade near the temple, called the Luxor corniche, was beautifully landscaped and would make for a nice evening walk.
We entered the temple and spotted an obelisk. Our guide, Karma, told us that there were originally two obelisks here – one of them was gifted to the French and could be seen at Place de la Concorde. Regular readers of this blog would have encountered these obelisks in many of our other trips – like the one in the Vatican, Istanbul and Paris (blog coming soon).
The temple had statues of Ramses II, Tutankhamun and his wife. The temple was dedicated to the sun god, Amun. The statues of Ramses depicted different stages of his life – one was made for every 10 years that he ruled.
Continue reading Meeting Tut in The Valley of The Kings, Luxor
Going on a Nile Cruise like a Pharaoh
After a thrilling drive to Abu Simbel, we were now on our boat, all set to depart for the Nile river cruise. Our guide, Ahmed, was also joining us till the first stop, Kom Ombo. After lunch and a short rest (we had started our day at 3:30am), we climbed up to the sundeck to enjoy the breeze and the view. We could see some giant pillars in the distance – presumably of the temple we were visiting next.
The Nile is the longest river in the world. It runs 6650 kms long starting in Uganda (the White Nile) and emptying itself into the Mediterranean Sea. It is the reason for Egypt’s existence (the Gift of the Nile) and was home to one of the most advanced civilizations of the world at its time.
Here’s a bit about the Nile cruise. There are many companies that operate these multi-day cruises on the Nile. Some go downstream the river from Aswan to Luxor and few even go onwards to Cairo. You can also find cruises in the opposite direction – it would depend on how you plan your itinerary. If you want to experience the Nile river’s glory and also not get bored by the long travel, we highly recommend that you pick the Aswan-Luxor stretch for your Nile river cruise.
The Egypt Itinerary
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The Beaches and Mountains of Seychelles – Mahe
We took the morning ferry to Mahe (details on the boat and bookings here). We had booked a car with one of the rental agencies here and our Hyundai i10 was waiting for us at the parking.
To get you started, here is a map of Mahe and the routes we took.
Day 1: Explore the Beau Vallon area
Our homestay was close to the Beau Vallon beach. It was up a steep slope and we were glad we got a car. This also meant that we got a beautiful sunset view from our room!
After checking in, we headed straight to the beach. There are quite a few street food stalls here serving Creole food, coconuts, grilled seafood, banana fritters and cakes and many more. It was a beautiful beach, and we spent a lot of time in the water enjoying the waves. In fact, we spent the whole afternoon and evening here!
We picked up some pizza from Baobab pizzeria on the way back and called it a day.
Day 2: Visit Victoria, Hike to the peak of Morne Blanc, Have some amazing Creole food
Our first stop for the day was the capital city of Victoria. We parked our car in the parking area, collected a parking coupon from a nearby store (Sinnasamy Snack Shop) and put it on the dashboard. We visited the Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market, walked around the Little Ben clock tower and covered most of the city by foot in under an hour.
We grabbed some snacks and headed straight to the Morne Blanc trail. You need to take the Sans Soucis Road to the starting point of the trail – there are boards and maps along the way, so you won’t miss it. We wanted to make it to the top before noon – island weather can be very unpredictable especially with mountain-top viewpoints. The signboard at the beginning classified it as a hard trek which would take about an hour (Nam decided to skip this and went for the Tea Tavern Nature Trail instead). They weren’t kidding – the forest was dense and in some parts the trail went missing between fallen trees. Luckily, I could see a couple of people about 200 m ahead – all I had to do was ensure that I don’t lose sight of them!
In the end, it was worth it – the view was stunning!
We then drove down to the west coast, upto Port Launey and back down to Grand Anse beach. The beach was beautiful, and we spent some time here.
We drove back to Victoria along the La Misere road. Our lunch stop was Marie Antoinette, arguably the most popular place in Mahe for Creole cuisine. In fact, a sign on the wall claims that it was declared a national monument of Seychelles in 2011. They had a wide variety of dishes – fish, chicken and vegetarian.
Some of them we loved, a few did not appeal to our taste buds.
Maps told us that the road back to Beau Vallon had a lot of traffic. So, we decided to take the long path along the North Coast Road – it was a long drive but a very beautiful one!
We grabbed some food from one of the supermarkets on the way and headed back to our room.
Day 3: Drive along the coastal roads covering the south of the island
Our last day in Seychelles – we checked out of our room and drove straight up La Misere Road to the viewpoint of the east coast. This point is perfect to check out the city of Victoria, the port and the small islands on the sides.
Our drive then took us along the West Coast Road all the way down to Anse Intendance. Yet another stunning beach – we spent a good hour here!
We were lucky that most of the beaches we visited in Mahe did not have any annoying seaweed strewn all over the sand. For lunch, we stopped at Maison Marengo and had the most amazing seafood pizza and calamari!
Our last beach in the trip was Anse Royale – it was a beautiful one for snorkelling with many different types of fish swimming around.
Having covered the entire South and East Coast Roads, we headed up the Providence highway to Eden Island – the poshest area here.
It was too posh for our liking and we drove right out. We went back to Victoria to complete our loop all around the Mahe island! Our last stop – the airport for our flight back home!
Though we didn’t know at the time, Seychelles ended up being our only trip of 2020. Considering that, it was definitely worth it – it was relaxing, exciting and had some of the most beautiful scenery we had ever seen.
For more details on how you can plan your trip to Seychelles, check out all the blogs here:
- Scenic Seychelles – Our itinerary and tips to plan your perfect 5-day vacation in paradise – on a budget!
- The Beaches and Mountains of Seychelles – Part One (Praslin)
- The Beaches and Mountains of Seychelles – Part Two (Mahe) – Some of the must-do’s while you are exploring the two biggest islands
- A Day in La Digue – Home to the iconic “Seychelles Wallpaper”
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