Tag Archives: mauritius

Seven Coloured Earths and Seaplane rides – Hidden Gems of Mauritius

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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.

The temples in Grand Bassin in Mauritius — The temples in Grand Bassin

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.

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Africa, Travel Blog

Breakfast with Giraffes and (not) Swimming with Whales

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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.

a peacock at the giraffe feeding deck — A peacock joins us for breakfast

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Africa, Travel Blog

Ile Aux Cerfs, a Chateau and Finding Paradise in Mauritius

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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.

road to Ile aux cerfs — The road to Ile aux Cerfs

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.

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Africa, Travel Blog

Mauritius Travel Blog: First Day of Island Life

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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.

sunrise on the way to mauritius — 4 am flights also mean beautiful sunrise views from 35000 feet

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.

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