Saturday, November 09, 2002
Mauritian memories
Pictures by LIZ PRICE
Mauritius, like Malaysia, has a multi-racial population althoughmost are of Indian descent. LIZ PRICE finds the friendly locals and beautiful land enchanting.
Sandy beaches, blue seas, sunshine, coral reefs, beautiful scenery and good food. Friendly Indians and Chinese, celebrating Deepavali, Thaipusam, Christmas, Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. You would be excused for thinking I am talking about Malaysia but in fact, this describes the island of Mauritius.
Like Malaysia, it is a multi-racial country with a population made up of Indo-Mauritians (of Indian origin), Franco-Mauritians (French origin), Sino-Mauritians (of Chinese descent) and Creoles of European and African descent.
This cultural diversity is reflected in the food, which plays an important role in their daily living. There is plenty of rice but bread also forms a large part of the diet. Roti stalls can be found all over the island, especially at breakfast time. Chapati stuffed with various vegetables and spices is a lunch favourite. Mmm, delicious.
Huge water lilies float on a pond at the botanical gardens in Mauritius.
Too romantic for one
Mauritius lies in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar and south of the Seychelles. Its historical background is similar to Malaysia’s in that the island was known to the Arabs in the 10th century, and “discovered” by the Portuguese in the early 16th century. It was later colonised by the Dutch, French and then the British.
The name Mauritius was given by the first Dutch settlers, after Prince Maurice de Nassau. Mauritius gained independence from the British in 1968 and although English is still the official language, most people speak French or Creole. However, they are perfectly willing to switch to English.
Mauritius is beautiful and this is one of the reasons the tourist authorities say visitors should never visit alone –– because it is too romantic not to be shared with family or friends. Sadly, I had no one to accompany me, stopping over at Mauritius from Madagascar. But I found the people very friendly so it wasn’t too much of a problem.
The island is well known for its watersports, fishing, golf and honeymoon packages but there are many more attractions like strangely shaped mountains, extinct volcanoes, waterfalls, national parks and the botanical garden.
Stalls selling roti for breakfast and 'chapati' for lunch are popular everywhere on the island.
The capital of Port Louis lies in the northwest of the island, and the airport with the imposing name of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International is in the south-east. The actual distance between airport and capital is only about 40km which gives an idea of how small the island is.
An excellent bus service covers the whole island, so I spent some time doing bus tours for the interesting sights. Car rental is also available and they drive on the left side of the road just like in Malaysia.
To the north of Port Louis are the main beach resorts with their mid- to luxury range of hotels. The three biggest beaches are Trou aux Biches with its golf course followed by Grand Baie and Pereybere. Grand Baie is the boating centre, a really scenic bay packed with yachts. On Sundays, it really comes alive as people take to the water. Pereybere has a better beach which again is packed solid at weekends as the locals take in the sun and enjoy picnics. I spent time just sitting and people-watching.
Apart from sailing and diving, Mauritius is a paradise for deep sea and game fishing. There are various types of marlin, sharks, tuna and barracuda. For those not interested in fishing, you can explore the undersea world from glass bottomed boats, and even a glassed submarine which gives an excellent view of this fishy world.
North American scenery
The central highlands form the centre of the island. Curepipe is the main town here, and enjoys cooler weather than the lower coastal areas. Just outside the town centre is the Trou aux Cerfs, a deep crater formed from a long extinct volcano, 85m deep and 200m wide. From here are excellent views of mountains on the west coast. These mountains are all strangely shaped, being old volcanoes. The highest peak on the island is Piton de la Petite Riviere Noires at 828m.
From Curepipe, a mountain road heads towards the Black River Gorges National Park passing Mare aux Vacoas, the largest man-made lake on the island, used as a reservoir. However, the water level was incredibly low when I visited, due to a nine-month drought. No wonder the hotels asked visitors not to waste water.
Nearby is Grand Bassin with one of the island’s two natural lakes resting in the crater of a volcano. It is a pilgrimage place for Hindus. There are 16 temples here and from February to March, they host the Maha Shivaratri celebrations. The Black River Gorges National Park protects much of the remaining native forests of Mauritius and has some spectacular scenery. With the casuarina and coniferous trees, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in North America rather than the Indian Ocean.
We entered Plaine Champagne which is the rainiest part of the island. There are two waterfalls not to be missed –– Alexandra Falls and Riviere Noire, both spectacular despite the low water levels. As we descended the highlands, I noticed forests of traveller’s palm (fan palm). This is often used for ornamental purposes in Malaysia but this was the first time I had seen whole forests of these plants, hardly surprising as the Ravenala madagascariensis originates from Madagascar. The Pamplemousses Botanical Gardens is internationally known to botanists and has a large collection of indigenous palms.
To the west of Plaine Champagne is Chamarel, a small village famous for its coloured earths and waterfalls, Chamarel Cascade. The seven colours of earth are the result of uneven cooling of molten volcanic rock. The falls are stunning, three cascades falling 100m into a semicircular basin.
The rare Pink Pigeon
The Casela bird park is another tourist attraction, located near the beach of Flic en Flac. Casela is home to animals from all over the world, not just those native to Mauritius. So you’ll find emus, wallabies, tigers and panthers. The inhabitants include one Mauritian monkey amongst the Madagascaran lemurs, and, the famous Mauritian Pink Pigeon, one of the rarest birds in the world. There were many giant tortoises from the nearby Aldabra islands. It is said that if Charles Darwin had come to this area and seen all these giant tortoises, he might not have gone to the Galapagos.
The waterfalls at Chamarel are three cascades that drop 100m.
Unlike the commercialism of Casela, La Vanilla Crocodile Park in the south of the island is a breeding centre for the huge Nile crocodiles imported from Madagascar. It is a large park with a nature walk through luxuriant forest studded with freshwater springs and streams containing carp and turtles. You’ll see the giant land crab, lizards, a fruit bat and crocodile hatcheries.
My only regret was that I didn’t get to sample a crocodile steak whilst in Mauritius. E
MAS flies once a week, and Air Mauritius flies twice a week to Mauritius from Kuala Lumpur.
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