48th post - Mauritius

Since I obviously have no interest in protecting the environment this year , three days after landing on La Réunion I was already on a plane again, this time heading for Mauritius.

The whole trip started off stressfully on Sunday, when the bus I wanted to take to the airport was full. That's a shame, because there aren't many buses on Sundays and planes don't wait. I somehow managed to find another bus and arrived at the airport an hour before boarding. The advantage of that was that the queues were very short everywhere, because all sensible people had already arrived at least an hour ago.

The fun continued at the security check: Apparently hiking poles are not allowed in hand luggage. But I didn't know that and only had hand luggage with me, so I had to painfully part with them in front of an annoyed employee. It also seemed like I had attracted suspicion, because my hands and luggage were checked for drug residue and my entire backpack was unpacked and checked. It's a good thing I had planned for so much waiting time (not.).

After I was able to convince everyone that I was not a criminal, I was allowed to continue and from then on everything went smoothly.

The plane was huge (10 seats per row), but there were maybe 40 of us in total, which was really strange. But it also meant free choice of seats and lots of comfort, so I'm not complaining. But on the flight to Mauritius, comfort is really not that important, because you're effectively in the air for 30 minutes, 5 of which are horizontal, if you're flying high.

When I arrived at the airport in Mauritius I was a bit lost, but since you can't really make mistakes at airports, I ended up where I was supposed to be, namely at the border police. They wanted to know where my hotel was. Unfortunately I didn't know that either, as Nora was going to pick me up and had already been there for a few days. This made me seem suspicious again and I was immediately questioned by two border guards. Well, in the end it was sorted out and I was able to withdraw Mauritanian rupees and get a SIM card.

My Belgian friend Nora was waiting for me outside in the car. We had about a two-hour drive to our accommodation ahead of us - and we drove on the left. I was soooo glad I didn't have to drive. At the first roundabout I was convinced that we were going to die :D

When I arrived at the AirBnB I was pleasantly surprised; after Madagascar it was pure luxury. I took a shower and got settled in. Then we ended the evening relaxing, ate together and watched Divergent.

---------------

On Monday we wanted to tackle the most famous hike in Mauritius, the Morne Brabante .

The first hurdle we had to overcome was the fact that our car's tire was completely flat. We called the agency, which was a two-hour drive away from us. They laughed at us a little and said we had to find a man because as two girls we would never be able to change the tire. Of course, we thought: now more than ever! And actually it wasn't that difficult, the worst part was the crappy car jack we had to use.

With our professionally fitted spare tire, we drove to the nearest garage and unfortunately learned that the old tire was irreparable. So we bought a new one and had it put on straight away. 20 minutes later and €50 poorer, we were on our way for our hike.

We started right by the sea and then climbed 550m. The whole thing was split into 10km, so it was no problem for us Réunion-experienced hikers. The hike was really beautiful, but the last part really involved climbing. It was pretty dangerous and I was a bit scared at times, but all the fearless hikers supported each other and in the end we made it to the summit without any major problems. There we were immediately rewarded with a phenomenal view of the coral barrier of Mauritius. It was really unbelievably beautiful.

After spending some time up there, taking photos, refreshing ourselves and simply enjoying ourselves, we started climbing straight back down. I did most of this on my butt, but that didn't matter. We still managed it in 2h30 instead of 3h30, which we were a little proud of.

Next up was Chamarel , a park where naturally formed, seven-coloured earth is exhibited. This Terre des Sept Couleurs was also really beautiful, but I was more impressed by the waterfall, which you can also see in the park. It falls 100m into a gorge that is surrounded by beautiful green nature. Despite all the waterfalls on La Réunion, it is a real eye-catcher!

After a long day, we had a nice evening on the beach and went to bed quite early.

---------------

What is the best thing to do the day after a hike? Exactly, a hike!

We set off for the Sept Cascades hike, which, who would have thought, includes seven waterfalls. Right at the car park we were harassed by the first guide who wanted to accompany us for quite a lot of money because the path was very difficult to find. We politely declined and drove to the start of the hike. There we were able to fend off two more guides, although we hesitated for a moment because at least the prices were better here. But when we saw a couple who were also setting off without a guide, we decided to just follow them.

That went really well until we got to the first waterfall, because the two of them were taking a longer break there and we didn't want to wait that long. So we tried to discreetly follow another hiking group with a guide to find out the way. This guide wasn't so keen on it, however. But suddenly someone spoke to us from behind: A guide from yet another tour group asked if we were alone and if we didn't want to just join his group. At first we were a bit embarrassed, but in the end we agreed - it was the best decision of the day! We chatted with the other three tourists and with the guide and I even had photos taken of me. It was absolutely beautiful. I was also really impressed by the waterfalls, somehow it was just completely different to La Réunion.

After about 5.5 hours of hiking, our guide (who we gave some money to at the end, of course) asked us if we wanted to eat something together. We agreed, and so Nora and I drove in our car and the guide and one of his clients drove in her car to a totally unremarkable snack bar that probably hadn't seen many tourists yet.

We all ordered Roti , which is a typical dish from Mauritius, consisting of a flatbread/crepe with a hearty filling. It sounds super simple, but it was really amazing, soooo delicious! And then the best part was: the guide invited us. So not only had we sneaked into his guided hike, but we were also invited to dinner. And then he actually asked if we wanted to spend the rest of the day with him and his actual customer. We asked her if it was okay and she agreed. So off we went to a national park.

Unfortunately, the weather had turned bad, so the viewpoint was a little dull. But we were able to marvel at the monkeys that live on Mauritius. Somehow they just suddenly came around the corner and were there. Totally sweet!

The next stop was Grand Bassin, the holiest pilgrimage site for Hindus on Mauritius. There are a lot of temples like this on La Réunion, but not as big as here. We didn't go into the temple because people were praying, but the outside area was really impressive. I would like to find out more about this religion, which is so different from Christianity.

In keeping with the bad weather, the next and last stop of the day was a tea factory, as Mauritius is known for its tea production. Here we benefited again from our free guide, as he naturally had cheaper prices for the tasting than unaccompanied tourists. So we sat in a light drizzle on a really cute veranda with a beautiful view of the greenery and tried all the types of tea that were on offer. We chatted a lot and discovered that the guide's actual customer would soon be coming to La Réunion. Of course, we immediately exchanged numbers and arranged to go on a hike - if that actually works out, that would be pretty cool, I think!

The tea was super delicious and I even bought some. But that might also have been because I was a bit overwhelmed by happiness hormones, because I managed to convince the cat that was present to sit on my lap the entire time I was drinking tea :D

After this relaxing and warming stage, we continued on as a couple. We drove to the beach very close to our accommodation, Cap Malheureux , and watched the sunset. Unfortunately, it started to rain again, but that didn't bother us. You can enjoy beautiful sunsets even when it's raining!

Once we got back to the AirBnB we watched the second part of Divergent and then went to sleep.

The day was really an absolute highlight because we had been wondering the whole time what we could do after the hike. And then suddenly this wonderful guide fell from the sky, who simply adopted us and made our day wonderful. Thank you!

---------------

On Wednesday we finally had a relaxing day. We slept in and made delicious banana pancakes for breakfast. We left around 10am because we had booked a dive that took place at 10:30am.

The diving club was a bit strange, it lacked the very open and friendly attitude that I was used to from divers. Nobody really talked to us. There was also very little equipment and so I had to wear a wetsuit that was way too big.

To be honest, I didn't feel particularly comfortable and found the whole thing rather poorly organized. Our diving instructor didn't really understand French very well and only gave us a very brief briefing. The dive itself was still very, very nice and we saw a lot, including two really enormous turtles :)

We spent the rest of the day on the beach, where we met our guide from the day before again, that was really nice!

While Nora was alone in Mauritius, she discovered a restaurant that offered an all-you-can-eat buffet. It's quite expensive, but after Madagascar I somehow felt like spending some serious money on good food.

At around 7pm we went to a really fancy four-star hotel full of rich people and sat down in the restaurant. The chef greeted us really nicely and even gave us a cocktail on the house, which we of course gladly accepted :D

Then the excessive overfilling began, because of course I wanted to get my €40 back. In total I got something to eat six times, including pizza, salad, squid, lasagne, vegetables, pasta, wok and lots of dessert. I have to say it was really delicious, even if I felt a bit uncomfortable among all the super chic rich people :D But I honestly have never had such a stomachache before, I definitely overate, but like I said, the money has to be worth it.

It was a really nice last evening, we talked and laughed a lot. The way home was really a bit painful though, we both rolled across the street rather than anything else. But it was worth it, everything was really delicious!

---------------

On Thursday the last day had already dawned.

After a hearty breakfast, in which we almost destroyed all the leftovers from the fridge (that wasn't very pleasant after the gigantic dinner the day before :D) we packed our suitcases and put everything in the car. I only had my 35l backpack, Nora had a large suitcase and a hand luggage backpack :D

We drove straight to the airport, which is at the other end of the island and therefore a two-hour drive away. We lay down on the beach nearby and waited for the time to return the car. While we were lying there on the beach and enjoying the last few hours, a woman suddenly came up to us and asked us all sorts of things and talked about her job as a fisherwoman, etc. At first I didn't understand what she wanted from us until it turned out that she wanted to sell us bracelets or necklaces that she makes from coral and shells.

Unfortunately, we had almost no money left as it was our last day, but as we hadn't found any nice souvenirs yet, we still wanted to buy something. We explained the situation to her, scraped together the last notes and coins and managed to make a good deal: we got three bracelets for the actual price of 1.5 - lucky us. The woman was really nice and made the bracelets in front of us. We chatted to her while she was doing this and were really happy that we had once again encountered such a lucky coincidence.

I chose a bracelet made of white shells and Nora took a white-green one for herself and a red one for her friend.

The whole production process actually took quite a long time, which meant that we only had about an hour left on the beach afterwards. So we went back into the water and sunbathed a bit before heading to the car rental agency.

Luckily, returning the car was no problem at all and an employee of the agency drove us to the airport. Here too, everything went smoothly and we landed back in Saint Denis at around 6 p.m.

Nora's friend kindly picked us up here. This was the end of my last trip from La Réunion, because I definitely want to make the most of the few weeks I have left on the island!

---------------

I liked Mauritius a lot, it had a lot more to offer than I expected. Everyone always raves about the beaches etc., but to be honest I didn't find them that much nicer than on La Réunion. The coral reef is much more impressive, that's for sure. I was surprised by the beautiful landscapes and hikes, I didn't have such high expectations.

Overall, we were really lucky with all our encounters and acquaintances, it was really great!