Colors

At breakfast, the sky should decide what we are going to do today.

Clear sky = Pool

Cloudy = sightseeing

See for yourself how the decision turns out.

Great 11:00 am water aerobics (hopefully the animator will come up with new exercises for tomorrow - otherwise it will be boring)

Clouds are slowly moving in and the wind is picking up. You could also say it's cold 🥶.

We spontaneously decide to take a short trip.

Destination: Discover Mauritius Iconic Geopark

And Micha's first driving lesson in left-hand traffic. A half parking exercise drive and then off we go, out into the real life and always keep left.

And you can guess where our GPS leads us?

Right - this dirt road is ours.

So back on the road. The geopark is located in a volcanic basin, which means we first have to overcome the crater slopes via serpentines. And here, just like on Reunion Island, there are these deep rain gutters at the edge of the road. The co-driver needs nerves of steel.

For the first driving lesson, a real challenge.

The geopark has 27 points of interest with information boards. Past Arabica coffee plants 

we come to the first attraction

Cascade de Chamarel

It is a twin waterfall and the highest of its kind in Mauritius.

The water falls about 100 meters deep.

Just 1.5 km away, there is another highlight:

A unique, unusual geological phenomenon:

the seven-colored earth

Facts

The bare, hilly ground presents itself in various shades of color on an area of about a hectare. The main tone is rust red, but a total of seven different colors can be distinguished - the spectrum ranges from ochre, brown, and red to yellow, orange, blue, and violet. 

The hill is probably of volcanic origin. However, a clear explanation for the variety of colors has not yet been found. One theory suggests that volcanic ash has been deposited there, which has cooled at different temperatures and has thus taken on its respective color.
Other scientists suspect that the layers of sand have been colored differently due to the oxidation of minerals.

The low sun brings out the colors properly.

Just a few steps away, in a small enclosure, we can look at tortoises. 

 

Those that sailors used to take as live food in the past. The male probably had a total length of just under one meter and a height of maybe 60 cm.

They were already impressive.

There are now 2 attractions to choose from: the Adventure Park or the Ebony Forest.

Due to the late hour, we decide for the Ebony Forest

The Ebony Forest is a 50 ha protected area for Mauritian endemic species (e.g. ebony) where a native forest is being created. Here you can plant a Love-Tree (according to the travel guide).

...... if the station had still been open. To get home in the daylight,

we decide to go back. A quick stop at the supermarket (the rum, cola, beer, and water supplies are running low), then getting lost 3 times and suddenly it's dark. 

We reach our hotel just in time for dinner, with a ravenous hunger.