Addentum: A trip to the island Dec. 2010 - Jan. 2011
In December 2010 we wanted to go again on holidays to Mauritius. In the meantime, not only Germany but throughout Europe had one of the harshest winter in decades. Even the large international airports like London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle had closed for days and the road conditions were a disaster.
Our flight went from Dusseldorf to Paris and from there it should go to the tropics. Fortunately, we caught one of the few days when the motorway was cleared well and reached on time Dusseldorf. Also, the Air France shuttle flight to Paris was on time. At the airport Charles de Gaulle, however there was still chaos. The airport had been a few days completely or partly closed on the day of our arrival the first day open again. The airport was full of people who were stuck, the scoreboards were not updated and the flight was delayed - including ours. All passengers oversaw it, just happy to be able to fly at all. They looked even over the fact that the Boeing 747 of the AF was parked on an outer airfield that was left us to wait in freezing temperatures for 30 minutes on the tarmac on the bus and we had to climb stairs. Finally we could leave behind the ice-cold Europe! In just over 11 hours of night flight, we went across the African continent and continued to the south.
By late morning we arrived at 8 clock in Mauritius. The border control went quickly. There were problems in finding the pre-ordered taxi, which would take us to the hotel. After much searching we finally found the driver and were taken on the Motorway to the north. On the first sight not much had changed on the island in the last five years, but the motorway was rebuilt on the norther part.
The Royal Palm Hotel, which we had booked again this time, presented himself in it's usual excellent quality. The only downside was that this time our suite on the first floor and was not, as desired, the ground floor.
In the first week I had no rental car and therefor spent most time on the beach. As before, there was an offer to the free use of many water sports. This was particularly attractive in that you could take lessons. Already at home I had decided to learn this time water skiing and sailing. So I took from then on each day one hour sailing lessons on a very large catamaran, and twice daily I went waterskiing. In the latter sport I quickly went better. Before long I could ride tight turns and finally cross the crests of the waves behind the boat. Beside that, swimming was in the 30 ° warm water was on the program.
In the evening we ate at the restaurant Natureaty of the hotel, which has truly gourmet quality.
The new years party was great. From a pontoon in the sea outside the hotel a very large firework was ignited, which reflected in the water. Once again all over the island again to numerous bush fires were ignited by fireworks from the locals, also in sight of the hotel. The Mauritians took it easy.
From the second week on I was mobile and visited various times Grand Baie. Like five years ago in peak season the traffic broke down in monotonous regularity. Since I had already intensively explored in previous tours the island, this time there were not so many new things to discover. I drove again the beautiful coast road to Cap Malheureux, and I noticed that the Government (at last) had put money into improving the road signage. Also built was a bypass road for the chronic gridlock city Goodlands. Always nice to see on the island are the British colonial period built churches. Especially beautiful is the one in Poudre d'Or of 1847 in the center of sugarcane fields.
New to visit is the freshly renovated Château de Labourdonnais near Mapou. It was derived from 1858 mansion of the Danish family Wiehe, but whose origins lay in Germany. The mansion now used as a museum has a tropical garden, a rum distillery, as was the main product grown to 1960 sugar cane on the domain. After closure of the sugar factory on 50 hectares of tropical fruits were well cultivated. Both fruits and their derived products such as jam and fruit juice you can taste in a connected business and buy the house.
Again, I drove on the western coast road to Trou aux Biches, where one natural sand beach borders the other. South Seas dreams reallycome true!
A good insight into the character of the interior of the island you get on a ride to the east of Pamplemousses. The Château des Villebague was still privately owned and not open to the public. Again and again, a spectacular drive is through the adjoining avenue of eucalyptus trees. After a long journey, I reached the larger town of Centre de Flacq, were this Sunday a big market was held that I visited. Again and again, it is very impressive to see the variety of tropical fruits grown on the island. The return trip took me about Poste de Flacq, with its waterfront huge Hindu temple. Inland, I saw also a very large sugar mill, which was now out of season, not in operation.
Since I am specialized in colonial history, I again visited Maison Eureka. Unfortunately, the roadsigns here were still bad, so I got lost several times. Nevertheless, the villa is always worth a visit. Then I drove across the highway to the south in the great city of Curepipe. Here I wanted to visit the Carson Tea Estate, I proceeded but got lost in the city due to a lack of signs. With the help of friendly petrol station employees and an almost Babylonian confusion of tongues with Creole, French and English, a way out of town described. Unnerved, I went back on the long drive north.
Summary: Mauritius is a fantastic beach destination. There are outstanding hotels, the water is enormously warm and everywhere with 29 degrees C crystal clear.
By the reef there is hardly wave course, what
facilitates the water sport enormously.
The air temperature during our stays varied between 28 and 32
degrees C, whereby it can literally come from cheerful sky to
5-minutes, extremely violent tropical showers. One day it
rained from in the morning to in the evening. However
always a pleasant breeze blows, the temperatures are good to bear.
Christmas the sun over Mauritius stands in the zenith and is of unbelievable intensity. 15 minutes in the sun and one is completely burned.
Locals on the island are extremely friendly and communicative, without being importunate. We made no negative experiences and saw no crime. French knowledge is of great advantage, because of the locals speak it better than English.
On the island there is not so much to see. The villages rather resemble themselves and sugar cane determines the landscape. There are some tourist attractions, whereby one should expect really not too much. Driven on the left side, the roads are often bad, the sign-posting, except on the motoway is adventurous. One absolutely needs a detailed road map (and if possible a front seat passenger, who directs). If one checks around, one can purchase good clothing, which is manufactured on the island for export. Worthwhile also is the purchase of spices, which are much more aromatic as with us.
Since the journey is very far from Europe, one must book obviously very early flights, in order to be able to fly still directly from
Germany. Our variant was too long. One does not need malaria prophylaxis, the standard of living is pleasantly quite high on the island (Mauritius is one of the countries of Africa developed furthest and stands on the threshold to the industrialized country) and the time difference to Europe in the winter is only three hours.
