Mauritius was our first BIG adventure with the kids. A mere 12-hour flight was all that stood in our way! The less said about that the better but I maintain it’s just a means to an end. And what an exciting end this was.  

The island turned out to be a perfect choice for a young family. It was winter in May so, although there was a bit of rain, it meant that the temperatures were really manageable. Whilst Creole is the official language, almost everyone we met spoke English too which was handy for the children, as well as us of course. The supermarkets stocked everything we needed for the kids – from Marmite to fish fingers and nappies to Cadbury’s chocolate! The only thing you can’t buy? Fresh milk! Here are the girls buying UHT milk at a local shop and enjoying some of their many macarons of the trip!

Mauritius is only 38 miles long and we picked three different spots to stay so that nothing was more than about an hour away in our hire car. The roads felt safe although navigation was occasionally tricky with updates on closed roads not reaching Google Maps. Most people go to Mauritius for the beaches and resorts but we found so many low-key adventures that were just perfect for under 5s – there would have been plenty else to do with older children too.

The above made the island great for our little people but it wasn’t all about them. We needed a place that would quench our wanderlust too and Mauritius did just that. It’s a fascinating place and a new country for both of us. Because of its geography and its history, the population is made up of Indian, African, South-East Asian, Chinese and European people who brought with them their Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. And, as far as I understand it, everyone kind of rubs along together pretty happily. So this brought a lot of culture for us to experience alongside lots of nature too!

I’ve split the trip into two posts. This one is of the activities we did in the south moving east to west. The second is the capital, Port Louis, then up into the north of the island.

MAHÉBOURG

We’ve always loved a low-key wander around a new place. There doesn’t need to be much to ‘see’; we just enjoy the feeling of difference and the beauty found in unexpected places.

Mahébourg, on the island’s south-east coast, was this type of place. We spent just our first night here (an add-on because our flights had been cancelled and rearranged). It’s probably not a place high on most people’s list but it was good to help us acclimatise. Built by the Dutch and developed further by the French, it was a Grand Port town. Now it’s small and slow-paced with not a lot going on but perfect for wandering. 

Along the waterfront, we stumbled across a Tamil Hindu festival – Vaikasi Visakam. We had actually only been seeking a carpark for an early morning family nap after the sleepless flight! As soon as we pulled up, we saw the edge of the crowds, predominantly dressed in pink, and we could hear a female singer over the loudspeaker. No one seemed to mind us meandering among them and, indeed, some were quite keen to chat or pose for a photo! I did Google it later. The Mauritian Tamil festival celebrates the birthday of Lord Murugan, the Hindu god of war, courage, wealth and wisdom. Devotees fast for ten days and make sacrifices. On festival day, they would have woken early to pray, washed in a river and taken a vow of silence before processing, barefoot and burdened, to the temple to make offerings. They carry or transport cavadee structures to symbolise the burden of hope for repentance. Some very devout men also had sacred piercings as an act of penance aiding the vow of silence (check out the bottom left photo!). War-like drumming gets everyone focused!

We LOVE it when travel puts something unexpected like this in our paths. Oh how we’ve missed it these last few years! And now we get to show the kids too!

GRIS GRIS BEACH

Aside from the insane wind (check out the permanent angles of some of the trees!), there’s something very special about Gris Gris Beach, with the sweet sounds of the birds in the pine forest mingling with the tumultuous waves crashing against the cliffs below. 

Walking to La Roche qui Pleure (The Rock that Cries) viewpoint was a perfect-sized adventure for little legs and there was no grumbling at all! Though we didn’t let them do the last little stint for fear they would actually be blown over the edge! Dean did that part whilst we watched for his head reappearing over the hilltop.

Definitely worth a stop on our south coast road trip.

Key info: not pram-friendly; free entry; allow 2 hours; some amenities in the carpark.

BLACK RIVER GORGES NATIONAL PARK

If the weather had been as bad at home, we’d have stayed indoors. But when you’re on holiday, every day counts so we decided to make the most of it. 

We may have got stuck in lots of rainy day traffic and we may have come across various parts of the park closed due to the rain and we may have been unable to see the promised waterfall at the viewpoint and we may have got very wet watching some monkeys…

BUT…

…the giant African land snails were out in force and Tiny loved them; our unplanned lunch stop at the lovely La Varangue Sur Morne yielded close encounters with red whiskered bulbuls and majestic views with flying foxes overhead; and the woodland looked extra atmospheric in the mist!

Key info: mostly not pram-friendly; free; allow from 1 hour to a full day depending on how many stops and walks you want to do. More info including hiking trails here.

GRAND BASSIN

Considered the most sacred Hindu place on the island, Grand Bassin (aka Ganga Talao) is a crater lake in the mountains which up to half a million pilgrims visit during the Shivaratri festival each year. It was declared holy by a Hindu priest from the north of the island who dreamt of a lake with a link to the sacred River Ganges in India. His search led him here. 

The 3-lane road and enormous carparks hint at the magnitude of the pilgrimage but, for us, there were just a handful of cars. Mauritius’s largest statues – Shiva and Durga – greet you on arrival. They’re immense! 

At the feet of Shiva, a priest marked our foreheads and tied red and yellow threads to our writings, incanting blessings for health, wealth and no bad luck. Music was piped over the complex – Small couldn’t resist a dance!

The main temple on the lake is dedicated to Shiva and there are others for Lord Ganesh, Lord Hanuman and Goddess Ganga too. There are many statues where devotees can leave offerings of incense, flowers, food and money. Indy loved examining (and occasionally rehoming) the offerings, especially the flowers. 

All in all, a very relaxing and interesting place to explore, even on a grey day. 

Key info: pram-friendly; free entry; allow 2 hours; no amenities apparent.

CASELA NATURE PARK

As a slightly early 40^th birthday gift from my brother and sister-in-law, we visited Casela Nature Park to take breakfast with a giraffe. 

It was SO special.

We arrived at the park at 7:45 and were the only people there. We couldn’t believe our luck when we discovered that no one else had booked! I think this made it all the more magical. We had free reign to feed the majestic Takada and to take all the photos we liked.

When we reached the platform, we washed our hands and were told we needed to stroke the gentle giant whilst feeding him his combination of leafy branches and pellets. He was so calm and had a calming effect on us all; we were almost in a dreamlike state just focussing on him! It was such a privilege.

The keeper was so caring towards the Takada and incredibly considerate in helping Small and Tiny to engage with and enjoy the experience. Small was very wary at the start but came around near the end whilst Tiny was straight in there and helped herself to many more handfuls of pellets than had been allotted to Takada in the first place! She was in her element busily filling up with feeding pan and tottering over to give it to him!

When we finally convinced Tiny to stop after nearly an hour, it was time for our breakfast. We felt thoroughly spoiled that there was a chef to make us omelettes and cook us sausages, and then pastries, fruits, meats and cheeses. Meanwhile Takada ambled around near the platform and four peacocks came to clear up all the pellets that he and Tiny had dropped.

We’re not fancy, exclusive experience people as a rule but, after this, I think we could be persuaded! It was truly magical.

Afterwards, we had the rest of the day to enjoy the park. It was the first properly hot day of our trip! 

The park covers a lot of land and one of the main activities you can do is a 45-minute safari bus ride around a huge enclosure, presided over by one of Mauritius’ very iconic mountains. During this, we saw gazelles, zebras, rhinos, giraffes, giant tortoises and ostriches amongst other things. The drivers have a bucket of pellets to entice the zebras and giraffes over.

The rest of the park is more of a typical wildlife park with animals in smaller enclosures and a bus to transport you between zones. The main areas are the big cats, the farm animals, the giant tortoises which you can get close to, and the aviaries. I really missed my telephoto lens which is why many of my photos are of other incidental animals spotted along our way like lizards and a bat asleep on a fence! 

Key info: pram-friendly; tickets approximately £25 for adults and £20 for children (4-12); heavy emphasis on purchasing additional experiences; allow a full day; rides available for older children; amenities throughout the park (bringing in food is forbidden but not all snack places were open when we went so we were glad we took bits for the kids). More info and tickets here.

SEVEN COLOURED EARTHS & CHAMAREL WATERFALL

If you Google Chamarel, you’ll see lots of highly-edited images making it look as though the earth is truly every colour of the rainbow! So I’m not really sure what it’s meant to look like in real life. We could definitely see different shades of colour. It reminded me of a lake full of hippos! Apparently, it’s not as vivid after rain but I’m not sure we’ll ever know how colourful it can really be! 

But we enjoyed our wander. There’s also a 100m high waterfall which was just a very brief walk from the car. The park has loads of great information signs and is beautiful and very easy to navigate. We learnt that the waterfall is lined with polygonal columns made of slow-cooling lava and that the colourful effect of the land is created by iron and aluminium oxides forming on the volcanic basalt rock.

There’s also a pricey cafe which sells, amongst other things, ‘the worlds’s coldest ice cream’ (it comes in little pellets), gourmet ice lollies which come in a box, freshly-squeezed pineapple juice and sugar cane juice, and iced coffees. Something for everyone! Tiny also loved the myna birds which flitted about the café!

Key info: mostly not pram-friendly; tickets approximately £10; allow 2 hours.

EBONY FOREST

The afternoon of our Chamarel day was spent at Ebony Forest. It was by far the best wildlife spot we found on our trip. It’s a brilliant place which pledges to ‘educate, plant, inspire, save and nurture the beauty’ of Mauritius. Less than 2% of endemic forests remain so the Ebony Forest is a key biodiversity area. Their conservation efforts are focused on reintroducing endemic species, restoring habitats and removing invasive species. There was an interesting display highlighting (in black) all the now-extinct species Darwin would have seen in 1836 and (in red) all those which are threatened now. Only one tiny bird isn’t!

We saw lots of wildlife, and that’s without particularly stopping to watch and listen like we would have done pre-kids. Here’s what we saw: ornate day gecko, giant tortoises being rewilded, dragonflies, fruit bats, butterflies, red whiskered bulbuls, massive spiders, pink pigeon, echo parakeet, zebra doves, a tenrec snuffling in the undergrowth, Mauritius grey white-eyes, Mascarene paradise flycatcher, Mascarene swiftlets, Madagascar buttonquail, scaly-breasted munia, yellow-fronted canary and giant African land snails.

We also saw this cool balloon plant (above), enjoyed the stunning views and braved the canopy walkway (not very scary but very full of mosquitoes)!

The only downside to the day was the exceptionally strenuous walk up the mountainside in the heat, mainly carrying the girls! 

Key info: definitely not pram-friendly; tickets approximately £6 for adults and £3.50 for children (5-17); allow 4 hours; you need to be relatively fit if you plan to hike to the top and ensure you bring plenty of water; tours available. More info about this brilliant organisation and tickets here.

FLIC EN FLAC BEACH

Our favourite accommodation of the trip – and the base for most of the above adventures – was a one-minute walk from this paradise beach so we had one of our beach days there but also several other beautiful evening/sunset playtimes. 

We loved Flic en Flac beach. Here’s why:
🏖️ It’s very long so, in May at least, it feels empty at many points. Most fellow beach-users were locals.
🏖️ There are ‘snacks’ (little huts or kiosks selling food and drinks) dotted about which mainly close as the sun goes down. 
🏖️ It may not be lined by palm trees but the very typically Mauritian casuarina trees offer plenty of shade and a different kind of beauty. 
🏖️ There are treasures to find: lots of types of coral and different seaweed species to collect, as well as some shells. 🐚We always take a set of cheap kids’ watercolours so the girls can paint things they find!
🏖️ The water was crystal clear and Dean managed to see quite a lot snorkelling not far out 🤿 

Like most Mauritian beaches, it was almost litter-free except for one day when a school trip was visiting (a very common occurrence on a weekday at many beaches it seems). They all seemed to have polythene bags for some reason and consequently many of them escaped and whirled down to the water’s edge. Small got particularly disgruntled about this and dashed about all over the beach, catching and binning them ‘to save the fish’! Proud mum! (see above)

Check out part 2 for stunning waterfalls and gardens, some Mauritian history and more beautiful beaches!