For North Americans if they have even heard of Mauritius, most likely they only have a vague idea where it is. If you are curious, it is about 867 km east of Madagascar and 5645 km from Australia in the western Indian Ocean. It is a long way from anywhere.
I was amongst that group who was not familiar with it until I met a lovely nurse at a hospital in Calgary. Once she heard about our lifestyle she proudly proclaimed she was from Mauritius and we should definitely go there. My curiosity was piqued.
Our first impression of Mauritius was that of a beautiful tropical island. The beaches we saw were wonderful with sand at the shoreline and trees about 30 metres back that you could easily retreat to when you had roasted enough in the sun. The water temperature was around 29ºC along the shoreline. However, there were clouds gathering in our future.
As luck would have it, once we had picked up our rental car and found our apartment (no easy feat given the road layout) we were informed that a tropical storm was headed our way. Shortly after that it was upgraded to Cyclone Belal. What followed that was a message from the dive shop we had booked 6 days of diving and a Wreck Divers Course with, that all diving was cancelled. Now I am fully cognizant of why that was happening, but it does not diminish our disappointment at the news.
Even though the weather was diminishing every day we did have a couple of days to drive around some of the island. There are four volcanoes on the island. This is the crater of the extinct volcano Trou aux cerf, which last erupted 700,000 years ago. While walking around the rim of the crater we were reminded of the incoming storm when the clouds opened up on us.The 1 km walk around the crater is enjoyable, but the Macaque Monkeys that hang around one of the car parks do draw a lot of attention. They are not endemic to the island. The best bet is the Portuguese brought them to the island around 1602. There are upwards of 35,00 wild monkeys and 10,000 captive ones involved in an active breeding program. About 10,000 are exported every yearWe got as far south as Le Morne, which is definitely the pricier area on the island. On the way back we stopped at the Black River Gorges and Chamarel waterfalls. Gorgeous area, but due to the weather there would be no hiking to explore the area.
The next day things started shutting down all over the island. We learned from the dive shop that due to insurance requirements you must be moored in a marina during cyclone for your policy to be valid. There was a frenzy along the shore to get all the small craft up onto the beaches (including our dive boat).
Red FodyYellow-fronted CanaryCommon Myna BirdThe Weaverbird
As there was a curfew and no-go order in place for the 18 hours as the cyclone swept over the island there wasn’t much to do except try to photograph some of the local birds that were taking refuge around the power pole outside our kitchen window. We also lost power for 14 hours, but all in all it went very well for us. We heard reports that 9 people had been killed on the island in relation to the storm. All the more reason to just hunker down.
When we emerged after the curfew was lifted it was nice to see the locals out enjoying the surf as well as the amount of clean up that had already taken place.It was the definition of island living on Pereybere Beach after the storm. Music was playing and people were checking up on each other. It was a wonderful vibe.
As a quick spoiler, we did get to do some diving. Stay tuned.
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