Mauritius

Lovely place with Lovely people and a lovely atmosphere!

Was planning to book a trip for Mauritius since my engagement days but with Pallavi not having a passport, it got delayed. Finally booked a 7 day package from MakeMyTrip. Since the trip date was very close, it worked out little expensive than expected. It included 3 days of sightseeing by seaside holidays, hotel accommodations and the airport transfers.

Anyway, we flew from Bangalore at 3:30 AM on Tuesday, landed up in Chennai at 4:30 and after an hour of walking around the airport, started again... reached Mauritius airport at around 10:30 AM local time (12:00 PM IST). The flights were spacious and had a TV Screen for each seat like in Singapore airlines. Food was Okay.

A guide there showed us to the Van which would take us to the hotel. It was an hour's drive and mostly went through the interiors of Mauritius. FlicEnFlac where our resort was located was very scenic and worth all the praise it gets :).. The true white sand (formed out of the corals)... the bluish and shallow water makes it an ideal beach destination.. The GoldBeach Resort we stayed in was comfortable though not that extravagant. After lunch, we roamed around the market in a place called Wolmar. Bought some calling cards.. souvenirs.. juices, choc's etc, had our dinner and slept.

Worst part of the Mauritius trip was when it started raining heavily due to a concept they called "Anticyclone" - a Cyclone which doesn't move away but has to die down in the place. It was supposed to be the best season there and we were cursing our luck but things turned out great after 2 days!

First day's trip was changed to North City tour from Island Tour as it was raining and island tour wasn't possible. We were drenched in the rain but still managed to do some shopping in the Jumbo Shopping malls and few other malls. Saw the Port Louis Fort and port and returned to the Hotel early by 3:30 PM.

Next day was raining too and we did the south tour. Went to some shops and then the sight seeing spots. Watched an now dormant volcano crater, then the sacred lake with Hindu temples all around it. Then visited the Chamarel Waterfalls and the Chamarel 7 colored Earth. It was raining in the morning but by evening it stopped raining and the view of the waterfalls and the Seven colored  earth was enjoyable.

Since it stopped raining, the trip to the Island "ile aux Cerfs" was planned for the 3rd day. The trip started with the undersea walk, where we were able to walk on the sea bed at a depth of around 10 feet, feeding the fish and seeing them along with the coral bed was a great joy!. Then we headed to the island where we did parasailing, waterfall view and around the island in the speed boat. Pallavi really enjoyed the Para-sailing and undersea walk. We came back to the island shore at 3:00 and had to skip lunch as it was pack up time. just roamed around the island and headed back to the hotel.

 

  Next day went to Le Vanille Nature park which had abundant tortoises and crocodiles. We had great time with the giant tortoises - sitting on them, walking with them, feeding them and just gazing at them.

From there, we headed to the La Casella park - which is a famous bird park. Recently some Zimbabweans shifted to Mauritius and have a lion Safari named "Walk with the lion". Here we got a chance to walk with 2 adult lions (lion and a lioness) in the enclosed forest area. Truly once in a lifetime experience. Pallavi was the more daring one of all the people there and had a tough time cajoling her to maintain some distance from the giant lion :-) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did something known as extreme ride on the next day. This was in a place named le Monc and the speed boat was twirled around, jumped around and fled through the ocean. It was a stomach churning experience. Then we went to the beautiful Blue Bay beach and did the "glass bottom" boat coral watch. spent some more time on the white beaches in blue bay and the gri gri beach and then headed home.

Last day in Mauritius (okay, for this trip) was filled up with packing and moving out of the hotel room by 11:00. We did some shopping and then headed to Flic-En-Flac beach. It was great timepass - around 50 feet from the shore and still only hip high water level. Swimming, walking in the water, jumping around - it was great fun. Changed dresses and then headed to the airport.

That concluded the 7 wonderful days we spent in Mauritius and each moment had it's own charm :-)