29 December 2023 – Day 7 – Pereybere, Mauritius

After a breakfast of cereal and milk I started out on my day’s schedule. The Sir Seewoosagaur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden is commonly known as the Pamplemousses Botanic Garden and is the oldest botanical gardens in Mauritius. The garden was first constructed by Pierre Poivre in 1770 and is famous for its long pond of giant Amazonian water lilies. The garden covers an area of around 37 hectares, is historical and well maintained. Pamplemousses was probably the earliest of the 'botanical gardens' in the tropics; maintained as a nursery for the acclimatization of potential crop plants from overseas mostly from Europe and the East. Chief among the first introductions was cassava (manioc), which Labourdonnais brought from Brazil to provide food for the island's slaves. 

The Samadhi of SSR is within the garden and there is a memorial to Aniruddh Jagannath, too. It was good to see trees planted by Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Vajpayee and an avenue named after Indira Gandhi in the Botanical Garden. The giant Talipot palm is a flowering plant with the largest inflorescence in the world. It lives up to 60 years before bearing flowers and fruits. It dies shortly after. The white lily pond, tortoise and deer pens, the colonial Mon Plaisir building and a massive boabab tree are other attractions in the Botanical Garden where an entrance fee of 300 MUR is levied. A guided tour is also available at 75 MUR per person.

The L'Aventure du Sucre is astonishing and one can understand why it has over a 100,000 footfalls annually. L’Aventure du Sucre is a former sugar factory that has been carefully restored following its closure in 1999, after 200 years in operation. This heritage site is a trailblazer for cultural tourism in Mauritius; the eco-museum offers a 5,000 m² educational trail and ten themed interactive areas that invite visitors to discover the history of an island shaped by sugar and the secrets of sugarcane.

It also tells the story of colonisation, indentured labour, the life and times, culture, flora and fauna and much, much more. A serious visitor will invest a full day here. The entrance fee of 700 MUR includes a tasting session of 11 types of sugar and many varieties of rums, whiskeys and liqueurs; there is no limit to what one can imbibe as long as one doesn't give the impression that you are there to drink - you have to have the air of a connoisseur! Unfortunately, I had to limit my intake as I had a Swift to motor around and many more places to visit.

The Van Ann chocolate factory was founded in 1992 and was named after its creator, the Belgian Ann Van Den Bergh. Ann landed in Mauritius in 1983 and decided to launch into chocolate production. She imported her raw material from Belgium to make her unique creations. The Van Ann chocolatier factory visits stopped with the onset of pandemic and is yet to resume. Moreover, since the factory was closed due to the New Year break the shop had little to offer. Moreover, the two girls who were manning the retail outlet was least interested in entertaining a visitor in the holiday season.

Built in 1856 and inhabited by a Mauritian family for over 150 years, the Château de Labourdonnais invites visitors to discover the 19th-century art of living in Mauritius along with a visit to the estate and complimentary juice and rum tasting - 4 rums, 6 liqueurs and juice. The furniture made of quality timber and rattan, the exquisite crockery and outstanding flooring stood out during the visit. The entrance fee is 700 MUR and there is an excellent restaurant on the premises.

Poudre d'Or became a popular tourist site due to a couple of reasons. First is the memorial in tribute to the sinking of the Saint-Géran in 1744 off the coast of Poudre d'Or with 167 people on board, of which only 9 survived. This maritime disaster inspired Bernardin de Saint-Pierre for his novel Paul and Virginie. Second, this is where the plot of the novel Les Rochers de Poudre d'Or (2003) by the Mauritian novelist Nathacha Appanah takes place, about Indian "indentured laborers" working since the end of the 19th century in sugar cane farms. The beach is frequented by locals mostly.

By the time I got to Goodlands I was hungry as hell. I walked into a KFC outlet and had fried chicken and fries. The market in Goodlands is probably the most prominent thing there. The shops, locally known as ‘tabaji’ are beautifully decorated with coloured fabrics and dresses. Apart from clothing and accessories, fruits and vegetable shopping is a big part of the attraction. The local produce is put out for sale every day. The aromas that float around the food joints tempt one to try out local and traditional fare. What is known as Ice Gola in India is a big hit with locals and visitors alike. The market was extremely busy with people buying up things from table mats to new dresses and gorging on food and drink.

The Grand Gaube beach, because of its more rustic and rocky landscapes that are not adapted to swimming and water sports, is normally not that much in favour as her sister beaches in Pereybere, Trou aux Biches and Mont Choisy. As the seabed of Grand Gaube beach is full of corals and the sand strip are limited Grand Gaube is a mostly a deserted beach. It has little to offer from a purely touristic point of view.

The Anse La Raie beach mystifies by its tranquil beauty. The charm of Anse La Raie lies in its calm and serene ambiance. It is smallish beach, but with lots of water sports. I particularly liked the recycled use of plastic bottles to float a ‘statue’ in the water.

The red church, Notre Dame de Auxiliatrice is on the bank of a pretty beach in Cap Malheureux. Its bright red roof against the azure skies and turquoise blue waters is striking. This Roman Catholic Church is one of the most renowned in the country. The simple chapel was founded in 1938 and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is situated at the very northern point of Mauritius, offering breath-taking views of the five northern islets. Cap Malheureux translates to “Unfortunate/Unhappy Cape”, due to the numerous ships which floundered there in the past.

With that, the tour of the northern part of Mauritius was over and so also a week on the lovely island.