Mauritius has been on my radar for a while, but I never seriously considered visiting it. I've always seen it as an expensive destination where rich people go spend their honeymoon. But it's warm around christmas, there is some nature to be explored, and it's small enough to allow me to see most of it in two months. And so in December 2021 I decided to book a flight to Mauritius.
The flight from CDG to MRU was delayed due to technical problems with the airplane. I didn't mind the delay as I was to spend about two months there.
We landed after lunch, but it took me an hour to go through the security, immigration, and health checks. At 5pm I was welcomed by the taxi driver who would take me to Flic en Flac, on the other side of the island. It took us more than an hour to get there due to the heavy afternoon traffic.
I spent the first two weeks in Flic en Flac, on the west coast of Mauritius. Each side of the island has its own charm: the west is known for colorful sunsets, the north for its hot weather, the south for its wild coastline.
One of the first orders of business in a new country is to get a local SIM card. The largest mobile operator on Mauritius had a special offer «pay one month, get two months» for unlimited data. It was as if they knew I’d stay for two months.
Signal strength and quality is good in most populated areas. Only far away from civilization (such as deep inside the national park) I didn't have any signal. For regular remote work, signal is good enough.
After checking into the apartment I also noticed that I need socket adapters. Before leaving Switzerland I completely ignored the fact that other countries may use different sockets. Mauritius uses both type C (known as the standard «Euro» socket) and type G (UK) sockets, two completly incompatible types. Some apartments had sockets which accept both types of plugs, but the first apartment I was staying at didn't, so I needed an adapter.
The nearest place where I could buy all these things was the Cascavelle Mall about 10 minutes drive outside of Flic en Flac.
A car is without doubt the best way to get around Mauritius. Before I got my own car I used taxis or public transport. The issue with taxis is not only that they are expensive, but also difficult to find. The market is just too small for a reliable taxi coverage. Public transport on the other hand, while it doesn’t cover the more remote places, runs fairly regularly, and is cheap.
Public transport is only used by the poorer people, and crazy tourists who want to try it out. The bus doors stay permanently open to ease air circulation and make it quicker to hop on and off. Fares are paid in the bus directly to the conductor, in cash. And while the busses will get you to your destination, there is no guarantee about timelines – the busses drive at their own pace.
I paid 25 Rs to get from Flic en Flac to Cascavelle Mall.
In December Flic en Flac was a nice, quiet place. The beach has seen a bit more people on the weekends, but was mostly empty during the week. On reason might have been time of the year, few people choose to spend Christmas abroad. And indeed after Christmas and New Years I started seeing a lot more tourists. A second contributing factor might have been the fact that for a long time Mauritius has had very strict COVID regulations. Picnic on beaches was strictly forbidden.
Police enforced the regulations with fines. Locals were genuinely afraid walking without masks in public, for fear of getting a hefty fine. The police was more forgiving to tourists, but even those were not safe. During the two months I met many who were fined, and was myself stopped once for not wearing a mask. Thankfully the police chose to let us off with a warning as I was with a local who knew how to negotiate with them.
The first two weeks I didn’t even want to do any activities, I just wanted to sleep and spend the day at the beach. It took me that long to let go of all the stress from the previous months and get into vacation mode.
I haven’t touched the water during that time either. There I was on an island surrounded by an ocean and I didn't feel the urge to jump into it. Only later as I transitioned from tourist to permanent-resident-for-two-months I started to appreciate the warm water. A quick dip at the end of an early morning run along the beach, to cool myself off during the hottest hours of the day just after noon, or floating in the water during the sunsets.
I spent the days between Christmas and New Years on the beach, far away from the christmas rush that keeps people in Europe busy, even stressed, at the end of each year. I felt none of that stress. I had no parties to organize, no gifts to prepare, no major work to finish. And I felt the same relaxation in the people around me.
After two weeks I got a car. My plan was to drive once around the island and camp on beaches. That way I'd see all sides of Mauritius. I didn't make a full circle though, I skipped the capital. The capital didn't seem like an interesting city worth spending my time in.
The main island of Mauritius was created by volcanic activity some 8 million years ago. Some peaks remain and offer good viewpoints. One of the more popular ones is Le Morne Brabant on a peninsula in the south-west. It was the first mountain I climbed. A trail leads to a viewpoint at 400 meters above the sea level from where you can see the lagoon in the south and the north.
The Le Morne village at the foot of the montain offered me a picture of how the poorer people on Mauritians live. Until that time I didn't see any strong signs of excessive wealth or poverty. But the difference between the rich and poor is there if you look closely.
The first time I drove through Le Morne I didn't pay attention to the village and its people. But I came back to that village towards the end of my stay on Mauritius and stayed there for a week.
The south-western corner of Mauritius is partially covered by Black River Gorges National Park. Its most popular attractions are waterfalls and hiking trails. The tallest monuntain of Mauritius is also located inside the park and can be reached via an easy trail.
If you mention the word «Wakashio» everybody on Mauritius knows what it is. For outsiders the word probably sounds like a random Japanese word. For locals it means the worst ecological disaster that affected the island nation. Wakashio is the name of a Japanese bulk carrier that ran aground on a coral reef on 25 July 2020. About 1000 tons of oil spilled into the ocean. In January 2022 the cleanup operations were still underway.
At around 10am the small pier in Trou d'Eau Douce is swarmed by groups of tourists who board boats for day trips around the east coast. An excursion on a catamaran to the GRSE Waterfall, with lunch served on the boat, a short swim at the reef, and the rest of the afternoon spent at Ile aux Cerfs costs less than 1500 Rs (for locals, tourists pay more).
Ile aux Cerfs is a small island not far from Trou d'Eau Douce. I visited the island twice: once as part of the catamaran day trip, and once alone. The second time I hired a water taxi from Trou d'Eau Douce and spent the day working from the island.
The north coast was remarkably hotter, and I saw a lot more tourists there. It's not the nicest part of Mauritius to appreciate beaches and nature, but it was the most pleasant to work from.
When working remotely you don't want to work from an apartment all the time, especially not when you live on a tropical island. And so cafes, beach bars and alternative locations to work from are important. The north has those. Places where you can sit, drink, eat, work, and jump into the water in between calls or meetings.
Balaclava was the closest I came to making a full circle along the coast. Next up would be the capital and I had no interest in seeing it. I diverged inland to have a look at Le Pouce and Pieter Both. The two mountains are iconic peaks visible from many parts of the island. They are only a few meters shorter than the tallest mountain of Mauritius. While the top of Le Pouce is easy to reach – it's an easy climb of only ~450m from the car park – getting to the top of Pieter Both is only possible with climbing equipment.
Though that didn't stop me from trying to get as far up Pieter Both as I was able to. The access trail to the mountain is not marked and at times the path through the dense forest is barely visible. So much so that I go lost once and had to backtrack. Then there is one part over steep rocks that can be climbed without ropes but it's very slippery, and offers little to hold onto. The last few meters to the top of round the rock formation require rock climbing equipment.
I failed to remember that going up is often easier than going down. In the end I made it down safely, but there were sections which I didn't know how to climb down and was contemplating jumping. I was that desperate.
From Moka, the village under the two mountains, it's not far to Flic en Flac, where I concluded my circle around Mauritius. I spent the rest of my time on Mauritius on the east coast: in Le Morne, Albion, and Black River.
My week in Le Morne was overshadowed by the passing of Cyclone Batsirai to the north of Mauritius. Everybody on Mauritius and surrounding islands has been tracking the cyclone before it got close, so we all knew what was coming to us and had time to prepare. My landlord reassured me that the house is well built, with concrete walls and roof.
Luckily I was in a relatively sheltered location, surrounded by mountains that slowed the winds, on the opposite side of Mauritius where the Cyclone hit the hardest. Still, the destruction was clearly visible: uprooted trees, debris lying on streets, and light flooding.
Most reefs I had the opportunity to snorkle at were pretty barren. And indeed I was told that most reefs have lost much of their life over the past few years. The reef in Albion I enjoyed the most, not least thanks to my Airbnb host who offered to show me the nicest spots. We swam way out beyond where the waves break, into the deeper water. The reef was much more alive there.
Before we returned from the beach the host stopped by his friend, a deep sea fisher who just came back to the port after a few days out on the sea. After standing around the boat for about half an hour, while the fisher was preparing to distribute the catch to all interested parties, we walked back home with a 8 kilo Yellowfin Tuna.
Sugarcane plantations are hard to miss on Mauritius. It seems as if most of the arable land is used for growing sugarcane, either to process into sugar or to produce the famous Mauritian Rum.
Out of the hundreds sugar mills that existed in the 18th century only a few remain. The one in Pamplemousses has been converted into a nice museum that displays the impressive machinery that's needed to process the sugarcane.
Same with Rum distilleries. Rhumerie de Chamarel, a distillery located in the hills of Chamarel, is one of the few that remain. The tour through the factory was not impressive, the process of producing rum is neither complex nor interesting. We spent about 10 minutes going through the factory, and half an hour tasting the different flavours of Rum that they produce.
Chamarel is also worthwhile to visit for the Seven Coloured Earth Geopark. Despite its name, the seven coloured earth is just one of the attractions in it, the Chamarel Waterfall is equally impressive.
I didn't find a way to climb down to the bottom of the Chamarel Waterfall. Only later I found out that it is possible. I was at the bottom of the Cascade 500 Pieds waterfall though. It it relatively easy to reach if you know how to find the trail head.
This time I didn't get into any big trouble with the police or military. There was one time where I drove a bit too fast and got a speeding ticket. It was towards the end of January and the police hadn't reached their quota yet and so they were waiting on a popular spot outside of Quatre Bornes.
It wasn't expensive, but annoying. I couldn't pay in cash nor with a credit card on the spot. It makes sense to prevent bribes. I also couldn't pay online though, which was the annoying part.
Since I was caught in the Black River District, I had to go to the Black River District Court to pay in person. The court is located in a pretty unsuspecting building on the outskirts of Bambous. The opening hours are reflective of how all goverment institutions work: it's open weekdays between 9:30am and 2:30pm. The process itself was very smooth though, it took less than five minutes.
The tallest mountain in Mauritius is Piton De La Petite Rivière Noire. It is only a couple meters taller than Le Pouce, and equally easy to reach. From the car park it's less than 200 vertical meters, and takes about three hours there and back.
Just as I parked the car at the trail head a police car pulled up to tell me that it would be better to park at the Gorges Viewpoint, a few hundred meters back. The car park at the trail head is just a small patch on the side of the road, and there have been car breakins in the past. I looked at the ground and saw broken pieces of car windows and I was inclined to believe them.
I didn't have any choice though, I just locked my keys in the car and it would take the car rental company at least two hours to get someome to my location that could unlock the car. Just enough time to go the the peak and back.
While I never felt in danger, I've been repeatedly told that I may be robbed or even killed when out alone. The crime and murder rates are a bit higher than in Europe but nothing that I was worried about. Others were more worried about me than I was. It's a common theme wherever I go.
Surveillance cameras are on every corner. Always put on tall white poles, the distinct white boxes with black half-dome covers pointing downwards are easy to spot. I am not used to having that many cameras around me, and they didn't make me feel any safer.
Mauritius doesn't have any official language. The government conducts business in English and French. However lingua franca of the country is the Mauritian Creole. English has served me well, most people working in businesses catering to tourists will speak it. But communicating with regular citizens was near impossible for me, my knowledge of French is too limited and Mauritian Creole, even though derived from French, is one more step away.
My return to Switzerland in mid February 2022 was a small shock. I went straight from 30 degrees celsius and beach life to gray, rainy weather and temperatures barely above freezing point.
It was not the weather though what hit me the hardest. It was the grim look on the faces of the people I saw walking through Zurich. When I looked around me all I saw were lifeless bodies running between home and work.
The city seemed lifeless, I didn't recognize it. I felt like a foreigner, as if I didn't belong there.