16 October 2010
We were invited on board Tzigane for dinner along with Dick and Irene and Paul and Suzana. Jenny and John are great cooks, in equal measures. It was just like old times. Tzigane was undisputedly the party boat of our last around the world rally and there is no doubt that this time around it is just the same. Mind you, Tucanon are a hard one to beat! But five days have passed already since our arrival here and David and I have barely caught up on lost sleep.
Mauritius could hardly be described as a beautiful island but it has an interesting landscape, plains broken by high volcanic peaks. We have been spoiled with places like the Marquesas, and French Polynesia. Hiring a minibus we did a day trip around the south of the island along with Jenny and John, Dick and Irene. Trou aux Cerfs, an extinct volcano was our first stop. From here at 650metres above sea level we had views of the surrounding mountains, towns and coast. Today was a little hazy, on a clearer day the coast and the ocean would have been better defined. From what I could see the Mauritians are very hard working people, some amazing modern buildings were in the process of construction on the outskirts of the capital, Port Louis. Where the island is not given over to sugar cane fields, it is densely populated with housing. There are over a million inhabitants. Sugarcane production is the main export with tourism second and everyone appears to speak both French and English equally well. Right in the heart of the south west of the island at Grand Bassin is a water filled crater dotted with Hindu temples and shrines. The Ganga Taleo statue of the Hindu god Lord Shiva rising to 32 metres can be seen from a long way off. An annual pilgrimage attracts people in their thousands where they bathe in the lake which they believe is linked to the River Ganges. Looking into its dark waters we saw gigantic eels. I wouldn't have dipped as much as a toe in there. The highlight of the day was a visit to the Rhumerie de Chamarel. Situated amongst rolling hills, and pineapple plantations, the buildings and surrounding gardens were very tasteful. Only two years old, everything about the place was pristine, even the guides were immaculately turned out. We were taken through the whole process which seemed almost identical to whisky distilling. Nothing of the cane is wasted even the pressed cane is used to generate power for the plant. We sampled eight different flavours of rum which set the scene for a very good lunch indeed at Chez Reuben Restaurant. I have seen many different forms of life in eateries around the world from geckos, to cockroaches, cats and dogs, and birds, but never a rat! The cry went up, "a rat", David and I instinctively lifted our feet and a rat, a very large one scurried amongst the dining tables. We selected from the fish menu and very good it was too. Apres lunch we stopped by Chamarel waterfall with "the coloured earths" just beyond, a remarkable landscape of rainbow coloured ash caused by the uneven cooling of volcanic lava millions of years ago. Returning to Port Louis we stopped at Flic en Flac beach but again when you have been to the Tuamotus, the Cook islands and lately the Cocos Islands it did nothing for us. There were bodies lying on the beach. We are used to our own footprints in the sand. We returned for a happy hour drink at the Suffren Hotel and for once had an early night!
Susan Mackay