Pamplemousses Things to Do

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The tomb of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam is close to the palace "Mon Repos" in Pamlemousses . In 1958 Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (1900-1985) became the first president of the independant state of Mauritius, after 150 years of occupation by Great Britain.

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Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden is the official name of this garden that was built in 1729 as the first botanical garden in the southern hemisphere.
In 1770 Pierre Poivre took over the garden and started to plant there exotic herbs and trees.
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (1900-1985) was the first president of the independant state of Mauritius, when the island became independant in 1968. You will see his statue at many places and he is also buried inside the botanical garden - see my next tip !

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Talipot Palmtrees are the highest palmtrees with a total hight of up to 24 meters and they will bloom only once, after 30-40 years of just growing. There will be millions of small blossoms then on top, the branches of the blossoms up to 6 meters high. After about 1 year the fruits will be ripe, they will fall down and the tree will die.
Talipot Palms are originally growing in Sri Lanka and on the indian Malabar-coast, the leaves will have a diameter of up to 5 meters.
In my first picture you see the blossoms of this tree, so I was lucky to be there in the perfect time.

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This wonderfull gate is the main entrance to the Botanical gardens of Pamlemousses and I really hope that you will have some spare-time there - maybe while your tourguide gets the tickets - to enjoy all of the great details of this wonderfull work of art.

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Take a look at this tropical tree: all of its trunk and even the smallest branches of this tree are covered all over by thick thorns. It is really amazing what nature sometimes thinks of. Only small insects are able to "get in touch" with that tree, all other animals are kept away by the thorns.
These thorns are like needles with an extra hook on top, so there will always remain a bit of the thorn in your finger when you touch it.

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These wonderfull Amazon Lillies are one of the main attractions in the natural Park of Pamplemousses. In my 3rd photo you can see the strong structure of the backside of the giant leaves of this interesting plant. Some of the leaves even have the shape of a heart - see my last photo !
Of course it is forbidden to take away any of these plants, but the local guide found a leave that was broken already and so he took it in order to show it to us.

There are some huge trees here, such as this tree from Africa. There are also some old trees in the botanic garden. To fully appreciate the flora, I suggest you get a botanist guide in the garden to give you a tour and education.

The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam botanic garden is very old and historical, and some of the trees here are between 200 to 300 years old !