Fun things to do in Mauritius

Llc en Flac is a little place by the sea.
About 30 minutes from the capital city of Port Louis. Since a few years it has expanded and now has become a busy beach city.
It is a nice village to start walks to the Plaine Champagne region.

One would get hungry after doing all these outdoor activities.
And yes, there is a very good restaurant not to far, east from the park.
The Varangue sur Morne used to be a bananas and pine farm.
The restaurant is situated in the main building.
On the terraces you have a great view over the valley, the Indian Ocean and the Morne Brabant (mountain).

The Blue Penny Museum is an excellent museum. Some of the things it covers are nautical charts and equipment used on the route from India to Mauritius. All sorts of documents showcasing various colonial rulers from settlers, military and more. Old paintings, maps and engravings showing the creation of Port Louis. All the information of Paul et Virginie you will need to know. The famous Mauritian 'Post Office' one penny and two penny and so much more. It is opened 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

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The botanical gardens are named after the former prime minister and governor of Mauritius who was cremated there, before his ashes were scattered in the Ganges. The botanical gardens are just 11km from Port Louis so you can combine a visit to the gardens with a visit to the capital easily in a day, and fit in a nice lunch too. Guides are available and it is a good idea to hire one as the gardens are quite vast. They date back to the early 1700’s when they were used to grow vegetables, then later pamplemousses, nutmeg and cloves. In the mid 1800’s the Palms and Eucalyptus trees were introduced.
Today there are 80 species of palm and over 500 hundred species of plants in the gardens, many of them indigenous. The ponds with the Water Lilies are particularly pretty. They flower between late afternoon to the following morning and change from cream to pink during that time. There is also a pond containing the sacred lotus flower and a reconstruction of a sugar mill.
If you want to see Fruit Bats go towards the right behind the ticket office and you can see them roosting in the big tree there.
The gardens are open 08.30 – 5.30 every day.

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Eureka is an old Colonial house which is laid out in a very unusual way with no hallways - all the rooms lead from another with a verandah enclosing around the whole house. It was built in 1830 by an Englishman with the help of a French designer so it has a funny combination of English and French colonial styles.
Eureka is set against the backdrop of the mountains so it is worth going out into the back garden to get a look at the scenery. If you have time, go through the gardens and walk down the path to the waterfalls which are set down in a rocky valley and very pretty.
They have rooms you can rent per night and also serve meals on the verandah, but we didn’t try either of these.
Maison Eureka is open 9-5 mon to sat, 9-3.30 sun

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Although nowhere near as good as the Maldives, snorkelling is good in Mauritius. Our hotel boat took us to the reef at 2pm every afternoon free of charge so we took advanatge of this most afternoons. The water here is surprisingly cold so 1 hour was enough and we saw something different each day. One day we saw a family of Trumpet Fish, two parents and a young one and another day we saw a massive shoal of yellow striped fish swimming quite close to us.
We cheated a bit and took bread to feed the fish most days which meant we were surrounded by many small and colourful fish of all types once we got the food out.

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Ile aux Aigrettes is a tiny rocky island 1km off the South East coast near Mahebourg. It is managed by the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation who have spent many years clearing out the introduced plants and restoring the island to its natural state with as many of the original plants and wildlife species as possible.
A guide from the island collects you from the quayside and the boat crossing to the island takes about 20 minutes. The sea here is a beautiful blue and it is a very scenic boat trip across with the odd dhow passing by.
Once on the island the guide briefs you about the history and the aims of the Mauritius Wildlife Foundations work there as well as the animals, birds and plants you will see. Our first stop was to say hello to Elizabeth one of the Giant Aldabra tortoises who is 15 years old and was ambling slowly through the trees. We then met George and Remy who are approx 45 year old tortoises.
We got a good look at the very rare and endemic Pink Pigeon as well as an Olive White Eye and a Fody. After the birds we spent some time looking at the beautiful orchids in bloom as well as learning about the Ficus, Ebony and Iron Wood Trees. We then watched a pretty Telfair skink rummaging among the leaves and shells.
Many of the animals and birds are endangered so they are monitored regularly by the staff to make sure they are healthy which means they are fairly used to people and so you are able to get quite close and watch them fairly easily. Some of the Fodies are quite curios and come to have a look at the visitors.
The tour takes about 2 hours then you have time in the gift shop, which has an interesting range of animal sculptures and some pretty souvenirs, before the boat takes you back to the mainland. Our guide was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable and we thoroughly enjoyed all the time we spent on the island. It is well worth a visit. I think entrance is about £20pp – we paid a day price for a driver, car and trip around the island.
The Mauritius Wildlfie Foundation also manages projects on Round Island and on Rodrigues.

www.mauritian-wildlife.org

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There are many beautiful and interesting birds in Mauritius. Some are endemic to the island such as the Pink Pigeon and Mauritius Fody. You can see the Pink Pigeon and Olive White Eye at Ile aux Aigrettes and the Mauritius Fody is easily seen around the island.
Because Mauritius has plenty of water and vegetation in parts it is easy to observe all the lovely birds as you walk around. Our hotel had beautiful grounds so we had plenty of opportunity to watch the birds around the pool, on the beach and near to our room.
The restaurant was open at one side so often the birds would come and try to take the left-overs from breakfast or lunch.
As well as the Pink Pigeon and Mauritius Fody we saw Weaver Birds, Zebra Doves, Red Whiskered Bulbuls and lots of Sunbirds.