Mauritius Information West
|
| There
is so much to say about in the western region of Mauritius,
that we can concentrate only on its southerly part starting
from Flic-en-Flac to Le Morne.
The region between Port Louis
and Tamarin hides two fairly nice spots that are the Albion
lighthouse and "Montagne Jacquot." However, these
spots are best appreciated when visited by sea. |
|
|
|
| |
Climate |
|
The climate on the west coast is relatively dry and can get
very hot in summer. It is therefore a pleasant region all year
round, especially during the windy month of June to August.
A T-Shirt (or less) is all you need in summer (November to March.)
A sweatshirt or something warmer is necessary for winter evenings
(June to August). Up the
mountains near Chamarel, it is advisable to bring warm, long-sleeved
clothes, as it can get cool at any time.
|
|
|
Topography |
|
The
southern half of the west looks and feels very different to
the rest of Mauritius. Being inhabited in vast
majority by the "Creole" population
(i.e. from African origin) and with its savannas, the west definitely
feels like Africa. Due
to the presence of several rivers and streams, the western
coast does not have many bright white beaches; adding to its
peculiarity. The west has also magnificent inland sceneries,
which are easily accessible. It is the combination of these
two aspects that makes the west a place to see absolutely.
There are several small and picturesque
villages in that region; among them we would mention Flic-en-Flac,
Tamarin, Chamarel and Le
Morne Brabant.
|
|
|
| |
Flic-en-Flac |
| |
Flic-en-Flac used to be a charming and quiet
beach resort. Since the end of the 80’s, a few hotels
have been built and more recently this part of the Mauritian
coast has been adopted by international hotel
chains like Hilton, Sofitel or Taj, but there is a public
beach left. More recently important property development projects
took place with a great amount of apartments for sale and
rent. The result is that Flic en Flac got organised and now
counts several restaurants, tourist bureaus, a chemist, bank,
launderette and shops of all types. There is also the “Pasadena
Complex” with a supermarket, gambling house and a night
club.
To enjoy the beach in Flic-en-Flac,
it is imperative to reside in one of the hotels
on the beach as the village itself and its unique public
beach is a bit limitative, especially on weekends when mauritians
go to the beach.
View location on
Google Earth. |
|
| Tamarin
Bay |
|
|
Tamarin Bay
is well known for its surfing conditions
and was one of the most famous "sweet spots" of
the hippy surfers in the late 60's and 70's.
The discovery of
more regular surf spots around the world and the new sophisticated
image of Mauritius have slowly killed its
legend. But despite the natural development of the region,
Tamarin village is authentic; the houses
and villas are almost the same and the people are as open
and friendly than they were 40 years ago. By the way, the
only hotel of the village, the Tamarin Hotel is a building
typical of the 70’s and has been renovated in 2003 in
the exact same style.
The beach in Tamarin
is not white due to the Tamarin river outlet
in the lagoon but the bay has a very peculiar vibe. This place
is magic, if not mystic, especially on “Big Days”
when the whole village is on a buzz, when all have one thing
in mind… surfing. On those days, Tamarin is like back
to the “Flower Power” times that left several
prints in Tamarin. (See our info on surfing
in Mauritius).
View location
on Google Earth. |
|
|
| Places
to visit and Activities |
The western region offers the widest possibilities of excursions,
sports and activities; several are in open places and may not
require guidance nor pre-organisation. |
| |
|
| Black
River Gorges |
|
| The
Black River Gorges is the largest public
nature park of Mauritius, especially since
the building of a tarred road leading straight to the bottom
of the valley.
All the paths start (or end) from the parking area but the best
way to visit the gorges is to be dropped at "Le
Pétrin" (not far from Grand Bassin),
walk down the paths and be collected in the parking area down
the gorges. This would be a three hours walk as compared to
almost five hours if you wish to walk all the way down to the
coastal road.
This walk can be made on one's own or guided by excursionists,
in groups or with dedicated guides.
View location
on Google Earth. |
|
| |
|
| Le
Morne Brabant |
|
Le
Morne Brabant is an isolated rocky mountain and peninsula
situated at the South-Western extremity of the island. The
mountain itself is impressive, as it stands alone, shining
in the skyline, or is it due to all the history and fabulous
stories around it?
Le Morne Mountain
is said to be the place where the runaway slaves went to
hide in order to make sure that they won't be found and
captured. The story does not tell how they got up there
in the first place, but it is said that they had set a wooden
bridge across to come up and down and that they were removing
it once everyone had reached the hide at the summit.
When the slavery got finally
abolished, an expedition was sent to meet them to break
the news. Seeing that many people were coming their way,
they thought the expedition was for the purpose of capturing
them again and many jumped from the top, as they were not
ready to be slaves again.
In addition to the mountain,
the peninsula around it is like paradise in paradise. The
lagoon is magic for its crystal clear waters lying at the
foot of the imposing mountains of Le Morne and "Piton
De La Riviere Noire" (highest peak of Mauritius).
One of the first holiday
hotels of Mauritius was built
on this peninsula when the first regular passenger flights
reached Mauritius in 1947.
Over the past ten years, the wild
part of the peninsula saw the settling of several other hotels.
The wilderness has gone, but the site remains exclusive and
is now being re-discovered by the windsurfers and Kite Surfers
as Le Morne is
the best Kite surfing spot of Mauritius.
View location on
Google Earth.
The
Martello Towers
|
|
| The
Martello tower(s) are famous Worldwide as they have been built
in several places along the English coast, in Canada, |
| Jamaica,
Sri Lanka etc., Mauritius alone counts five
of them. They were built by the British between 1810 and 1846
for defence purposes against their empirical enemies, the French
navy. The irony
in their history lies in the fact that the British were inspired
by a similar tower on the Mortella point of Corsica where
only 38 men firing from the tower managed to keep away English
invaders for many days. The name of Martello was given to
them following some corruption of the name of the Corsican
point.
The Martello tower of
La Preuneuse has been restored in 1999 and is now accessible
for guided visits. |
| |
|
|
The
Casela Park
proposes huge aviaries and thousands of colourful birds from
different regions of the globe, a petting farm where children
can discover the world of wild animals just to mention a few.
Casela is annexed to the Yemen
natural park, which can be visited in 4 X 4 trips,
in a safari bus, on Quad bikes or by taking part in a climb
with lifelines.
It is also possible to go hiking in one of
the numerous private properties of the region if you use accredited
guides such as "Fun
& Culture" or "Yemaya
Adventures" or to go and hunt the wild boar.
There is also a Golf Course
at the Paradis Hotel, and one coming up soon in the region
of Flic-en-Flac.
On the sea-side; Yemaya Adventures
proposes trips in sea kayaks along the river and in Tamarin
Bay with some chances to watch dolphins that regularly come
“for a swim” at hardly 1 Km off the beach. We would
like to point-out that we do not support excursions proposing
swims with dolphins or observation of dolphins in power boats.
We believe sea kayaks and sailing boats are the only acceptable
means to carry-out such an excursion.
Speedboat trips or catamaran
trips within the lagoon.
The West coast counts several wonderful scuba
diving sites and good conditions for surfing, windsurfing
and of course, Kitesurfing. |
|
| Accommodation |
The
western region is very complete in terms of accommodation also,
as not only does it counts many 3
star, 4 star and 5
star hotels, there are beautiful private
beach villas for rent as well as apartments
and guesthouses.
|
|
Updated:
June 2006
|
|
| |
