Couple of decades back
whenever there was a need to get anything done related to passports or flight
tickets, I remember visiting one of the travel agency offices in my hometown.
One of the most interesting attractions in the office was the wall that was beautifully
adorned with posters of quite a few destinations across the world. Among
everything on the wall, one poster always caught my attention. A lovely white
sand beach with beautiful emerald green waters with pine trees lining the
borders of the beach! It was a scene right out of a fairy tale.
Twenty years down the line, I
now stand with the emerald green waters kissing my feet bringing along with it
the lovely white sand blanketing my ankles and right behind me I can see the pine
trees still lining the borders of the beach. Yes! I am in Mauritius!
It was a family vacation my
wife, Ruby and I planned along with our son and daughter, Ryan and Mia, five
and one year old each. We had our reservations about travelling with kids; yet
we decided to go ahead and take that challenge. Time was to prove if the
challenge was worth it!
We took a direct flight of
Emirates from Dubai to Mauritius with a duration of six and a half hours. It
was an A380 aircraft and was our first experience of flying the double decker
jumbo. Fortunately the flight wasn’t that full and we enjoyed the journey
though Mia didn’t sleep much during the flight. After most of the journey above
the blue waters of Indian Ocean, seeing a green patch of land appearing in the
middle of nowhere was a worthwhile sight from the aircraft. We touched down at
Mauritius at 10:40 AM local time at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (SSR) International
Airport which is the main airport in Mauritius.
One thing that surprised us
right after we got into the airport terminal is the extensive usage of Hindi as
a language in Mauritius. We learned later about the influence India has on this
country. A lot of people here speak Hindi along with French and their native
language which is Creole. Tamil also seems to be spoken widely here. The
airport was a small one though seems to have made good use of the solar energy
available in plenty. Officers at the immigration counter were quite friendly as
expected since tourism is the key source of revenue for this island nation.
We’d planned 5 days of vacation in Mauritius and being Indian nationals got the
Visa on arrival for 30 days.
One good decision that we
took was to take the baby stroller with us. The efforts of carrying the baby
around in our arms would’ve otherwise spoiled the whole trip. We had booked our
stay at Emeraude Beach Attitude Hotel a three star beach resort at a place
named Belle Mare which was an hour’s journey from airport. Nicha, the guy
responsible for the airport transfer we booked was waiting outside the terminal
with a name-board with my name written on it. Being the month of November it
was the beginning of summer in Mauritius and the temperature was a pleasant 27 degree
Celsius with lots of sunshine!
The drive to our hotel was
through very scenic routes and the geography shared a striking resemblance to
Wayanad, one of the districts in my state of Kerala in India! We could see a
lot of sugarcane plantations en route and Nicha said that’s the major
cultivation in Mauritius. Ironically you don’t get to buy any of these
sugarcane from the local markets since everything gets converted into sugar.
Another sight that raised our curiosity was heaps of black boulders that we
could see on the farms on our way. These were the remains of the volcanic
eruption that happened millions of years back. Mauritius itself is an island of
volcanic origin.
Soon enough we were at our
hotel and were welcomed at the reception with some sort of a drink mixed with
local rum. The drink was so good that when we kept the glass down it was almost
full still. We had opted for a half-board option which includes room, breakfast
and dinner. After freshening up quickly we headed towards the dining area where
we had lunch. We then decided to take a quick nap before going to the beach.
By evening we went out for a
stroll on the beach which was right across the road from the hotel. The walk
through the pine trees was a pretty unique feeling. We realized that we were
quite late for the beach as we were the only ones there at that time. Also due
to low tide, water had receded exposing algae and some other marine organisms.
We decided to come back tomorrow for a better experience. Dinner followed and
by ten o clock we hit the bed, something which we can’t even imagine doing back
home! Another good thing about the resort is that they do not have Wi-Fi in the
rooms and hence you are forced to live the good life you had a couple of
decades back where your eyes were not glued to the screens.
Day two started with English
breakfast which we learned is the norm there at the hotel. Though we’d
initially thought of going for a sight-seeing tour that day, we changed our
plans to spend time at the beach instead. There was a glass bottom boat ride
offered by the hotel and we opted for that to begin the day with. We had to be
a bit extra careful to board the boat with two little kids. The driver of the
boat helped and were welcomed to the sight of an Indian flag on the boat!
Even before getting on to the
glass bottom boat we’d noticed something strange about the beach there. Though
the beautiful emerald green water and white sands were all there, one key
ingredient seems to be missing. The waves! We could see the waves stopping a
bit far away as if someone is not permitting them from reaching the beach. We
got the answer to this puzzle during the boat ride. There is a natural coral
reef up to 2 kilometres from the beach and this acts as a barrier to the waves
from coming closer to the shore. This coral reef is what we see right through
the glass bottom of the boat. There were quite a few fishes as well and kids
were especially excited to see them so close. The crystal clear waters also
helped to see them up close.
One thing I very clearly
missed was getting a filter for my camera so that I could capture the complete
beauty of this paradise! Nevertheless, images etched deep down in the mind is
no competition for a digital image sitting somewhere in an online album.
After almost an hour of
appreciating the beauty of corals, we returned to the shore. Walked through the
white sandy beaches and collected a few pieces of corals that were lying
around. There were quite a few coconut trees lining the beach and some dried
grass as well. This combination gave a distinct mix of blue, green and hay
colours. A perfect frame for some good beach shots and that’s exactly what we
did! After the photo shoot we went for another stroll on the beach and also
explored the rocky terrain on the beach where we were greeted by schools of
tiny fishes.
Lunch followed and we took a
nap after that. The hectic days of work seems to be somewhere in the distant
past and that’s exactly what this break was meant to be! Ryan and I decided to
check out the pool at the resort. It was fun to be in the water together. He in
fact taught me a couple of swimming actions he learned in school! After this we
went again to the beach for a short walk. Tide was low and we saw quite a few
marine organisms like shells and sea urchins in their natural habitat. It was
an interesting experience for everyone to see these beings directly, than only
in books or TV channels. We had planned to take a North Tour of Mauritius
tomorrow and had informed Nicha to reach in the morning. Had an early dinner
and hit the bed so that we could get up tomorrow to begin our tour-de-Maurice!
I got up early in the
morning, surprisingly without having the need for an alarm! Got out with my
camera without disturbing Ruby and kids. Went for a walk through the pine trees
and clicked a few shots of the Mauritian morning. Was back on time for
breakfast and pretty soon we were on our way to Port Louis, the capital of
Mauritius towards the North of this small island nation. Sugarcane fields and
sceneries that reminded us again of Kerala, passed by. Advertisements talking
about downloading Bollywood songs also caught our attention. A surprising find
was the presence of the golden shower tree, Cassia fistula, which is the state
flower of Kerala known as ‘Kani konna’!
Nicha dropped us near the
harbour at Port Louis. We walked around the small town and explored the old
market area there. We’d to cross a subway to reach the other side of the road
and guess who was waiting there to say ‘Hi’ to us?! None other than Shahrukh
Khan! Of course, as a poster on the wall of subway for his latest movie ‘Dear
Zindagi’ :)
Our next stop was SSR
Botanical Garden which was a naturally maintained green belt and that is the
best part about it. You don’t get the feeling of a well pruned scientifically
laid out botanical garden. Instead you get the feeling of walking through your
backyard with the exception of some roads in between. We had our lunch there at
a gazebo where quite a few birds gave us company. There was a stream flowing
next to the gazebo which was home for quite a few fishes and ducks among other
species of birds. Ryan and Mia had a great time feeding these birds and watch
them at such close proximity. After a bit of asking around we finally ended up
at, literally, the biggest attraction in the Botanical Garden, The Giant Water
Lily pond! The sheer size of the leaves were overwhelming. As mentioned in the
information board there, the diameter of a healthy leaf under optimum
conditions can reach up to 3 meters! We also said hi to a family of giant
turtles before heading to our next stop.
Picture this. A huge volcanic
mountain jutting its head out of the sea watching the beautiful white sands on
the beach lined with Royal Poinciana/flamboyant trees where a lovely red
coloured church sits right there on the shore with the bell tower holding its
head high announcing good news to the world. That’s Cap Malheureux for you. Happy
with the opportunity to pray, we got ourselves a few pictures clicked with a
couple of French tourists there. By that time it was getting dark and we started
back to the hotel. The shops over here in Mauritius all close down by six in
the evening since they are open seven days a week. The roads are all quite deserted
after sun down to the extent that you feel safer to be indoors before sunset. End
of day three. South of Mauritius, you get to see us tomorrow!
Another early morning in
Mauritius. Mia had got up quite early today and hence it was a morning out for
daddy and daughter together. We went for a walk on the beach. Saw a lot of
interesting marine beings including a couple of star fishes. A school of tiny fishes
also said good morning to Mia! Guess the morning breeze was so soothing that
soon she slept off in my arms. Shortly after that we had our breakfast and started
off to explore the South of Mauritius.
Nicha took us first to a diamond
cutting shop where a whole lot of diamonds in different shapes, sizes and
colours from across the world were on display and sale. From there we went to a
ship model manufacturer and it totally was an out-of-the-world experience. Just
walking through the models of the old war ships that once ploughed the oceans of
the world was simply an awesome feeling! Unfortunately they didn’t allow
photography there, else Ruby would’ve had a tough time to get me out of there.
Our next stop was an old
volcanic crater. Though the crater now looks more or less like a valley with a lot
of greenery, the mere thought that once it was a bed to molten lava send
shivers down the spine! The Black River Gorges National Park followed which was
a very beautiful view point where we spent a while, fully taking in the beauty
of nature at its best.
Chamarel was waiting for us
and hence we didn’t delay much to visit this location, famous for its seven
coloured earth, the result of a volcanic activity. We stopped briefly to get
some souvenirs from the gift shop there. We also got some coffee grown within that
private coffee plantation in Chamarel. Before it was too late in the evening,
we headed back to the hotel for our last night at Mauritius.
Day five and our last day at this
paradise on Earth, we went around a bit to check out the small town of Belle
Mare. Got a few goodies specific to Mauritius and before we went back to the
hotel for packing our stuff we had a last few moments spent at the beautiful beach.
Nicha was not available to
take us to the airport and hence arranged a friend of his to pick us up. We
were dropped by one o’ clock in the afternoon for our flight. The airport was
quite crowded, nevertheless we did a bit of last minute shopping at the duty
free store as well. Soon we were on board an A380 EK702 flight back to Dubai.
Thanking God Almighty for a
wonderful vacation at this beautiful piece of land on the face of Earth our
aircraft cut through the clouds leaving the mesmerizing Mauritius! We bid adieu
to the fantastic beaches taking back home tonnes of memories that will
definitely last us for a lifetime!
The Album
https://goo.gl/photos/KwdPpiYxsKB8c2zJ7
The Album
https://goo.gl/photos/KwdPpiYxsKB8c2zJ7
