Mauritius Beach Vacation

In March, Rishi and I visited Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, about 1,900 miles from Johannesburg, as the crow (or plane) flies. Mauritius is a beach vacation destination for many Europeans, especially French and Germans, and is a favored getaway for South Africans as well.

 

Above, a few scenes from Mauritius, and a photo of us enjoying the sunset.

Stormy weather during our visit had blown seaweed
and other flotsam onto the beach by our hotel. 

Unfortunately, while we were there, the weather was on the cool side, with ongoing rain and heavy winds. We couldn’t snorkel or go boating as planned due to rough waters and low visibility. On one day, we had to abandon our planned drive around the island because roads were flooded. But by the end of the week, the weather cleared up and we did get some nice beach time.

Our hotel and its garden. Mauritius has a well-developed tourist industry,
with large resort hotels on nearly every decent beach. 

During its human occupation, Mauritius has been a colony of the Dutch Republic, France, and Britain. Both French and English are official languages, with road signs all in English. But the French influence remains strong, and among themselves, most Mauritians either speak French or Mauritian creole, a mix of African languages and French. In addition, because during the British rule somewhere around half a million Indians were brought to Mauritius to work as indentured servants on the island’s sugar cane plantations, the island has a significant population with roots in the Indian subcontinent, and many Mauritians speak Hindi or other Indian languages. Likewise, the local cuisine is an interesting mix of French, African, Indian, and other Asian influences. Yum!

One of the island’s main points of interest is the crater lake Ganga Talao, also known as Grand Bassin. Hindu legend tells that Lord Shiva was flying through the air in a ship with his wife Parvati so that he could show her the world’s most beautiful places. Shiva was carrying a container of sacred water from the Ganges and, while trying to land on Mauritius, accidentally spilled some of the water over the island where it flowed into a crater. He prophesied that someday people from the banks of the Ganges would come to live on the island and the lake would become a sacred site. Today, the lake's shores are home to several Hindu temples, where each year on Maha Shivaratri, approximately 400,000 people come to celebrate. 

The banks of Ganga Talau/ Grand Bassin are home to several Hindu temples. The giant 33 meter (108 ft) tall Shiva statue, shown lower left, stands alongside the road leading to the lake. In the picture at lower right, Shiva is at the far right, and a similarly sized under-construction statue of Durga is at the left. Too bad the giant cell phone tower in the middle spoils the view.

Would I recommend Mauritius to other travelers? The island’s tourist industry is well developed, there’s a wide range of accommodations including gorgeous high-end resorts with top-notch amenities, cuisine is decent, and the roads are fine. In fact, it’s a bit overdeveloped for my taste. So, for Americans, I wouldn’t rate it as a prime destination, because it’s so very far away, and many great beach destinations are available closer to home. But for folks living in Southern Africa, Mauritius is a lovely spot with beautiful scenery. Will I go back? Most likely not, but if I did, I’d aim to stay on the southern or western sides of the island, where the beaches are really choice.

View of a beach on the southern coast of Mauritius.
If you're planning a trip there, I'd recommend you try to stay
on the island's east coast or the southern coast.