Mauritius…….Places of Tourist Interest

In fact, the whole island is a place of tourist interest. The places which are known as ‘places of tourist interest’ are the places considered to be more scenic and beautiful as compared to other sea shores. The island is very small; length: just 61 km north south and width: 45 km east west. The whole island is surrounded by coral reef which acts as natural filter for sea water. The clean and clear water on all beaches is the result of filtration though the coral reef. The reef does not exist at some places such as Port Louis, the capital city. At some places the reef is broken. At such places you find the sea just like what we see at the beaches of Goa. Otherwise, the sea is light green, blue or gray. At some places such as Baie Du Cap, you can see combination of three colours spread over vast expanse.
The west coast is more beautiful than the east coast. Obviously, maximum number of places of tourist interest are at west coast. Commercially, the northern tip of the island is more important because some of the most beautiful places are at northen tip. However, I personally do not agree with that because due to commercialization, the north part is very congested and crowed. I found equally scenic and quite beaches and lagoons at south west end of the island.
I found the following places interesting:
In the North
Trou aux Biches, Mount Choisy, Bain Boeuf, Cap Malheureux, Coin de Mire and of course the capital city of Port Louis and the Fort. The Caudon water front at Port Louis is worth visiting at the evening time. It has most expensive mall and restaurants of Mauritius. So for a person like me, it’s just window shopping there! However, as we call in Mumbai, this place is the “in thing” here.
One of the most amazing place is Pamplemousesses. It is a botanical garden where wonderful varieties of plants, palm trees and water lilies can be seen. In particular, the palm trees and the water lilies are wonderful.
Caudon water front and Bain Boeuf may be familiar to many Indians because they are the most pictured spots in our Bollywood and Tollywood movies. The hero and the heroine are shown here jumping and shaking their bodies randomly. (sorry, I can’t say “dance” to what they actually do)
In the West and South
Wolmar (aka Flic en Flak), Tamarin,Casela Bird Park, Ile aux Benitiers, ( its an island, to be seen from the view point on the adjoining mountain)Chamarel Water Falls, Chamarel Coloured earth (7 colours of earth) and above all…..my most favorite belt…….Le Morne--Baie du Cap--Bel Ombre--Ilot Sancho--Gris Gris. I am going to write separately on this belt.
In the south, there is very beautiful temple of Lord Shiva which is believed by the Mauritians to be the 13th Jyotirlinga and the only Jyotirlinga outside India. The complex is called as Ganga Talao. Its worh visiting when we venture out in the south.
In the East
Ile aux Cerfs, Pointe d’Esny, Blue Bay, Ile de la Passe (it’s an island again)
Each of the place deserve detail narration. I shall try to do that with pictures taken by me as early as possible.