And just like that we’ve been here nearly a month now and I’m not embarrassed to say that we’ve done next to nothing, accept swim eat, read and chill….Island life has taken us into her clutches and resistance was futile. A few fun facts; Mauritius was the only known home of the Dodo, which consequently still remains the national bird, which I find strange, as the island has a wonderful array of colourful of avian life to choose from. Something else of note is that the island has the world’s 3rd largest barrier reef that pretty much surrounds the whole island and offers protection from cyclones and makes for calmer seas, ideal for swimming.
We’ve moved and are in a nice modern apartment, a stones throw from a beach called “Bain Boeuf” (beef bath) it’s a pretty little bay and isn’t too far from where we were before. We’ve continued with our early morning routine of yoga for me and HITT’s for Rach, then it’s a 5 minute walk to the beach and then a further 5 mins as you hug the coastline, to where we have discovered a great little swim spot and we’ve already had the privilege of swimming alongside some very healthy looking Hawksbill turtles, as well as some other colourful fish.
The Island has a heavy Indian influence, with Hinduism being the dominant religion, so we took a trip out to the main Tamil temple, near Port Louis, which is very vibrant and was handcrafted some time ago. We do like a garden, so we decided to take a walk around the Pamplemousse Botanical Gardens, which we really enjoyed, the tropical foliage and fauna is both vivd and interesting to look at, with the birds serenading us with their wonderful little tunes as we sauntered along the winding pathways. As we discovered Mauritius is also home to some of the biggest fruit bats in the world, with wingspans of 80cm’s and there were several trees that they had made home. Sadly I wasn’t able to capture any photos of them in flight, as they’re not that active during the day.
The island is also home to some 15 thousand protected giant tortoises, most of which roam wild on the southern tip of neighbouring Rodrigues island, but there were a few in the pamplemousse gardens. We’ve discovered a cool little restaurant, just around the corner from us, which plays good music and serves our kind of food, so we’ve dropped in there for lunch a few times. We’re really enjoying the warm people and the relaxed feel of the island.
Dream Chasers 