OUR PICKS: Activities
Belle Mare North from Trou d'Eau Douce, as far as Pointe de Flacq, a 10km-long beach has some of the best white sand and azure ocean in Mauritius, and is also, unsurprisingly, home to the largest stretch of luxury hotels in the country. Black River Gorges National Park Mauritius' sole national park is a spectacularly wild expanse of thick forest covering 3.5% of the island's surface, and is home to over 300 species of flowering plants and nine species of bird unique to Mauritius, including the famous pink pigeon which is staging a very gradual comeback from the brink of ¬extinction. Rose Hill Rose Hill, wedged between Beau Bassin and Quatre Bornes in the middle of the Central Plateau conurbation, is virtually a suburb of Port Louis and a major cultural centre for Mauritius. The town sits at the foot of the impressive Corps de Garde mountain and retains a few interesting old buildings from the colonial era. It also has a reputation as a cheap place to shop, particularly for imported Indian textiles. Source: Lonely Planet
The market, the buzzing heart of town, has bright handicrafts stalls
with an impressive range of rainbow-hued, hand-woven baskets and spice stalls where one can buy bundles of vanilla and kilos of nutmeg, mace or cinnamon for next to nothing. The fruit and vegetable section smells of ripe pineapples and sells
everything imaginable from the Garden of Eden except apples. I fondle fat aubergine, marvel at the size of the bright orange pumpkins and admire the mountains of capsicum and chilli peppers. Mauritius is in the tropics so tropical fruit and veg are abundant and, in the cooler mountain areas, vegetables such as cabbages, beetroot, cauliflower and
carrots thrive. This is vegetarian heaven. The Mahebourg waterfront is busy; boys ride bicycles, courting
couples chat and make promises with eyes and smiles, families stroll in the late afternoon and fishing boats with bright sails scurry home over a picture-blue lagoon. The lagoon and distant islands on the reef are beckoning. We go
to the cove where the fishing boats are and negotiate a day trip with Tony, a fisherman who has spruced up his old wooden boat so he can take tourists out on the lagoon. The first stop is Ile aux Phare, the place the Dutch landed when they
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