February 28 - Port Louis, Mauritius

This morning we arrived in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, a volcanic island in the western Indian Ocean.  

We had a private tour of the island that was arranged by Tara.  Unfortunately we still didn’t get to see as much of the island as we had hoped.  One day stops by the cruise lines are almost never enough.  The tour started with a bit of the city.

Our first stop was the crater of a dormant volcano,Trou Aux Cerfs, in the middle of Port Louis.  It is well known for it's small lake at the bottom.  Unfortunately there is so much vegetation on the sides of the volcano that is was difficult to see the lake.  

However, there were good views of the city and the surrounding mountains from the top of the crater.

The primary focus of our tour was on south west section of the island.  The island is rather mountainous, very green and very pretty.

We had a brief stop to see one of the many waterfalls on the island although it was rather difficult to see or photograph.

It was pretty slow moving because the island was in preparations for the Maha Shivratree festival.  People were walking to the sacred lake to get water to take home for use in the festival.  Consequently there were large numbers of people on the road, most pushing or carrying floats. Because of the festival traffic on the roads we were not able to make it out to see the Sacred Lake (Grand Bassin or Ganga Talao). 

*****************************************************************
More Photos of Mata Shrivratree Festival
*****************************************************************

Not far outside of Port Louis was Alexandria Waterfall plus another fall across the valley,

The viewing stand also had great views of the ocean beyond...

And the drive into the park was lined with trees making it a very pretty avenue.

We then stopped at a local restaurant for an Indian/Mauritian inspired lunch.

After lunch we headed out for the next set of falls, Chamerel.  This one was much more dramatic that the others and we had a much better view. 

From there we visited the Seven Colored Earths area.  The earth in this area was literally seven different colors.  The colors ware caused by the iron and aluminum in the soil.  Apparently they repel each other causing the various oxides to separate by color, making for quite an impressive display.  In addition to that, there is basalt in the soil that leaches out the nutrients so nothing grows on the mounds. 

While here, we stopped by the tortoise enclosure to see the giant tortoises.  Unfortunately they didn’t have any information signs to tells us anything about them.  We assume they are native to Mauritius.

The drive back towards the port took us along the coastline…

and we were able to stop briefly at Flic en Flac Beach.  Unfortunately we hadn’t brought our swim gear so this stop was just for photos. 

We did see a small yellow bird that might have been a weaver bird.  These birds (the males) weave rather large nest/baskets in their attempts to attract mates.

We also passed a mountain formation that looked a bit like the top half of a reclining woman.

Once back in Port Louis we stopped at the Madurai Mariammen Temple.  This is a Tamil Hindu temple and is exceedingly colorful…a real feast for the eye.

We then stopped at the waterfront shopping area (because tour guides always think the tourists want to go shopping).  We didn't do any shopping but the area was pretty.

And there were good views of the harbor.  

There was an interesting short stretch of street that had a "canopy" of umbrellas.

We didn’t stay long as it was awfully hot and humid.  Once back on board we dumped everything in the room and went up to Scoops, the on board ice cream shop that serves Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.  We both had chocolate milkshakes.

We were both pretty drained after the heat of the day so we had dinner, went back to the room and collapsed…no evening entertainment.