Mauritius was a place that was never on my radar, however our latest cruise through the Indian Ocean ended there, so there we were. Mauritius is about as far away from Victoria as you can get. It is 12 time zones away, so that means it is half way around the world based on longitude.  It is 20° South of the equator and, with Victoria being 49° North, there is a differential of 69° of latitude. The distance is, according to a site that plots great circle routes, 10,500 miles or 16,900 km. By comparison, Japan is only 4,680 miles from Victoria.

It’s too far to get there from here without some stops

The route shown takes you over Russian airspace, which is out of bounds these days so you need to go via Europe, making the journey even longer. Obviously, you can’t get there from here without stopping at least once. London, Paris or Vienna are good places to change planes and airlines if you want to venture here.

Our first impressions were very positive. The people were friendly, the roads in good condition and the weather was great. The ocean looked like a postcard, light blue with surf crashing on reefs off shore and then gentle waves lapping the shore. We could see the waves and reef from our Air BnB balcony and it was tempting to stay seated there all day.

Some early Mauritius history

Mauritius was first discovered by Arab traders and at that time the island had no inhabitants. Over the years the French, Portuguese and British all staked claim to the Island with the British eventually winning. Independence was granted in 1968. Today, 1.3 million people call Mauritius home and there seems to be everything you could desire on the Island. The language is English, French and Creole, with French seeming to be the most predominate. The island is popular with European travellers as it is not too far and the weather is good. Being south of the equator, our winter is their summer, and highs range in the mid 30’s with high humidity.

We rented a car for our time here and, unless you wanted to go from your hotel to the beach and not explore, a car is a good idea. They drive on the right, so it is an adjustment for North Americans, especially roundabouts, which are popular here. There are a number of tourist sites as well as beaches. We explored another beach on our second day and realized our 8km white sandy beach was just as nice so we stopped looking at other beaches.

Natural wonders in Mauritius

Some of the sites we saw included the Seven Colour Earth. The island is volcanic, even though it has been dormant since forever. The lava et al brought up many metal elements including iron and aluminum. These two elements repel each other and they oxidize differently. These metals, along with others created an area where you can see seven different colours of earth.

Being a tropical island, certain fruit grows really well here and other things do not grow so well. For some reason, pineapples do not get all that big here. This pineapple was from a street vendor, who peeled it for us so we could eat it for breakfast. There is a one litre juice box next to it for scale. When we were in the grocery store, things like lettuce and apples, that thrive in a cooler climate, were very expensive.

On our last day, much of the Island was shut down due to a possible cyclone. Things didn’t seem too bad to us, however a week earlier eight people died on Mauritius when a cyclone came in harder than anticipated. Our lunch reservations were cancelled and many shops and restaurants were closed. We carried on, as tourists often do, and explored Curepipe, a town in the middle of the island with a lot of history, including a Royal College, built, not surprisingly, by the British.

Were we going to be able to leave on time?

There were a lot of flights cancelled and we weren’t sure we would get out on our scheduled Wed flight. When we woke up Wednesday, the storm had not been upgraded from a tropical depression, but had moved west, so it was near the airport. The winds had lessened and all was well. We checked in for our flight and got ready to check out of our Air BnB.  The host allowed us to stay past check out and we left after lunch.

We toured the Island some more, stopping at plantations and beaches, seeing interesting flora and fauna. While at the beach, we saw an Emirates Airbus A-380, the HUGE double decker one, pass overhead. This was followed by two other wide body aircraft within 20 minutes. We figured things would be ok for us and our 21:15 departure. 

Leaving Mauritius was sad…

We headed over the airport, returning our rental car and then checking in. The check-in process took a bit longer than I anticipated. The flight was an Air India code share on Air Mauritius. Travelling to India, you need a visa. At least Canadians do. They asked to see our visas and then asked when we had used them before. We answered and, thankfully, we obtained multiple entry visas. Then they asked for our onward travel documents.

Before checking out of the Air BnB, I took some time to prep for our next leg of the trip, Delhi to Kathmandu. I couldn’t find our tickets and it took about 30 minutes to locate our locator number et al and get copies of the e-tickets, which I saved to my laptop. When the service rep at Air Mauritius asked for our next leg, I pulled out my laptop and showed her the file. It was difficult to get the computer under the security screen so she could see, however in the end she was satisfied. I then asked if they wanted to see Meg’s and she said no, as long as you are travelling together. 

Security was the normal issue, post 9-11. We then settled into the lounge for a bit prior to boarding. Of all the airports and lounges I’ve been in, this is one of the nicest. The lounge does not serve sparkling wine, they serve champagne. If you can’t guess what we both drank in the lounge…

Thus ends our five days in Mauritius. I would love to come here again. The people, the warm ocean, the activities; all great. It is reasonably priced. It is clean and we felt safe. The only downer is the distance.

Thanks for reading, please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions on Mauritius.

Cam and Meg