My Graced Journey: September 2015

Thursday, 10 September 2015

Eastern Mauritius day trip by rental car

Exploring Mauritius

Second trip

July 2015

La Case Du Pecheur restaurant & Rustic rooms - Eastern Mauritius

Eastern Mauritius coastal drive & Sugar plantations

Seven years after we got married, we were able to have the honeymoon we always wanted. We could only afford it after working for 6 months in Saudi Arabia, earning very good money. So I booked a full 7 day, 7-night hotel package for us at the four-star Preskil Beach resort in Mahebourg, Mauritius through Flight Centre. It cost R40 000 for the two of us after we calculated all the hidden expenses and the extra things we did. We spent time on the beach at the hotel, but like the explorers we are, we were not content sitting still. So we rented a white little Hyundai i10 car and took day trips all around the island.

This island has such a rich culture and various ethnic, cultural and religious groups make up the population of the island. There are also a huge amount of expats, especially South Africans who have made this compact tropical island their home. Even though it is not a big island, it will probably take a year just to get a taste of everything and visit all the places. Pristine beaches to the exterior and sugar cane fields with beautiful mountain scenery make up most of the island. I took more than a thousand photos, which I will only post the best here. This photo expose will hopefully paint a picture of our experiences on this beautiful island.

Sugar cane fields - Eastern Mauritius

On this particular drive, we started in Mahebourg the town where Preskil Beach Resort is located. After we stopped for snacks at the local supermarket we drove through Ferney on a road that took us past the entrance of the Falais Rouge restaurant on the right and sugar cane fields on the left. We stopped here to take pics. We continued on this road across a bridge over a river/lagoon where the Dutch monument stands of the first Dutch landing. We continued on this road that wound alongside the coast through several villages. We stopped for a late lunch at the La Case Du Pecheur restaurant & Rustic rooms where we had a local seafood dish. As we wound further down along the coast we took pics of villages and boats in the water.....whole bunch of villages and places I never wrote down.

Mauritian public bus on the bridge at Dutch landing - Anse Colas, Grand Port, Mauritius

About Mauritius

Mauritius (French: Maurice), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometers off the southeast coast of the African continent. The country includes the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues [560 kilometers east of Mauritius], and the outer islands (Agaléga, St. Brandon and two disputed territories). The islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues form part of the Mascarene Islands, along with nearby Réunion, a French overseas department. The area of the country is 2,040 km2. The capital and largest city is Port Louis. Formerly a Dutch colony (1638–1710) and a French colony (1715–1810), Mauritius became a British colonial possession in 1810 and remained so until 1968, the year in which it attained independence. The government uses English as its main language.

The people of Mauritius are multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multicultural and multilingual. The island's government is closely modeled on the Westminster parliamentary system, and Mauritius is highly ranked for democracy and for economic and political freedom. Along with the other Mascarene Islands, Mauritius is known for its varied flora and fauna, with many species endemic to the island. The island is widely known as the only known home of the dodo, which, along with several other avian species, was made extinct by human activities relatively shortly after the island's settlement (Wikipedia).

Photo Expose

Mahebourg

Mahébourg is a small city (population 15,457 as of 2015) on the south-eastern coast of the island of Mauritius and is considered the main village of the Grand Port District. It is named after Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais, one of the most successful governors of the French colonial period. It was originally built by the Netherlands during their brief period of colonization of the island. It was close to their landing port because it had ample water supply from many rivers and streams and had a scenic view of the large bay area. Mahébourg knew major development around 1806 during the French colonization era. The well-planned wide streets in the old section of Mahébourg still bear testimony to this Dutch and French colonial past. After the French chose Port Louis as the main port Mahébourg declined into a sleepy coastal city. It is well known for its lagoon (the biggest of Mauritius) and for its fishing industry (Wikipedia).

Our rental car in the parking lot of the mall we stopped to buy some snacks for the road - Mahebourg

Kimberley coffee shop specials - Mahebourg

Mahebourg street scenery

Bridge crossing - Mahebourg

Mahebourg/Ferney

Ferney

Falaise Rouge & Sugar plantations

Nearby the village of Ferney, Falaise Rouge is an estate that stands majestically in the bay of Grand Port. Wrapped in a tropical garden of traveler's Palm and Indian Almond trees, this newly renovated table-d’hôte fully dedicated to delicious Mauritian cuisine, offers a panoramic view on this historic bay, the witness of the only victory of the Napoleonic naval forces against the British.

Entrance to Falaise Rouge

Sugar cane fields across the road from Falaise Rouge

Entrance to Falaise Rouge

Sugar cane fields across the road from Falaise Rouge

The road we drove on - In the direction of Ferney

Sugar cane fields across the road from Falaise Rouge

The road we drove on - In the direction of Dutch landing

Sugar cane fields across the road from Falaise Rouge

Dutch monument – Dutch first landing

Monument to the Dutch first landing is next to Anse Colas and is located in Grand Port, Mauritius

Background - The Story

"The presence of the Dutch in Mauritius dates back to the year 1598. It was by a sheer mishap that they reached here. Mauritius was not on their itinerary while they were sailing to the East Indies. Fate, through the play of a severe tempest, drove them to the shore of the island. On May 1, 1598, Admiral Cornelius Van Neck and Vice-Admiral Wybrandt van Warwyck commanding eight Dutch ships left Texel in the North Sea for the Indian Ocean. From there they were to sail to Bantam (a major seaport in Indonesia at that time) to load cargoes of precious exotic products for trading in Europe. Roughly three months after leaving Texel they rounded the Cape of Good Hope and sailed towards Madagascar. The fleet, while navigating off the eastern coast of Sainte-Marie island, went into the turmoil of a violent storm. It was on August 28, 1598. The group of vessels was disbanded.

On September 17, five out of the eight ships - the Amsterdam, the Zeeland, the Geldria, the Utrecht and the Vriesland managed to reach the south-eastern part of Mauritius. Vice-Admiral van Warwyck was on board the Amsterdam. He ordered two of his officers, Hans Hendricksz Bower, and Hendrick Dircsz Jolinck, to look for a proper shelter to anchor the ships. They discovered the present day bay of Grand Port (which the Dutch named Warwyck Haven.) The landing of Bower, Jolinck and their crew marked the arrival of the first Dutch in Mauritius. On September 20, all ships were moored in the bay and most of the crew landed. Mauritius was still uninhabited and the Dutch found the island a dreamlike land and an extremely safe stopover for Dutch ships navigating across the Indian Ocean. On that date, in honor of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange and stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, the island was named Mauritius"