18TRAVELMAURITIUS
Black River Gorges National Park
The Black River Gorges National Park is well worth a visit,
and given more time on the island I would have loved to do
some trekking here. Numerous viewpoints and waterfalls line
the roads through the park and they are all worth a look –
the prehistoric landscape is stunning. Waterfalls straight out
of posh shampoo adverts, cascade over deep black volcanic
rocks, covered in lush green tropical vegetation, all set
against a distant turquoise reef backdrop; I was half
expecting Dr. Grant to run out of the bushes followed by T-
rex, shouting “Don’t move. His visions based on movement”
at each stop. This does mean that even a short drive through
the park can take a long time though, especially if you are a
trigger happy photographer, but it’s well worth it.
We didn’t find many of the manmade attractions, such as
Ganga Talao Lake as interesting as the park and landscape
itself, and would probably bypass these if we went back. One
site worth noting is the Bois Cheri Tea Factory. This place is
genuinely one white linen clad larger gentleman away from
being a Twinning’s advert. The Tea house, which is now a
restaurant and gift shop, is set in front of a lake and
surrounded by the tea plantations. Sitting on the Veranda
drinking in the view (and tea) whilst working my way through
one of the best steaks on the island was a great way to
recover from all the beatings One Eye gave me the day
before, I highly recommend it.
Where to stay
We stayed half our trip at the cheaper RIU hotel on Le
Morne, and half in La Gaulette. A small town a few miles
down the road from Le Morne, which is closest you will be
able to stay if you are not in one of the luxury hotels.
uk
WIND
SURFING
In terms of comfort and ease, staying in one of the luxury
hotels on Le Morne is by far the best option. You are
literally based on the beach with everything you need on
tap and never more than 50 metres away. The RIU I
stayed at is also home to the ION centre so if you want
everything to be very close stay here.
La Gaulette is small fishing town just down the coast from
Le Morne, that has it’s own watersports tourist community
from June to October. There are plenty of apartments and
villas to rent at a variety of prices. Also there is a number
of different watersports shops and rental places in La
Gaulette many of which offer a shuttle to the beach as
part of their service, though I preferred having my own car.
Especially as that means you have the freedom to go and
explore the island on your own.
In terms of food in La Gaulette we would recommend
American Cafe for breakfast, it’s cheap and good food.
Ocean Vagabond, right next door, is a great place for dinner,
good food, nice people and usually a good vibe, topped off
with windsurfing videos playing at the bar all night long. For
car rentals I would recommend Ropsen, they are based in
La Gaulette and will be about half the cost of booking
through a hotel.
Mauritius really is a little lost world of watersports paradise
and Le Morne is probably the best windsurfing playground
I have ever visited. In short I’d go back in a heartbeat
given the opportunity. It’s not cheap, it’s not close, but I
will never forget this trip, least of all the waves. The
memories will still be putting a smile on my face for many
years to come.