Mauritius in a Minute

Three days in Mauritius is a minute in real time.

That's how it feels anyway. Time flies like a spitball in a grade 5 classroom and your stay on the tiny islet is all over before it's even begun. We spent three short days on this Indian Ocean-wanderers milestone and we didn't stop moving! We did as much as a film crew can do in 72 hours. Here's the story of how it went down.

We left Cape Town in the morning and began the 5h15m flight across our beloved country and the Mozambican Channel that snakes along its east coast. It wasn't long before I took to sampling the exotic tastes of Mauritius.

Never visit a country without trying one of its beers.

We were still in the sky when the sun dipped behind those white fluffy clouds and the world around us turned dark. As the clouds dissipated, the lights of a small island appeared below our vessel. But it wasn't our island. We were passing over Reunion, which along with Mauritius and Rodrigues Islands, form the Mascarene Archipelago. The pilots voice hissed in over the loudspeaker, informing us of a must-see sight out the left-hand side of the plane. We all clambered over each others seats to get a preview.

Below us, a red line streaked across the shadowed island. A river of lava was snaking its way towards the ocean having been purged out of the Piton de la Fournaise (Peak of the Furnace). I hastily grabbed my phone and tried to grab a picture. But my flash thwarted the shot! All I got was a brightly-lit inside window of a Boeing 747.

A fabulous artists rendition of the river of lava I failed to get a photo of.

We landed in the dark and took a one hour shuttle to our hotel. It would have been quicker, but the cops pulled us over because our driver was hurtling around corners on the wrong side of the road.

I woke up the next day in a strange haze and stumbled out into my new surroundings. Having not seen much of it on arrival the night before, the luxurious landscape around me was all surprises. Palm trees and thatch roofs created a canopy of golden greens and browns while sparkling pools threw diamonds of light off in every direction.

Super Spa

To the West lay the turquoise Indian Ocean, looking tepid and inviting; tropical and benevolent. I'll give Mauritius this much: you won't break a sweat looking for a stellar sea view.

Doesn't it look like a postcard...?

To the East, towering above the terraced paradise was Le Morne Brabant: an ancient and wild looking geological feature that sticks up like a giant cubist sculpture. This basaltic monolith has even cracked a nod from the chaps at UNESCO who dubbed it a World Heritage Site due to its history as a refuge for runaway slaves in the 18th Century.

It's pretty, no matter which way you look at it.

We were staying in the South-West of Mauritius, at Dinarobin Hotel. We were tasked to film an Island excursion with South African cricketer Kagiso Rabada for a South African lifestyle show. So, after breakfast, we shuttled off towards the centre of the island while our coordinator and driver argued about sim cards.

During breakfast, I admired the dashing blush of this Red-Whiskered Bulbul (while he admired my fried mushrooms).

We arrived at our first location: Casela Nature Park which was a pretty horrible place. Essentially a zoo - Casela offers walking with lions, cub petting and other damaging tourist traps. While the staff were lovely and friendly, I think they were completely ignorant to the harm that practices like these can cause.

Instead, we opted for taking a MoPed ride down the dirt roads and through an acacia forest. We dropped by the local (imported) Zebra herd - who were a couple of cool and curious chinas.

Our island visit was already taking a turn for the atypical...

After manoeuvring the mopeds for a while we headed back to the hotel to film some Stand Up Paddling. The morning's weather had been pleasant but we had noticed an unexpected chill in the air. While you wouldn't call it cold, it certainly what you'd expect from a tropical utopia. Arriving back at the coast, we noticed heavy clouds pulling in over the bay. A slight wind picked up and the chill-factor slowly began to rise. But we'd committed to the endeavour already and started setting up on the beach.

The cloud cover diffused the light beautifully over the bay and created some titillating texture in the sky.

Dat's a lotta bloooz.

We set out on a boat as our two TV guests paddled out against the wind into the ocean. The fun of bobbing out on this azure aqua made us forget the goosebumps-inducing wind biting up and around our wet boardshorts.

Textures as above, so below...

It gave us a new perspective of our accommodation too. Looking back at it from out at sea really emphasised the mighty mountain loomed above it. It truly did feel like there was something deeper about Le Morne - something more than luxurious lodgings.

Beneath the brooding bluff...

As the sun set, it peeked its tangerine face through small openings between the clouds and palms. Night descended and the lodge became a mysterious, dark paradise again.

It's hard to say no to an expensive cocktail when you're surrounded by this...

The next morning we took an official tour of the hotel. It was great to see the far corners of it, which included a spa, private beaches and a golf course. While it was a relaxing and serene setting, a little voice inside of me was starting to niggle. So many of the people that visit Mauritius spend all their time cooped up in luxurious little lodges like this one (which cover just about every metre of available coastline). This luxury seemed to be the "culture" of Mauritian tourism. A bit of a thin facade when you peek through the cracks to see the realities of widespread poverty and environmental destruction.

In the afternoon we jetted off to see what other kinds of accommodation the island had to offer. We drove through fields of tea and tobacco and ended up on the edge of a lake, looking at a bubble tent. It was certainly unique and offered some really comfortable and private lodging. The whole thing was held up by the air within it (you had to enter via an airlock). It was real "glamping" that felt like it was deep in a forest.. When the sun fell out the sky, the bubble lit up like the magical dwelling of an forest-island fairy. On a clear night, one could lie in bed and look up at the stars. But the clouds were still hanging around and they blacked out the galaxy above with expert efficiency.

Summer time and the boys are Bubblin'

Our pockets were feeling a little thin from buying drinks at exorbitant rates the previous night. So, en route back to the hotel we stopped off to buy some booze from a corner store, where it costs a quarter of the price!

Goodbye extortion, hello cheap Firewater!

We set off early the next morning to shoot our final scenes for the show. We had to drive right to the North end of the island to play some beach cricket with SA Protea JP Duminy. We arrived at a huge hotel that had a long stretch of beach. Unfortunately it was crowded with pasty european geriatrics and enough children to fill several stadiums. Thankfully, we found a stretch we could use for ourselves and got down to business of making television.

After the shoot, we tossed a few more balls around and I made sure I faced a couple of speedsters from KG. This is definitely a lifetime highlight for me and one I will be boasting about for years to come.

KG and the Kookaburras! (That's our band name)...

It was getting on in the day and we had a few hours of cross-island expedition ahead of us, so we settled into the van and headed back South. Our stomachs started to howl a few minutes into the trip so we pulled over in whatever small town we were in to search for some food. We found a man selling piles of breyani-esque deliciousness on a street corner and dodged through the traffic to buy a few mountain loads of the fantastic stuff (along with some searing hot chilli).

Maybe I was just happy to be fed, but in those few short minutes exchanging money and goods via lost translation, we were all thoroughly engaged and in love with the moment. Hovering over a sweating bowl of rice and vegetables in the sweltering heat, laughing with a man who couldn't understand us, sampling the various sambals that he had to offer. We were glowing when we got back in the bus. As simple as it had been, we'd had a real encounter with Mauritius for the first time since we'd arrived... Something that wasn't 'set-up for glamour television' bullshit...

We tucked into our lunch and rode home in silence, munching thoughtfully while we took in the real, diverse and colourful Mauritius along the way.

Everything's better when you've bested an empty stomach

We arrived back in the later afternoon and spent a few hours droning the lodge as the clouds started to move back in. We were just finishing up when they finally split open and the rain poured down on us. We found shelter under the overhang of the beach bar and took the opportunity to call it a wrap. "The weather will be back to normal tomorrow" said the bartender as he handed out our cocktails and we admired the sun and the storm battle it out over the sea.

Spilled light and shadow.

Night soon set in and it was all over. It had been a special experience for sure, but I wasn't convinced this was the place for me. I envied those who had seen Mauritius for what it is, not what it's been painted - with infinity pools and lounge chairs and thatched parings. Three days is hardly enough time to take in any place, and I needed more time to see the other colours Mauritius has to show.

I want to meet more people and less neatly-dressed footmen. I want to see Echo Parakeets and Flying Foxes instead of celebrated plastic Dodos. Maybe next time, I will. One thing I know for sure, is that I still need to uncover that deeper something in Mauritius. Hopefully I'll get to spend another minute there one day.

#blogpost #travel #experience