 |
| Tourelle du Tamarin viewed from our climb up to the Grand Bassin. |
The Grand Bassin in Mauritius is not a grand geological feature as some may expect from the name, although it is quite nice, no the Grand Bassin is actually a religious site. After soaking up the sun on the beautiful white sand beaches of Mauritius for a few days, today Sam and I decided to head up into the hills and visit the Grand Bassin. Now strap yourself in for a Feral lesson in Hindu theology. It seems that old mate Shiva and his wife were flying around the world on a flying machine made out of flowers, flying over Mautitius Shiva was dazzled by the island in the emerald sea and decided to go down and check things out. It just so happens that Shiva was carrying the Ganges River on his head to protect the world from floods and as he landed he spilt a few drops from his head into the crater, the spilt water resulting in the lake that is the Grand Bassin. Apparently Ganges wasn't overjoyed to be left on this Indian Ocean paradise so Shiva reassured it that the people from the banks of the Ganges would one day call this place home and perform an annual pilgrimage....and so it was!
 |
| Climbing up into the mountains we passed this crater, but do you think I can remember it's name?.... |
Approximately 500,000 locals make the pilgrimage each year up to the Grand Bassin, thankfully though the numbers were a lot lower on our visit today. We'd already been in Mauritius for a few days when we decided to head into the hills, the first thing we noticed today was the humidity dropping as we climbed up into the mountains. The other notable thing for me anyway was how much natural vegetation there was left up here in the mountains, so far on our visit to Mauritius we had barely seen any native vegetation with the coastal plains being intensively cultivated. Our drive up from the coast took us through the Black River Gorges National Park, from what I can work out Mauritius' only National Park. Arriving at the large car park at the Grand Bassin (it seems that not all the pilgrims come on foot judging by the extensive car park) we were greeted by a monkey. Now that might not be worth mentioning to most people but for Sam and I it was very exciting as we'd never actually seen a free range monkey before, although the monkey wasn't really to interested in us today being more content to tuck into some potato chips that people were giving it, hmmm....
 |
| My first ever free range monkey, well it was a big deal for me anyway. |
From the car park we wandered up to the check out the large statue of Lord Shiva, although with sun behind it all I really got was a silhouette of it. After unsuccessfully capturing anything of any quality on my SD card we headed down to the lake shore to respectfully check out some of the other temples, I say respectfully because I was acutely aware that, while I am a godless heathen there are plenty of other people here worshipping in the temples and it wasn't something that I felt comfortable intruding into. After wandering around the site for awhile, enjoying both the cultural aspect along with the cooler temperatures we headed off towards our next highlight, Le Chamarel Restaurant. Now while I am pretty good on the tooth a restaurant wouldn't normally count as a highlight for me, but the Le Chamarel Restaurant not only featured some nice enough food but also a five star view from it's balcony. We were able to enjoy our lunch looking down to the monolithic Le Morne Brabant and fair chunk of the western coastline of Mauritius.
 |
The silhouette of Lord Shiva.
 |
Looking across the Grand Bassin.
|
|
Suitably fortified after lunch we made the short drive to Chamarel Falls, this waterfall drops from the surrounding jungle around 95 metres into the abyss below. While we were visiting in the rainy season we hadn't actually had that much rain in the previous few days so consequently we probably didn't get to see Chamarel Falls at their finest today. The falls are actually in the Chamarel Coloured Earth Reserve so it would be rude to visit without checking out the coloured earths themselves. The coloured earth is an area of coloured sand dunes, the dunes are fenced off but you can walk around the area on a good track that allows for plenty of views of the colourful sands. I would imagine that these dunes would be seen at their best around sunrise or sunset so if you can get up here at that time of day it would be ideal, even so our visit in the early afternoon was still worth while.
 |
Black River Gorges National Park
 |
 |
The view from our table for lunch at Le Chamarel Restaurant was special, to say the least.
 |
| Chamarel Waterfall. |
|
|
|
After taking in our fill of the coloured sands we checked out another of the attractions of the Chamarel Coloured Earth Reserve some giant tortoises, these pre historic animals are always fascinating, although maybe it's just me that finds them fascinating, probably because I'm happy to find another living creature that actually moves slower than the Feral walker;) With the day coming to it's end we started of on our journey back to Flic en Flac, breaking the journey with a stop at the Rhumerie de Chamarel for some rum tasting. Yeah, I might be a little uncouth in that my palate hasn't developed a taste for wine but rum tasting is something that seems to agree with me. Luckily for me Sam didn't share my enthusiasm for the different flavoured rums so I was able to partake in her samples as well, it was a pretty well lubed Feral traveller who rolled back into our resort that night.
 |
The falls today probably weren't at their most spectacular, but they were still worth a look.
 |
 |
Chamarel Coloured Earths
|
|
|
The Dirt.
We organised a driver for the day and he sorted out all the entrance fees and logistics for us
which made things pretty easy.
The Grand Bassin is definitely worth checking out, it makes a perfect antidote from all the tourists and humidity down on the coast. The
Le Chamarel Restaurant is worth dining at even if only for the stunning view from the dining deck, posting this link it said that the restaurant is closed until the middle of 2016? so it may be to check things out if you want to visit. The
Rhumerie de Chamarel is really worth visiting, the guided tour along with the rum tasting being a bit of a highlight, the architecture and restaurant are also worth a visit in their own right.
Relevant Posts.
 |
| It was feeding time for the giant tortoises when we were at the coloured sands. |
 |
| The west coast of Mauritius. |
 |
| The big lump of rock out in the ocean is Le Morne Brabant, it's actually on a small peninsula. |
No comments:
Post a Comment