MAURITIUS: Monday, February 27- Wednesday, March 1

Mauritius is a popular tourist destination for South Africans. It has the highest GDP per capita of all the African countries mostly because of tourism, but is also a big exporter of sugar. It has what I would expect an island to have, but also a lot more. It is completely surrounded by coral reefs making for some great snorkeling/diving, and also very calm beaches. There are some beautiful mountains all around the island and some very pretty landscapes as well.

The really interesting aspect of the island is its inhabitants. The majority of people are from India, while there are a number of people from Africa (descendants of slaves for the most part), and China. Everyone I ran into was very kind and proud of their diverse country. Since the island belonged to the Dutch, then the French and finally the British before becoming independent, people there speak mainly French, but English, German, Hindu and a few other languages. I was always impressed with Europeans’ ability to speak a few languages, but now realize how many other people across the globe can speak many languages. In South Africa, the overwhelming majority knew a few languages including Afrikaans and English as the main languages, but most knew a lot of tribal languages as well. Some people I met knew eleven languages and they did not think that was a big deal, but rather common. In Mauritius it is common for people to know six languages.

We ported in Port Louis, the capital and main city in Mauritius. The waterfront was developed and nice, but a little bit beyond was a bit more run down. Most stores were small as there seemed to be a lot of entrepreneurship evident all over the country. Whether people decided to work in the market operating a little stand, driving taxis, running a store, guiding tourists, farming, etc. they all seemed to be doing their own thing.

I checked out the city the first day pleased with it for the most part. It was very crowded with locals and traffic, but felt very safe. I found a place to stay in Flic and Flac for the two nights with nine other people (Page, Natalie, Becky, Adam, Kate, Carter, Charlie, Dan and Dustin). Our house was amazing and I can’t believe how lucky we were to get it last minute at a great deal. It was secluded from the rest of the SAS people and it’s always nice to get away when you’re surrounded by one thousand people at all times. We had our own private pool with the four bedroom house built around it so that half was under the house. It had a great porch and a grill, so most of my friends didn’t even leave the house for the most part.

I wanted to get out and explore the island a little bit, so I left early the next morning to check out the Flic and Flac area. There was some good snorkeling, but all I saw besides fish was an eel. It looked as if the corals used to be very incredible, but are dying at that beach.

That night, Mason celebrated his cure date from cancer since he had clear for five years. It was a good reason to celebrate on the Indian Ocean beach, and there were a lot of SAS students there for the celebration.

I met a few guys that night that also wanted to get away and explore the island, so we met early in the morning in town. I walked the 40 minutes to town to met them and take a taxi to Tamarica Falls. The original plan was to rent bikes and ride across the island to Blue Bay, but that would have required two days to really enjoy the area.

The falls were incredible. We took a hike from some sugar can fields into a forest, and when we emerged, we were standing a top a huge waterfall. We were probably 200 feet up from the base of the fall. My legs were shaking pretty bad, but a local that lead us down there grabbed my hand so that I would feel safer stepping closer to the edge. The view was absolutely incredible. After soaking that in, we went on another hike. This one was a lot steeper, almost vertical at some spots. Part of it was above the falls, part behind as we got lower, and part through the falls toward the bottom 50 feet. There were some really slippery spots where I had to grab trees and/or rocks to keep myself from sliding down. We set our stuff at the base, then climbed back up on the slippery rocks, through the fall and to the other side to jump forty feet down into the natural pool. I was extremely scared to do it, but after putting mind over my shaky legs, I got the courage to jump. I have done jumps this high before, but this one seemed the most dangerous. We hung around here for a while, climbing, jumping and swimming before we hiked back up.

I spent a couple more peaceful hours at the beach by myself before walking back to the house. I got back to the house at the exact moment that everyone was getting into the taxi to head back. They didn’t think I was going to make it, and I thought I was early because we had talked about leaving at 5, not 3:30. I’m glad I decided to head back early or I would have walked back to an empty house. So I guess the timing was perfect and I’m glad I made the ride back with them. I made the most out of my day and got to see a natural wonder of the island.

I really enjoyed Mauritius and its people, but was upset with the state of the environment. There used to be very many unique flora and fauna there, but almost all of the island’s species have gone extinct or are endangered due to massive deforestation and development. Also, people have no problem throwing garbage anywhere and everywhere. I saw some of the most otherwise wonderful places covered with trash to the point where it was difficult to see the ground.

Sorry to end on a pessimistic note, but I really did enjoy Mauritius and wish, just like everywhere else so far, that I had more time to see everything. A few people did service visits and had great visions of the future of this country economically and socially, as it is a developing nation. My advice to any future SASer or anyone planning on traveling here is to explore the island and its culture as it has many unique things to offer beyond beaches.