Mauritius: Where you meet peace with your past

By Dr Chitra Gopinathan

Chitra Gopinathan is a Consultant Anaesthetist working at Queens Hospital in Romford. Her hobbies and passions are varied. She enjoys the creative side of herself. She attempts a bit of writing and drawing when she gets the chance and feels inspired. She has a blog site, ‘Chitra’s musings’ at gchitra.com. Although it was a regular feature, it has now become a bit adhoc as she puts it. She enjoys reading, travelling and eating out.

“Tamarind juice, you serve tamarind juice? Is it fresh?”, I couldn’t contain my excitement. We are reaching the end of our jeep safari trip into the Ebony Forest and Chris, our guide, has given us 15 minutes to soak up the view from Sublime point.

“There’s refreshments here, if you need anything”, he tells us before disappearing. We weren’t thirsty and gave the suggestion a miss. From this view point the breathtaking vision of Le Morne and ile aux Benitiers spreads out in front of us along with the sights of the west coast of Mauritius.

Fruit bats and myna birds circle and whizz past. Everywhere you look is lush and green. The sad truth however is that even though a quarter of the island is covered in forest, only 2% of the original native forest remains.

The Ebony forest is a conservation project developed to reverse the damage that has been done since the Dutch first settled here in the 17th century. Mauritius is an island 65km long and 45 km wide made of basaltic rock formed once the magma from the volcanic eruptions had cooled down. Our first stop today was the Trou aux Cerfs, a dormant volcano in the centre of Mauritius. The last time it erupted was a century ago.

It is possible to have a trek around the rim which is about a mile long. Unfortunately we chose a rainy day for this trip around the south western part of Mauritius. It turned out to be a blustery day with the wind whipping up speed at times leaving me wondering whether the monkeys would get my hat first or the winds. A peak at the crater was all we could muster before making our way to the Grand Bassin aka Ganga Talao.

As we near the Grand Bassin a giant statue of Lord Shiva greets us, and across the road an equally impressive statue of Durga Devi hovers over us offering blessings. The mist is heavy and a thin veil of fog covers the deities. Despite this I notice Lord Shiva’s smile which is rather uplifting and pleasing. One of the priests stamps sandalwood paste onto our foreheads and the other ties a blessed thread around our left wrists. Devotional music plays in the background. At the foot of the statue the ground is wet making it difficult to take our shoes off and walk into the open shrine. We pray from the outside and cross the road to see Durga Devi at close quarters and redo the ritual.

Next we stop off at Ganga Taloa to visit the temple with its collection of shrines around the crater lake. There is a folklore behind the origin of this temple and the holy site is an annual pilgrimage destination for the Hindus during Maha Shivarathri.

The history of the Indian diaspora in Mauritius originated as a result of slavery being abolished. The Dutch East India company introduced slavery to Mauritius in the seventeenth century. Slavery continued during the French occupation and was abolished by the British in 1835. Following this the British introduced free labour luring in workers from around the world in the false pretence of offering them a better life.

The Hindus inhabiting the island are predominantly the descendants of these labourers and Hinduism is the major religion practiced here. We continue our climb up the mountain and I can feel my ears popping. We stop to watch the Alexandra falls and at Chameral village situated in the Black River district, we see the Chameral waterfalls. A two minute drive from the waterfalls takes us to the Chamarel Seven Coloured Earth Geopark.

This is one of the iconic must see places in Mauritius. The colourful sand dunes are produced as a result of oxidation and degradation of the basaltic rocks which gives it the seven hues. Sunshine is required to bring out the vivid colours and today was not the best day for it but it still was impressive enough. Even though Mauritius lies in the Indian Ocean not far from Madagascar the fauna and flora came from south east Asia depicting where its early connections lay.

Reading about the origin of the species that inhabited the island it sounds as if the birds and wildlife led a peaceful existence where birds didn’t have to worry about predators and so lost their ability to fly or defend themselves. The Dodo, an extinct flightless bird belonging to the family of pigeons and doves, is the National bird of Mauritius. This peaceful existence was shattered when the island became occupied. The dodos and other flightless birds ended up being captured and slaughtered by the settlers. Animals were introduced accidentally or deliberately into the island. Rats escaped from visiting ships.

Cats were introduced to kill the rats and instead they destroyed the bird population. Similarly, Mongoose were introduced to keep the rats at bay but instead they multiplied and ran amok. Monkeys were introduced as pets. Pigs, deer, cattle and goats damaged the flora. The only success story was the introduction of the myna birds from India which killed the locusts damaging the crops.

The trees did not escape the invasion either. Pure black ebony, one of the most valuable and sought after woods thrived in the forests till the Dutch cut down these thousand year old trees and transported them back to the Netherlands.

The oldest ebony trees in the forest now are less than 250 years old. Mauritius became an example of what not to do over the years since the first settlers reached the shores. As for my tamarind juice, I noticed the menu board only as we were coming to the end of our free time at Sublime point. As this was the last jeep tour of the day Chris was waiting for the kiosk manager to tot up the daily takings and close shop so that he could take him back to the base with us. I was handed the ice cold drink which I savoured to the last drop while watching the bats circle one more time.

The next two days were spent visiting Port Louis, the capital, and the northern part of the island. The Red Church at Cap Malheureux is a Roman Catholic Church, famous for its red roof. Cap Malheureux means cape of misfortune, probably named as such due to the number of shipwrecks that have happened here or because this was where the British attacked the French in 1810 to take possession of the island. The Citadelle forte, originally built by the Spanish to fortify the defence of the city, offers a 360 degree view of the capital.

At Le Caudan Waterfront and adjoining craft market the umbrellas which normally form a colourful roof providing shade to the passer-by were kept closed during our visit probably due to the windy conditions. At the Ganapati Shrine in La Pointe de Lascars we let the locals guide us and followed their example as they offered sweets, lighted the lamps and incense at the foot of Lord Ganesha.

The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Gardens is the oldest botanical garden in the southern hemisphere and houses 85 different types of palm trees and 650 varieties of plants. Our guide’s opening line to the group which mainly consisted of French tourists was “Mauritians speak creole, read in French and write in English”.

A pleasant elderly guy who walked us around the vast garden pointing to the various palm trees named after their various shapes-elephant foot, walking palm, bottle shaped, bamboo, crocodile, areca and many many more. He pointed out trees, mahagony, acacia, Buddha’s peepal tree, camphor, cinnamon, all spice, clove etc etc making us smell the fallen leaves and broken twigs as we moved from one tree to the next.

The highlight was the large pond covered in giant water lilies. The flowers last two days and change colour from white to pink to a dark shade of reddish purple before dying. The current government seems to be quite popular and has strong connections with India. They’ve managed to cut down crime rates drastically and the population seem to be taken care off with many benefits and free treatments. During the drive through the capital I felt I was being driven through a town in Keralam albeit a clean one with no rubbish in sight.

There are cctv cameras everywhere, even in the countryside to catch those speeding, jumping red lights and littering with heavy fines imposed. Mauritius is an island with plenty to offer. Tourism being one of its biggest sources of income. One can do as much as or as little as one wishes. Trekking in the forest, engaging in water sports, going on sightseeing helicopter rides, taking catamaran trips to the neighbouring islands or just lazing by the pool.

There is something for everyone. Back at the resort a macaque sits quietly on the ledge of the restaurant balcony eating his lunch. He is in no hurry and takes his time. The staff let him be. Once he has had his fill he leaves. The white eyed pic-pics along with the mynas and red whiskered bubuls line the roof and wait patiently preening themselves till a table empties to peck morsels from half empty plates.

It is a peaceful place where life and people of different religions coexist, remembering the turmoils of the past, not dwelling on them but learning from their experiences and moving on to create a brighter future together.