Mauritius’s south coast is the island’s wild side, known for its unusual rock formations and for the cane fields and tea plantations that form the backdrop to fishing villages like Baie du Cap, where time seems to have stopped. The small port of Souillac, near Mauritius’s southernmost point, is the base for trips to the pounding surf at Gris Gris and interesting Robert Edward Hart Memorial Museum. Inland you can visit Darwin’s Aldabra tortoises at La Vanille Réserve des Mascareignes, before stopping off at the unusual Tookay Temple in Rivière des Anguilles. The southwest also has some of Mauritius’s most beautiful and varied natural landscapes; Bel Ombre, nestled in the foothills of the Black River Gorges National Park, is Mauritius’s newest, and greenest resort, offering activities from quad biking and golf to kitesurfing, and the beginning of a scenic drive along an untamed stretch of rocky coastline, where fishermen still sell their catch from roadside stalls.
Baie du Cap
BAIE DU CAP is one of the most scenic traditional fishing villages on the south coast. Drive by in the late afternoon to see fishermen hauling in their catch at the landing station, men playing cards or dominoes under the shade of the trees and young boys fishing or playing guitar.The contemporary Matthew Flinders Memorial just outside the village, originally sculpted out of stone and copper (which has since disappeared), commemorates the British explorer most famous for mapping the coastline of Australia. He stopped here on his way home from his two-year voyage in 1803 only to be detained by the French as a spy. Climb up the steps of the promontory at Macondé, at the end of the village for sweeping views of deserted beaches and lush, forested hillsides with rock overhangs and caves along the Baie du Cap inlet and Le Morne Brabant looming in the distance.
At nearby St Martin, another monument marks the sinking of the Trevessa in 1923, some 3000 kilometres off this coast. Miraculously, 16 men survived 25 days at sea in a lifeboat which landed here.
Bel Ombre
An area spanning 2500 hectares, sloping down to the sea from Black River Gorges National Park, Domaine de Bel Ombre, or Beautiful Shadows in Creole, is promoted as the “unspoiled south”. Although the beaches may not be as beautiful as other parts of the island, and the area can be breezy in winter, it suits those seeking a restful holiday in natural surrounds far from commercialization and crowds.The area owes its development to the Irish naturalist Charles Telfair, who arrived here in the early nineteenth century and was given the rights to the “small Eden of Bel Ombre” by the first British governor, Robert Farquhar. He introduced farming tools, the island’s first horizontal mill and created vast orchards and vegetable gardens, becoming particularly known for his enlightened treatment of slaves. A sugar estate, opened in 1910, further developed the region, and the old sugar mill can be visited today at the entrance to the Heritage resort. As sugar fortunes plummeted, the Domaine de Bel Ombre opened up to tourism and the first hotels appeared in 2004, along with a golf course and nature reserve.
Frederica Nature Reserve
The 2500-acre Frederica Nature Reserve lies in the foothills of Black River Gorges National Park, and is home to Java deer, monkeys, pheasant, wild boar, Mauritian fruit bats, the lesser-spotted echo parakeet, pink pigeon and Mauritian kestrel. Trips start from a whitewashed house with sun-yellow shutters, and include trips to the 152-metre L’Exemple waterfall by quad bike (doubles and mini-quads for 6–12-year-olds available), 4WD excursions and guided nature treks on foot.Rivière des Anguilles and around
RIVIÈRE DES ANGUILLES (Eel River) is a service town for one of Mauritius’s largest sugar plantations. Most people pass through on a visit to La Vanille Réserve des Mascareignes, a popular family attraction, but the colourful South-Indian Tamil Tookay Temple, sited atmospherically in the sugar fields near Camp Diable, is worthy of a diversion. A more adventurous side-trip is to the small Le Souffleur blowhole, on the Savanna Sugar Estate near the village of L’Escalier. The water here once spurted out up to 18m, but since the hole has eroded, it’s more like 6m these days. It’s a bit tricky to get to along rough tracks, so best visited by 4WD and the help of a local. About 2km east along the coastal path is the perhaps more impressive Pont Naturel, a natural rock bridge over the boiling sea.La Vanille Réserve des Mascareignes
It was Charles Darwin who sent Aldabra tortoises to Mauritius, saving them from extinction, and today his work is continued at La Vanille Réserve des Mascareignes, a breeding park set up in 1985. Around a thousand tortoises now live among the lush tropical foliage here, and can be seen at all stages of development, from tiny hatchlings to hundred-year-old Domino who ambles around the tortoise prairie. Around two thousand Nile crocodiles, originally imported from Madagascar in 1985, also lurk in ponds and under bridges – the reserve used to be called The Crocodile Park, and is still known by that name locally. The crocodiles are farmed, so some are used for handbags and belts in the gift shop, and served in Le Crocodile Affamé/The Hungry Crocodile.Other highlights include deer, cheeky Macaque monkeys, wild boar, one of the world’s largest collections of insects, including butterflies, and an aquarium. It’s easy to spend two to three hours here, with opportunities for kids to hold a baby Aldabra tortoise or crocodile, and a Mauritian fruit bat or iguana, and explore the jungle adventure playground.