A short spontaneous family Christmas trip to Mauritius, the neighbour island to La Réunion in the Indian Ocean. We spent a week in a small typical Creole house in Chamarel in the southern mountains and then a few nights in a hotel in Le Morne, directly on the southeastern coast of the island.
We made quite a few excursions with a hired small car, visiting waterfalls, view points, botanic gardens, churches, temples, sugar cane, vanilla and tea plantages, rum destilleries, hotels and beaches. We managed also to make two hikes, climbing Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire in the thick rainforest bush and the famous mountain Le Morne Brabant towering over the southwestern coasts.
Our travel back was seriously disturbed by Calvinia, the cyclone, which surprisingly developed itself into a small in size, but serious one and passed just nearby the eastern shores of the island. She caused not only bad weather, but also a formal and oficial cyclone warning followed by a partial disruption of services, exactly at the date our flights were scheduled. Two of us left with one of the very last flights, but one has to remain on the island two nights longer…
A timeline of pictures from the trip: Gallery (184 images)
The Calvinia cyclone weather forecasts: Gallery (7 images)