Flirting with the cyclone..

Nature has a mind of its own

Travelling to Mauritius was fulfilling a childhood dream. Long years ago, as a child I saw a Hindi movie, which had a very popular song that was shot on the beaches of Grand Baie. That is when I fell in love with the idea of Mauritius.

Most tourists spend three to four days in Mauritius, as it is a very small island country. However, we decided to spend 9 days to imbibe the spirit and essence of Mauritius, if possible.

Landing at Mauritius airport during peak hours, we had to wait for an hour plus to clear immigration. I was a little disheartened by the unprofessional attitude, and like most first impressions this did not last long.

Our taxi driver was polite, soft spoken and informative. We passed through hilly terrain, lush green sugarcane fields,and finally came to the water and our hotel in Grand Baie.

The first three days went by discovering and travelling to the tourist sites. The drive to the southwest was scenic and the Aapravasi Ghat, next to Le Morne Brabant Mountain, is as connected to the history of the country as hardly any other place on the island.

Most Mauritians today are descendants of the workers who landed here, to work for the British on their sugar plantations.

Next stop was Ganga Talao.This is a sacred place for Hindus. It is a beautiful temple with different Hindu gods . The place is surrounded by a beautiful lake.

We then visited the Chamarel Waterfall. The waterfall is quite narrow, but drops down more than 90 meters.

The Seven Colored Earths are a very special natural phenomenon. The wavy ground of the Seven Colored Earths shimmers in different colors and is a popular photo subject. We couldn’t resist and indulged, getting some beautiful photographs while enjoying some delicious ice bar’s being sold.

Port Louis is the capital of Mauritius. At first sight, the city isn’t particularly attractive, as only a few old buildings are preserved. Nevertheless, the city still has some interesting sights to offer.

This modern waterfront shopping and entertainment complex in Port Louis features a wide array of shops, restaurants, 4- and 5- Start hotels, a casino, movie theatres, a history museum, a craft market and a marina and it hosts regular live street entertainment.

While we were in the midst of our sightseeing the weather started to change. Showers and strong winds accosted us and our taxi driver talked about a cyclone building up. For the old timers it was a phenomena that occurred during their growing years but the last decade has been cyclone free is what we were told.

On our fourth day, we decided to walk to the supermarket, to pick up some chocolates and grocery. It was windy and holding onto our umbrellas and hats was quite a task.

At the supermarket, we found long queues and were surprised as on our previous visit this was not the case. It took us an hour to reach the payment counter and as we were exiting we realised that the shutters of the mall were coming down and a lot of people were moving out hastily. On asking a passerby, we were told that a category 3 cyclone warning had been issued, hence it was important to get back to our hotel.

It was our first exposure, in such close quarters, to a cyclone and we rushed back to our hotel, managing to hold onto our umbrellas and rain coat despite the roaring wind.

At our hotel, which was very close to the water, we found that quite a few occupants were leaving as they did not feel safe in the hotel. The electricity had been cut off in Mauritius and the hotel was arranging for fuel for their generators.

We went up to our room and found six large bottles of water placed outside the occupied rooms. We realised it was part of their cyclone preparedness drill, and I was happy that I had brought adequate tea bags, coffee and cookies with us. We also had Godiva chocolates, so if nothing else our last meal would be a treasured one !

We couldn’t sit in the balcony as the winds were gushing and there was water everywhere. We were now trapped in our boutique hotel, and once the generator came on, we were able to charge our phones and I watched my favourite shows on Netflix on my ipad.

A few hours later we came down to see the hotel and roads around, all deserted. The airport, port, public transport, shops, malls, casinos had all closed down. A few tourists from a neighbouring b&b had braved the bad weather and stopped by at our hotel trying to get some basic rations.

Our hotel owner told us he had enough rations for us and would be able to give us rice and curry, which was a relief. I do love Godiva chocolates, but dinner of chocolates was not tempting !

We had a troubled night, trying to read the latest updates or catch the local news channels. Unable to understand French, the local news channels were incomprehensible.

Despite the stress, fatigue had set in and we slept well. We woke up to a grey morning, gusty winds and wondering if on the last day of the year we would remain closeted indoors fearing the cyclone.

We had breakfast with the four other guests who had not moved out of the hotel. We were from different continents, yet we were one, joking and laughing over our predicament. Stress time relationships are special.

We knew that at 10.10 am a new update on cyclone “Calvina” was expected. Fortunately, the last update brought good news as the threat to Mauritius was diverted. Category 3 was removed, and once the news spread, we could see people emerge on the street.

Suddenly the sun was out, people filled the streets, cars and buses could be seen on the move and life limped back to normalcy.

We were able to walk out and eat a delicious lunch, visit the casino which was buzzing, as the regulars had missed two crucial days and new year’s eve was no ordinary day.

We decided to have a delicious dinner at our hotel, and enjoy the firework display from our balcony as it had the best location.

The next four days of our holiday were eventless and relaxed. The hotel staff had become our best buddies and looked after all our needs with the love and affection a family bestows on you. We walked around, enjoyed the laid- back attitude of the locals, felt they were friendlier or maybe we became less critical which happens with time.

I do regret that we only spent 9 days in Mauritius. Next time round I hope to spend a whole month there, as there is so much to experience in this naturally gifted island.

I would like to imbibe all the sights, sounds, aromas and enjoy the diverse terrain that the island has to offer. Last, but not the least the simplicity and hospitality of the people is what will take me back there.