9th December 2022, Friday, Black River Gorge Viewpoint

After a leisurely start we were about to have a cup of tea before we went out for the day when the power went off and it wasn’t due back on until mid-afternoon. Unfortunately the car was behind the electronic gates but Vicky worked out how to open them manually so off we went.

We stopped off at the local mall and got Geoff some cough mixture and while I had a look around Geoff had a coffee. Do you think anywhere sold tea? NO. I have now bought a flask!!

From the mall we went south to Black River and inland and up high to Chamarel. The scenery changed dramatically to a dense forest and the temperature dropped as we entered the cloud/rain area. We reached the main point of our journey on the Black River Gorges Scenic Drive which was the Gorges Viewpoint. According to my book is the best view on the island but on a clear day.

We continued on and did the short walk to Alexandra Falls and although it was raining the Falls were not brilliant but the area, especially the paperbark trees, was lovely.

Next stop was the hidden crater lake called Basin Blanc and without my book reference there was no obvious sign but I’m glad we found it. We back tracked a way and followed signs to Grand Bassin, an important pilgrimage site for the 500,000 Hindu community of Mauritius. There is an enormous statue one side of the road and one of Shiva positioned above  the sacred crater lake known as Ganga Talao, on the other side of the road,

The last stop was just up the road from the statues as, at the Perrin Information Centre we thought that we could see pink pigeons ( we saw pigeons but they only seemed a little bit pink so we are not sure if they were the right ones.) We did see a lovely red bird, a bright yellow one and a bulbul?

During this whole time we didn’t find anywhere to get a snack or drink so KFC came to the rescue when we were nearly back and a flask has, as I said before, been purchased.

We returned in time for the Croatia v Brazil game with 3 of them having pizzas and I opted to have bread and honey.

Tea Factory tomorrow.














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