From Dodo Island to Port Louis

We toured the backstreets of Flic en Flac picking up a few caches, including one at the Manguiers Roundabout (colloquially known as Dodo Island) - it's a public art installation of life-size dodo statues, inaugurated in 2013 to raise awareness about environmental protection, particularly the dodo's story. It's not mentioned in any tourist guides, but there is a cache there!

We spent most of the day in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. It's a nightmare to drive in the city centre, with heavy traffic, narrow roads and hoards of pedestrians and scooters going in all directions, so we parked the car at the Citadel Fort, above the city centre, and walked the city for a few hours.

Citadel Fort, also known as Fort Adelaide, was built from 1830 to 1840. It symbolises the start of Indian immigration and the end of slavery and was constructed amid tensions from the French Revolution of 1830 and the recent British takeover of Mauritius. The British built the fort to guard against potential French attacks and local revolts, but it was never used for that reason. The Fort is still intact and allows a 360-degree view of Port Louis. From the fort you can view the Champ de Mars Racecourse, the oldest racecourse in the Southern Hemisphere and the second-oldest in the world (founded in 1812,) and where Mauritius declared its independence in 1968.

Our accommodation for the night is at Grand Baie, 15km north of Port Louis along the M2 - one of three motorways on the island where the speed limit is 110km/h. Unfortunately the good progress is disrupted by a series of roundabouts, mostly less than 1 kilometre apart! (the first 6 were 600m apart, the longest uninterrupted stretch was 4km)Read more