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A Francophone Adventure

October - November 2023
Sebs and my main holiday together would be a 4 week adventure through 3 francophone countries: Mauritius, Madagascar and France.
We'd see how good my French language skills would be after 10 months of learning it via Doulingo and Charles Leclerc. Read more
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  • TravelerA Francophone Adventure
    Day 1

    Let's Begin Gentle - Or Not?

    October 25, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Yesterday, we've dropped off Aluna at my colleague Berit, who would take care of her for next couple weeks. I had to hold back the tears. I have never been away from her for such a long time before. However, I was sure, Aluna would feel safe and sound with Berit and her partner Jan.
    This morning was an early start, as Seb and I woke up at 3.15am to get ready for our 4 week adventure through 3 different francophone countries. We packed our last bits and pieces and went outside to wait for our taxi. As it arrived, we thought we've booked the wrong thing. It was a luxury limousine with designer leather seats and ambient lighting.
    "Are all taxis that nice?", asked Seb the driver. He just smiled and said we'd be lucky today, as the company didn't have any other taxis in the city. Unfortunately, the "Champagne was in the fridge at the back of the car."
    We chatted a bit about the career development of taxi drivers and how difficult it is to sustain with that job, until he dropped us off at the train station. We wanted to get the cheap Niedersachsen Ticket, but I've completely missed the fact that it is only valid from 9am on... We needed to get the train at 5am. Well, train tickets as usual it is then. Only 10€ p.p. more was alright though, for a booking of such short notice. We hopped on the train and after 1h we arrived at the Hanover main station. Obviously, when something goes smooth with the Deutsche Bahn, the next thing has to be delayed. But we only had to wait 7min for the S-Bahn to arrive. At the Hanover Airport, the Check-in was still closed, so we could find a quiet spot to sleep a bit. At 8.30am, we made our way to Check-in again and it opened just then. We queded in and saw a family in front of us leaving the counter again. When it was our turn, we overheard the desk worker say "Why do all the Paris people to us?". Seb and I looked at each other and told the lady our destination was Paris as well. "It says so on the panel. These are the Air France counters." The lady looked at us as if we'd be milking mice. "But usually this is the Euro äwings counter", she tried to make sense of the situation. She went looking on the panel and was super confused, as she saw that we were right. After a call to her colleague, she packed her things and said "You're right. It's Air France today. They'll come in 5min. Eurowings is in another terminal today." Well, I guess someone didn't get the memo. However, the Air France people came around at last and we could Check-in. Sebs luggage was too bulky, so we had to drop it off at another counter. Hopefully, it would arrive in Mauritius anyway. Leaving our luggage behind, we went through Security and waited for our flight to depart. It happened way faster, then we thought and the Boarding was completed after 10min. We steamed toward the Take Off area and didn't even stop but took off immediately. In the air, we got a (veggie) sandwich and something to drink. Seb chose a tomato juice and stated that it was scientifically proven that it tastes differently than on the ground. I tried it - tasted like McDonald's ketchup to me. But the veggie sandwich was pretty good and they even asked if someone would like another one. I would have never thought, that we would get a snack on a shuttle flight on AF HOP! The flight was over soon and we arrived in Charles de Gaulle, Paris. We've heard lots of horror stories about the airport, so we were ready for everything to come. However, in the end it wasn't too bad. Yes, you definitely need some time to get from Terminal to Terminal, but it's not too bad. We landed in T2G and had to get to T2E. We had to first take a bus to T2F, which was absolutely crammed with people. Arriving there, we went through the Immigration and walked until we arrived at T2EL, but we had to take yet another crammed bus to T2EM. But afterwards, it was a piece of cake. Our gate M44 was right around the corner and it only took us 1,5hrs from landing to the next gate. So we could get some coffee and sweets before settling down to charge our phones once more.
    Boarding started and finished, so that we could start just on time. We took off and an extremely annoying high-pitched and loud noise appeared. Looking around, I figured that not only I was hearing it - there were a lot of baffled faces around. But the noise didn't go away and the flight attendants could do nothing about it... So we had a beautiful, calm flight to get some well deserved rest before our real holiday started - not.    Read more

  • TravelerA Francophone Adventure
    Day 2

    Arriving on Ile Maurice

    October 26, 2023 in Mauritius ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    After not resting well in the airplane, we finally arrived on Ile Maurice at 5 o'clock in the morning. We were pretty happy to not hear this noise anymore and I guess everyone was. I had filled out the form to enter Mauritius way before, however, as the South Africa trip last month was so spontaneous, I haven't put South Africa on the list of travelled to countries in the last 6 months. So Seb got me a form to fill out by hand, however we didn't need it in the end, the immigration officer gave us the stamps without any comment and let us in the country. We got our luggage (which arrived just perfectly) and asked the officer at a counter, what we could bring onto the island. Fresh fruits weren't allowed (Goodbye Apples) but our sandwiches and chopped up carrots were. It was sad about the apples, but throwing them away is better as paying 1.000€ to still get them taken away from you (Right Aussies?)
    Seb and I exchanged some money, got a Mauritian SIM Card and picked up our rental car. It's been the first time for us, so we were rather excited. I had to drive on the wrong side (thanks to the British) with an automatic. I can drive on the left side as I've done it in Oxford, however the automatic part was rather new to me and it took some time until I realized my left foot hadn't had a job anymore and shouldn't use the brakes (as we always stopped very hard because I don't have any gradual feeling in my left foot). Luckily, not too many cars were on the streets and I wasn't in a rush, so it was a very pleasant first ride to our apartment. I've asked whether we could check-in at around 8.30am already, which was perfectly fine. So we arrived early at the Riverside Holiday Home, put our luggage down and fell asleep for a couple of hours (me in bed, Seb on the sun lounger on the terrace). Waking up, the sun was higher, and the air warmer then before, but still much more breathable as I've expected. We sat down to eat some breakfast and made a plan on what to do, as I haven't planned anything yet. I did my research on Mauritius, however, instead of planning every single day and minute as usual, I have decided to much rather go with the flow and just do whatever is on our mind. So, we decided to drive up north for the rest of the day and visit the famous Cap Malheureux and its church.
    As we wanted to pack our things, I was missing my wallet. We searched everywhere for it, but we couldn't find it and I felt like a panic attack approaching. We searched in the car but it wasn't there. I decided to call First Car Rental, maybe I've lost/forgot it when getting in the car. The man on the phone told me, they'd look for it and that he'd call me back. We went inside again and looked yet another time for the wallet. And, damn me, we found it under a pillow case that I've put on the floor. I was so relieved! 5min later, the First Car Rental guy called me and told me that they haven't found any wallet but that they would go through the CCV videos to check. I burst out with a thank you and told him that we already got the wallet back. Super grateful that they tried so hard to find it, I thanked him and we said goodbye. Now I had to calm my nerves a bit, before driving on to Cap Malheureux.
    The drive was again very picturesque, driving next to the ocean, huge sugar cane farms or between tropical trees. And then we came across the Bras D'eau National Park, where Seb insisted to stop. We jumped out of the car and looked around until a man came up to us. He was kind of an officer here and had seemingly not much to do as he showed us around the Nature Trail, the Old Well and the Visitor Centre. He was super enthusiastic and proud to show us were he worked. He showed us the fish in their little pond and some huge tortoises chilling in the sun. They were actually only around 50-55 years old and weighted about 125kg - not too much though, when they look so enormous. He showed us the ruins of the old sugar cane farm and explained to us, that everywhere we stood on has been flooded by the sea before. That explained the shells on the forest floor and the dead corals Seb found laying on the way casually.
    We decided to come back tomorrow with better shoes (as we had just intended to go to the beach with our sandals which wasn't the right footwear walking the Nature Trail) and said goodbye to the kind man showing us around. We jumped back in to the car and left for the North.    Read more

  • TravelerA Francophone Adventure
    Day 2

    Up up to the North - Cap Malheureux

    October 26, 2023 in Mauritius ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We drove from Bras D'Eau National Park on to Cap Malheureux where we enjoyed some locals singing in the church Notre Dame Auxiliatrice. Coming out again, we could watch some lady clean and prepare some Snappers they've caught earlier today. Seb, being a curious fisherman, asked the locals who could take him with them fishing one morning. But it was becoming clear that they weren't planning on taking him on a traditional fisher's trip but on a tourist tour. We want to actually fish like locals, so we parted ways and found a new acquaintance - one of the many local street dogs. She was very cute and liked my cuddling a lot, even laying on her side so to pet her belly. There are so many dogs around and they all look rather unhealthy, their fur being sticky and dirty, some dogs have open wounds or have a limp. Every time I see one, I'm thinking of Aluna and how I want to take care of her. I really miss her, I must admit.
    We said Goodbye to the doggo and drove in our apartments' direction. As Seb was getting hungry, he looked for a little snack and found one. Dominico was a tiny little shed in a local alleyway where the kids were cycling and the dogs lazily laid on the dirt road. An old man sat behind the counter and listened to the radio. You could see the surprise in his eyes that two white people came across his little snack. He made us a dish of noodles with vegetables and chilli sauce on the side, to that some Tamarind Drink. The noodles were delicious and the drink was way too sweet. We started chatting with the man and found out his name was Enrico. No idea why his business is called Dominico. Anyway, lucky we found it.
    Back in the car with some cold beer, we drove on until we stopped by the sea. Why let the cold beer get warm? So we hopped out of the car and found ourselves on a nearly empty beach, two drinks in hands. We explored it whilst gulping down the cold liquids and saw some statues on the rocks. They looked Hindu. Everywhere, there were little bobs and pieces, like offerings to the sea. Maybe for good lucky with fishing?
    However, it was nice to look at the little statues, thinking about the people's hopes and dreams in offering their Gods something.
    After we emptied our bottles, we jumped back into the car and drove to the apartment at Grand River South East.
    As our host Rajesh had told us, we went to his friends restaurant: Carambole Snack up the road. Satish, the owner, had reserved us a table (1/3) and had put a table cloth on it for extra specialness. We ordered whatever the kitchen had in store for us that day and we're delighted about a delicious starter and main. Afterwards, we had a nice little chat with Satish who offered us some Rum tasting. He makes his own flavoured Rum by buying the Goodwill Rum and putting in some Mela (sugar cane syrup) and Guave or Pineapple, letting it sit for 3 months, and perfect. It actually tasted pretty well, even for me. Seb, again a curious fisherman, asked him about fishing as well. Luckily Satish was a fisherman himself, unfortunately with some back pain lately. But he said, he'd see what his back said in one or two days and if it would be possible for him to take Seb with him on a fisher trip the traditional Mauritian style. As you can imagine, we left the restaurant rather happy. On our way home though, we realized that we hadn't given him enough tip for all his efforts. We were afraid that our new friendship would die faster than it began, so we made a plan to go to Satish directly after breakfast tomorrow morning to apologise and give him his well deserved tip.    Read more

  • TravelerA Francophone Adventure
    Day 3

    Bras D'Eau NP Again - With Proper Shoes

    October 27, 2023 in Mauritius ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    The next morning, we made our way to Bras D'Eau National Park again, just as we told the security officer yesterday. We had packed lots of water and proper shoes to wander the Nature Trail. So we set off and were astonished by the many volcanic stones that were - unevenly - planted in our way. So the trail was much more exhausting than we thought it would be which resulted in swearing and sweating. But our surroundings were beautiful anyway. Especially the shells on the forest floor were yet again something quite miraculous, I must admit.
    The sun went higher and our water bottles got emptied one after another. As we finally arrived the much promised beach, we were excited for the water to cool us off. However, the water was warm itself, so not much cooling from that part. It was still great to get some shade and rest during the high noon. After cuddling with some more street dogs laying on the sand (the poor things must be dying) we made our way back to the Visitor Centre - however Goilge found us a shortcut so we didn't have to go over all of these uneven stones again. Finally back in the car, we drove into the middle of the Ile of Maurice where we wanted to hunt for some caves. However, the weather wanted us to stop.    Read more

  • TravelerA Francophone Adventure
    Day 3

    Rainy Caves and Tasty Craves

    October 27, 2023 in Mauritius ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    After the pouring rain had lightened a little and the streaming rovers had changed back into concrete streets, we continued our way to the Pont Bon Dieu Cave I've seen on Google Maps. We arrived at a little hindu shrine and we're a bit confused about the location. After researching the destination again though, we realized that we are already there. We followed the uneven stairs down the rainforest path whilst the rain drops continued to fall from the sky. Then we found ourselves in a stunningly beautiful cave, framed by huge black stones and green ranking plants. The sound of the raindrops on the leaves and the birds around, the atmosphere was magical. We crawled through one of the caves to the other side but couldn't find any bats. In the other big cave though, there were lots of birds and bats that made very much noise.
    Finally, we decided we had enough and made our way back the slippery path unhurt. The drive back was still rainy, but at least most of the water had gone off the streets already. We saw a huge Sugar Cane Factory driving by, the steam not looking like the factory would have been allowed in the EU like that. We stopped by a supermarket to get some cheese and meat for breakfast, however we decided on processed cheese and corned beef - our substitutes for this holiday, I guess. We drove back home and decided to go to Satish once again, not only to get some great dinner but also to give him his well deserved tip for yesterday. We apologised and he just laughed about it, saying it was fine. We got some amazing starter called Baja (basically fried cheese in some kind of dough) and Seb asked about lots of plants and what he had in his soup tonight as it was edible. Satish told us that is is called Moringa and it's kind of like German peas, but you can eat only the seeds in the inside, bit the outer part. He also got lucky yet again to not only get a huge 650ml-bottle of beloved Phoenix beer, but also yet another Rum tasting for himself.    Read more

  • TravelerA Francophone Adventure
    Day 4

    A Day on the Ile aux Cerfs

    October 28, 2023 in Mauritius ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Today we woke up to yet another sunny day and walked down to the little jetty at the Grand River South East to start our private boat tour. We cruised to the G. R. S. E. waterfall and were lucky that the most other tourist boats queued after us. We turned around to get out to the ocean but on the way there we saw some monkeys on the sides of the river, playing and eating. Through the mangroves we went and landed on the beach of Ile aux Cerfs which is an island directly on the shores of the Mauritian East Coast. The trip has been arranged by our host Rajesh and had cost us (incl. one barbecue for Seb as I'm a vegetarian) 2.550 MUR which is around 55€. He had told us that we could go snorkeling there, however, we have not expected that we had to pay yet another 20€ p.p. to get to another boat that would bring us to the reef. So we were pretty disappointed, as we brought our own snorkeling gear with us as we thought Mauritius would be a great destination to snorkel. It turns out: Maybe, but you always have to take a boat, there are no reefs directly available from the beach. There is a huge difference to the Maldives in snorkeling opportunities after all...
    So we used the 1,5hrs until our boat would leave for the barbecue on another part of the island, to discover the same kind of beaches as we already have seen on the main island. More disappointed than ever, we talked to yet another German family about possible other snorkeling spots to enter from the beach. They recommended Pointe d'Esny which was a little bit North of the famous Blue Bay Marine Park. We decided to drive there after coming back to our apartment.
    The 1,5hrs passed by and we went back to the jetty to be driven to our barbecue. However, the barbecue would still need another hour which got me questioning why we should have come here so early. So we discovered a bit of the other part of the island next to the golf course and took some selfies with the picturesque mountains of Ile aux Maurice in the background. Finally, the barbecue was ready and so we sat behind the boats, looking at the mountains and enjoyed the food. They were nice enough to bring me a plate of rice and salad as well (after Seb was asking quite frankly about it), so we could eat together. It was alright, however not worth 15€ at all. We got some fried coconut banana for dessert and were offered some coffee. Seb and I declined, but we still got a little espresso. First, we just thought that there was a misunderstanding (again) and so Seb drank it a bit. However, then they told us we had to pay 200MUR for the coffee (4€) and we were furious. The day was shit enough already, with false promises about snorkeling, the island being nothing special at all and the boat driver nit explaining us anything about e.g. the flora and fauna around. We have found ourselves in a tourist scam, or at least we felt like it. We paid the damn coffee and jumped on the boat. Arriving back at the apartment we were pissed, but we still had the hope to snorkel at Pointe d'Esny. So we jumped in the car and drove there, put our snorkeling gear on and off we went into the ocean. We didn't see anything but algae. Looking at the phone, it seemed as if we had to swim more than 30m out into the ocean. The currents however were extremely strong and without fins it seemed impossible to get there. Especially when you don't know if there are any other currents that could get dangerous. As it started to rain, we decided to call it a day and just drive home again. It was still rather early, but we were done for today. Instead, we just chilled on our terrace, cooked some noodles and afterwards Seb went to Carambole Snack to drink some Rum with Satish. I stayed home and wrote some more for the block. What a wasted day.    Read more

  • TravelerA Francophone Adventure
    Day 5

    Fishing like Traditional Mauritians

    October 29, 2023 in Mauritius ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    As Seb has convinced Satish to go fishing with us despite his back pain, we woke up at 5am in the morning to have some breakfast. We listened to our usual songbird who amused us with his singing until the neighbour on the other side of the river started his playlist again. Rajesh has told us that he was gifted a stereo music box for his birthday and all neighbors have given some money to it, so that he now wants everyone to enjoy the music with him. We really like his taste of very random music, so we enjoyed it as well up til 6am. We packed some water and food and went down to the river where we met Satish 15min later (Mauritian punctuality I guess). He had a good excuse though: He had waited for some snacks to be ready that he'd share with us on the boat. We climbed over sticks and stones to get to his little boat, which was rather dangerous as we only had put on our flip flops and crocs. We made it into the boat safely and started the journey in the direction of the waterfall. The tide was very low and we saw lots of stones that haven't been there yesterday, or at least haven't been visible. We found a spot and tied us to the trees. Then we prepared the fishing rots. However, not "normal" German fishing rots but rather a thick plastic line (around 2-3mm) wound around a plastic bottle. Seb and Satish tied some huge hooks on the plastic lines, put some kalamari and shrimps on it and threw them out in the water. Again and again, but nothing happened. "No fish around", Satish told us. Then a sudden rain showered from the skies and, hiding underneath a plastic cover, we decided to change the spot again. Now we've found a bunch of fish that had at least arm length. We threw out our plastic bottle rots again and not sooner after: the first bite for Seb. He fought and fought but the huge fish tricked him and got away, with him the hook with its bait. "You have to play more with the fish", Satish told us and I showed Seb how to do it with my first bite. Whenever the fish swam away, I let him his space and when he turned towards me, I pulled him closer until he landed in the net. A big Red Drummer he was. And after that, we had another 6 bites - 4 more catches, 2 more misses. In total we have caught 5 big Red Drummers and were super proud! As the tourist boats started to come now more and more, we decided to call it a day and ship back to the apartment. "You'll have your fish tonight?", Satish asked. We nodded enthusiastically. I nodded enthusiastically, although I'm a veggie and usually hate fish. But I would try that one!
    After we parted ways with Satish and changed into clean clothes (fishermen get dirty a lot), we decided to explore the west coast a bit. But first, Seb wanted to visit the big hindu temple in Bel Air, the village next to G. R. S. E.
    When we arrived though, nobody was there and everything was closed down. Seb was rather disappointed, but had the idea to ask the men working on the street next to it. One of the man explained, that we could just open the gate and at least look at the outside of the temple. That was good enough for us, so we went on to the ground. (Un)Fortunately, we just saw the sign prohibiting phones after leaving the premise again.    Read more

  • TravelerA Francophone Adventure
    Day 5

    The Disappointing Truth about the West

    October 29, 2023 in Mauritius

    We drove on to the Cascades of Deep River that were quite cool but infested with mosquitos that bit me 6 times in less than two minutes whilst I was playing a wind mill on drugs. So we decided to drove ahead to our next stop on the road to the West: Pieter Both. It appeared to be a very interesting looking mountain behind a banana farm. On we drove to the West and saw some interesting things: Port Louis has a tram system going on up to Phoenix (where we drove through), Mauritian cars not always look so shat anymore, and the speed limit on their motorways is 110km/h, which makes sense as every 3-4km a roundabout breaks the flow. As we finally left the outskirts of the Capital of Mauritius, we entered a very touristic part: the Black River Region. And it didn't take us too long to enter Flic en Flac. To find a parking spot at the world-known beach though was more difficult. Understandably, it was Sunday afternoon. But we still haven't expected so many cars and people, as the Eastern part of Mauritius is much calmer. It was extremely hot, so we took our umbrellas to cover us from the sun and wanted to just take a sneek-peek of the famous Flic en Flac beach. To be honest: It's nothing special. It's the same alright, somehow dirty sand with no shade whatsoever, way too many tourists and stinking public toilets. Also when you book a hotel there beware: You have heavy traffic between you and the beach, which then won't even be for you and your hotel pals. It's definitely not worth it. Every beach on the East was at least like Flic en Flac, usually even better because less people. Some people might like other humans, though as Seb and I don't, we decided to quickly escape from the west coast again. We decided to drive on to the Tamarind Falls, however we didn't like to wander up the falls but rather just look at them. So we drove to a lookout point, whilst stopping by some more amazing looking mountains. The Tamarind Falls are alright and I guess it would be nice to wander around them, not today though. As the sun was starting to slowly go down again, we jumped back into the car to drive home. On the way, we had to take a detour and found ourselves on private property from a Sugar Cane farm. Luckily, nobody gave a sugar (pun intended) about the permits, so we just drove through and found an amazing place on a bridge. Not only were the sugar canes higher than people, but also the river flowing underneath has created a "Jungle book"-like surrounding. We've driven through the whole country, to all these famous places to stop by such a picturesque place not 20mins from our apartment. And nobody knows about it, or stops by. And that's actually what we've learned yesterday and today: Whatever lots of people recommend doing, lots of other people will do, i.e. will be full with tourists, the prices and attractions for them. When you're a travel agent like we both are, you don't want tourists around. You want to experience the pure culture and get to know the local ways of living. We look differently onto tourist things. We see what is done good, what is authentic, what is only made for tourists to like it.
    We drove back to our apartment and stopped by Carambole Snack to get our own caught fish done by Satish. I tried some fish curry as well and I have to admit: It was delicious, even though I usually don't like fish at all. That one was amazing!    Read more

  • TravelerA Francophone Adventure
    Day 6

    Just a Day of Relaxation

    October 30, 2023 in Mauritius ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Today we decided to take a rest from everything and sleep in as long as we wanted. We had our usual breakfast with the background music of our neighbour, and packed our things for a day on the beach. We drove to Belle Mare, the longest beach on Mauritius. We were completely by ourselves despite some melodious birds and harmless beach fleas. We read our books, jumped into the sea once in a while and dried in the sunny wind. It felt good to finally calm down a bit and do what a holiday on Mauritius is meant to be: relaxing.
    In the late afternoon, we got an aperitif from our host without knowing why but appreciated a lot. Netherless, we went to Satish for dinner tonight as usual and nearly exploded from all the good food we had there.    Read more

  • TravelerA Francophone Adventure
    Day 7

    Climbing to the Top of Le Morne

    October 31, 2023 in Mauritius ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    The next morning started with the alarm clock going off at 3.20am. As we have stayed at Satish' way too long, we haven't got enough sleep tonight at all. I was feeling sick. However, we packed our things for the day (including 5,5L of water) and started driving. The journey would take 1.45hrs from the East to the West. The last 1,5km were a complete mess of a street with more holes than dirt. We arrived at 6.05am and saw a guard at the gate. Shit, I thought, as I've read a blog about hiking Le Mourne and it said that the gates open at 7am but that you could easily slide past the gate. How should we do this with a guard standing next to it? Despite thinking that it would be a painful hour to wait until the gate would open, the guard saw us and just opened the door. "Please fill in your name and that you started at 7 o'clock", he told us. Sure thing, 6.15am is as close as it would get to 7am. Grateful, that we could start the journey with the sun still waking up and the heat still at its lowest, we began the hike. The first 3km were made of a stony, uneven trail that had a steady rise but was alright to do with little water breaks. The trees gave us some shade in which we could rest our bodies from the sun's UVs. Every now and then, we could get a nice view down to Le Morne Beach. After about 1h, we have reached the first real view point and the end of the "normal" trail. Now the tricky 0.5km would start. And it really got tricky. We had to climb the blank mountain, without any gear, safety or help. Bit by bit, we had to make sure were to put our hands and feet to have a good hold and catapult us up to the next spot, and so on. It was tough, as the sun has found its whole power now and was burning on our heads. Luckily, we've brought enough sunscreen with us. It was not only adventurous but dangerous and I have to say I was as terrified as thrilled by the experience. When we finally arrived on top of the Le Morne and stood next to the cross, I felt exhausted and exhilarated at once. But we couldn't really applaud us for our efforts just yet, as we had to make the way back safely first. As there were coming even more people to the top and it got very crowded, we decided to cut the photo shoot short (which was pointless anyway, as clouds lingered around the top and you could see nothing anymore) and get on with going down again. This was difficult at another level, as loose rocks could slide away at any time and the stones were heating up by the sun quickly. I got on by lowering my centre as much as possible which basically meant that I would sit on nearly every stone and slide down. I felt pretty stupid doing that, but I was rather safe than sorry. And as we finally reached the green gate again, we knew that the worst part was finally over. Now we only had 3km left with the (now seemingly) easy "stroll" down the hill. We were reminiscing about this torture and came to the following conclusions:
    1. There is definitely not enough information for visitors. Not only regarding safety but also directions (sometimes we didn't really know where to go) and history. This mountain has a very dark history, being the place were slaves from the old British days fled to and "saved themselves to freedom" by jumping off its top, i.e. taking their lives. The cross was the only thing that "reminded" of these suicides, however such crosses can be found on every German mountain as a sign for "Yeah, you reached the top". So it would have been very nice to have some signs along the way to just learn more about it.
    2. Le Morne doesn't seem to like its tourists. Or at least, the government doesn't do anything so that tourists would feel welcomed here. It starts with the dirt road that leads to Le Morne which is not in a good state at all, and ends with the seemingly careless approach to let tourists in who maybe not even know what they are being baited in. The first part is doable, but I would have wished for more explanations and maybe some safety instructions for the climbing bit. Just putting a sign on the way with "Stay hydrated, no children allowed, dangerous climbing, etc" doesn't seem quite enough for that. We saw children climb that hill, in the seering sun with no hats on. We saw people with nothing but a purse. I know that everyone should look out for themselves and are responsible in what they are doing, but I can't believe that not more people die there, to be quite frank. We arrived back at the entrance at 11.10am and people were still entering the trail, looking completely done by the sun already. Obviously, we don't know how high they went, if they did do the climbing part. However, nobody is checking at that green gate whether everyone has enough water with them, has their sun protection, etc. Yes, the entry to Le Morne is free, but I'd rather pay 10€ and have enough safety measures around me than not. If they'd only take 10€ per person, they could build a reasonable street, they could hire people to make sure that tourists there are safe. Because, I have to say it, but a lot of tourists are really stupid and really don't know what they're doing. You can't be sure of "common sense" nowadays. I really felt like the Mauritian government gives a shit about tourists there. And it didn't feel good.
    3. The view from the viewpoint before the climbing part is just as good as the one from the top. I've thought that maybe you could see the underwater waterfall from the top of Le Morne. You don't. You can only see it flying over it. It was somehow fun to climb that mountain, but all the resources it took me to get there, weren't really rewarded at the top.
    So, if you're not a good climber, are afraid of heights or just don't want to put the effort into it: You can only do the first 3km, that's totally enough and gets you sweaty as well. I'm not a good climber or hiker, tbh I haven't done any of it really before that, but I've done it. I'm proud of myself and Seb to actually have achieved that. But I don't need it ever again.    Read more

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