Thousands of screaming children Natural Park
Trip Start
Mar 17, 2007
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151
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Trip End
Ongoing
Mahebourg,
Mauritius
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Mark Twain said in 1896, that God modeled Mauritius on Paradise. It might be true. But still. You have big fans and enemies of Mauritius. I am both. Would not dare to recommend it.
We were supposed to switch cars today, since ours was planned for a service, 40.000kms ago, according to the papers, but that is beside the point. When we were leaving the Indian lady of the car rental stopped at our hotel to say that we could keep the car another day: no swapping. Since men can only plan 1 thing at the time, Dr T was without destination. For me, driving the south was good enough.
But, wait, there is a Nature park, 5 kms from our place. When I read about it, driving there, something said; 'don't'. Next time, I will listen to something. IF you like thousands of SCREAMING children, this is the place: Casela Nature Park. Lonely Guide gives a website, which does not exist and a price, which is double now.
Would you believe that amongst those 1000s of kids, I saw the same (4 year old?) kicking a turtle AND throwing a stone at a goose???
I stepped in and wanted to step out. We stayed for an hour. Yes, a lot of birds, a fake safari, a couple of big turtles but the worse place I have been to in 7,5 months. It is not even a tourist trap: most are local! We see 1 lady, complety covered in black but her eyes.She wears gloves like Darth Vader!!!
I want to drive, see the island, so we decide to do the whole south coast.
The palm tree you see might not be the prettiest even, only, it is NOT a tree, it is a mobile transmitter.
The nature is indeed breath taking. Still rough and not touristic. The people on average are very poor, living in houses where we would not store a car in. There are still more than 40 sugar factories on the island but apart from that and the tourists, I have no idea what those people live off.
We end up at Mahébourg (pronounced my-bor) as planned and Hubby finds the most expensive restaurant in town. Again our guide book disappoints us. Yes, if you compare ANYHING on Mauritius to Saint-Tropez, you are NOT to be trusted!!!
The specialty of the restaurant is wild boar and even Dr T orders it. I order the tongue of the beast. The owner warns us: it will take 45 minutes. No worries: we have a perfect view and a good glass of wine. The waitress is cr.ppy. Which starts us up on the Mauritians: they have that laid back, tropical attitude, which automatically results in slow service and laziness. We are used to that. But they lack the friendliness, the warmth and the smile of countries like Thailand, Turkey, Sri Lanka, ... . This expensive restaurant is no exception. When I read the menu, I have to move 4 times because the waitress HAS to put the fork, the plate, the bread, etc. where my menu card is. On our 'merci' there is no answer and what is brought to us is slapped on the table, in silence.
My 'mash' turned into rice. In a country where 90 percent of the food is rice, I want my mash. But we do enjoy our meal. My first wild boar tongue.
We drive back via the inland. The car rental place is shut. The lady promised us to talk to her friend in the travel agency, to ask for accommodation in the Seychelles. At home, we restart our search.
It is clear: we will not find anything with internet. We want to stay on the 'main' island in a town center, where there is diving. It is very expensive and all places I contact are full or just do not answer.
We write mails, surf the net, have a sandwich, talk to Belgium and get up early to ...
Comments
Wild boar and cartoons
Hey :-)
What do wild boars and cartoons have in common?
I bet Tony wanted to eat the wild boar because of his childhood readings of 'Asterix and Obelix'.
Love,
micmic
Euro Trash
A pair of upset EuroTrash on vacation. First, you've got Mark Twain's quote WRONG.
Second, Mauritians are not very poor. You have obviously not visited the whole island. You do not know anything about the economy of the island either.
I also stayed at the Maui Ritz Carlton. I can tell you for a fact that the service at the 3 star Coco Beach in Mauritius is a lot better than that at the Ritz in Maui. The Saint Geran in Mauritius is out of this world - the very best.
To all those reading these reviews, I would not pay attention to a pair of EuroTrash - take a look at them and judge for yourselves.
Mate,
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain