Country #131: A little bit of Flic, a little bit of Flac

After a couple of idyllic days in Grand Baie, it was time for me to relocate to the southern part of Mauritius. As my base, I'd chosen the oddly named Flic-en-Flac. One theory is that the name comes from the Dutch "fried landt flaak", meaning "free flat land" but I prefer theory #2. As explained to me by a cab driver, this area used to be quite muddy. As you tried to walk through the muck, your shoes would get stuck causing you to flickety flac your way across the road.

However you call it, my first day did not go as planned. I'd made the rookie mistake of pre-booking a tour through Viator (as opposed to waiting and going directly through a local tour operator). The reason I did so was that this particular swimming with wild dolphins tour picked up anywhere on the island and departed from Flic en Flac. I figured that in addition to the tour, I'd get a "free" ride to my new base.  It was a good plan in theory, only the prior day I repeatedly tried to nail down a pickup time with absolutely zero success. I contacted Viator, numerous times to warn them that this could be a problem. They were absolutely worthless, offering nothing more than to send an email and long story short, here I was outside  with my bags at 6am and no ride to either Flic or Flac.  As I scrambled to come up with a plan b, my Grand Baie host came through one last time, getting me on the bus to Port Louis, where I could catch a connecting bus. 

By the time I arrived, all the boats had already gone out so there would be no dolphin swimming for me. The whole day turned into kind of a bust. If you think that Viator, an internationally known aggregator owned by Tripadvisor, did the right thing and compensated me for the lost day, think again. The best they were willing to was refund my payment- one week later. As a result, Viator is now my sworn enemy and I will scream from the rooftops how badly they suck. 

With this unexpected "free" day on my hands, I walked along the beach to the Buddha Bar, inside of a luxury resort on Sugar Beach. Xmas was coming up and I figured I could get a t-shirt for my hip, bougie niece.  The cocktails and view were fine but strangely enough, they had no merch. Why do you franchise a Buddha Bar and not slap it on a t-shirt? In retrospect, I should have just swiped their menu. 

Day two went much smoother. While wandering around town, I had come across a 20 € tour of the southern part of the island.  (Note: had I gone through those dipshits at Viator, this tour would have been well over $100. ) 12 hour tour, numerous highlights...I was sold.

We started with a couple of mandatory shopping stops, which is definitely the downside to the 20€ tour. We sat through presentations on miniature ships, rum (with a free tasting, so I'll let that one slide) and pashmina shawls.

With that out of the way, the tour began in earnest. We had a photo stop at Trou aux Cerfs, a dormant volcano crater, where we tried to convince ourselves that the weather was going to improve. 

This was followed by a stop at the Grand Bassin (or Ganga Talao), the most sacred Hindu place in Mauritius. As we stood in the rain, looking up at Lord Durga, hope for better weather was dwindling.

Our group was basically broken up in two factions. There were the English speakers: myself, a Romanian couple and a girl from Japan. Then there was everyone else speaking French.  The one thing both groups had in common was that everyone wanted out of the rain so this stop proved to be a quick one. 

Someone must have made a plea to Vishnu as the sun- and a perfectly placed rainbow- greeted us at our next stop, the Chamarel waterfall. There were plenty of signs in the area asking visitors not to feed the monkeys, which of course sent me frantically looking for hungry monkeys. They, on the other hand, were most likely still sopping wet and not feeling camera-ready because they were nowhere to be found. 

The highlight of the tour was just down the road at the Chamarel seven colored earth geopark, where minerals cause the dirt to take on multiple hues for a very trippy effect. I've heard conflicting reports as to whether rain enhances or mutes the colors. I'll have to go back on a sunny day to compare but as it was, I was pretty impressed with what I was seeing. 

Hanging with lovely ladies from Japan and Romania.

We capped off the tour with a stop at a viewpoint overlooking the Black River Gorges, which really was just stunning in every direction. 

Thankfully the sun continued to cooperate the following day. I had booked a catamaran trip to Ile aux Cerfs on the east side of the island, for which I paid $50 including lunch and open bar by booking locally as opposed to $125 on Viator. In case I haven't mentioned it recently, fuck Viator.

The outing began with a cab ride across the interior of the island to Trou d'eau Douce, where we would board the boat. It was myself and a pair of super friendly French dudes with varying degrees of English proficiency, although all of it much better than my French. 

You know how you know you are going to have a good day? When five minutes into the boat ride, you see that family of monkeys that cruelly eluded you at the waterfall. Ok, perhaps not the same family but surely they are distant cousins.

We weren't actually even on the catamaran yet, but on a smaller boat that took us down an inlet on the Grand River to a waterfall. 

From there, it was a short ride to the actual catamaran that was waiting to take us snorkeling. The reef was not the most impressive but it was on the way to Ile aux Cerfs and I think that was kind of the whole point. 

After a surprisingly good lunch and open bar, we were dropped off on the island for the afternoon. Where my last catamaran to Gabriel Ile had been a bit too quiet for my taste, Ile aux Cerfs was just my speed. There were remote areas where you could get away from the crowd but there were also bars, restaurants, souvenir vendors and a private party that I may or may not have crashed. 

Time flew by while I bar and beach hopped, often running into my French friends. A curious thing was happening. As the drinks flowed, our ability to find a common language seemed to improve. I don't know if my Duolingo was kicking in or the cocktails made my new ami more confident in his English but something similar to a conversation began to take place. 

The party continued back on the catamaran, where many a drunken photo shoot occured. 

On the ride back to Flic-en-Flac, it was determined that while the more English speaking Frenchie did a night dive, his buddy and I would hit up happy hour and catch the sunset. It was my last night in Mauritius and I welcomed the great company. 

It was also nice to know that a great view, some cold drinks and a dash of Google Translate were enough to overcome any linguistic divide. 

The next day, I had a 5pm flight back to Saudi. Not quite enough time to squeeze in the dolphin swim I had missed but too much time to just hang on the beach. To split the difference, I hired a driver to take me to a couple of places I'd missed and to see if I was lucky enough to see the thing that lured me to Mauritius in the first place. 

We began with a stop at the Maconde viewpoint between La Morne and Baie du Cap. It is essentially a roadside cliff that they have attached a little staircase to. Climb that staircase and you get a stunning view of the ocean.

Continue along the coastal road and stunning beaches are kind of the norm. 

But there was a specific view that I was now after. As mentioned in my last post, My interest in Mauritius was piqued after seeing a video of the underwater waterfall. It's what got me thinking that I needed to visit. Now, here I was but in order to see this (admittedly very cool) optical illusion, you needed to book a seaplane. I looked into it but at 150€ for a 15 minute flight (or 10€ a minute!!), it seemed a bit excessive. 

On this, my last day, I did some quick calculations into how much money I'd saved using primarily public transit and booking tours locally- and not through those Viator fuckfaces-and decided this was the moment to splurge. We went to the "airport" (read- a beach with a trailer and a couple of beach chairs doing duty as the departure lounge) and tried to book a last minute flight. Sadly, they were booked for the entire day and with only 3 planes in rotation and a number of people already waiting, it was not to be. Had I tried earlier, there is a Whatsapp number for last minute cancellations, which is good information for the next time.

                                       

It was disappointing but there was still plenty to see. Le Morne Brabant is both a distinctive mountain and a UNESCO world heritage site. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Mauritius was part of the international slave trade route. Those that were able to escape, hid in the mountain, sometimes jumping to their death to avoid capture. Today the Slave Route Monument, sits at the base of the mountain, commemorating those who lost their lives during this dark period. 

A stop at La Morne beach allowed me to cross one item off my list (sort of). I had wanted to visit the Flying Dodo brewery but its location in the interior of the island make it a challenge to get to and oddly enough, no bars carried their beer. It wasn't until the 11th hour that I finally saw it on tap at this beachside snack bar. 

I grabbed one to go and enjoyed it while watching loads of kite surfers doing their thing at our next stop. 

                                        

On our way back, we stopped at the same viewpoint I had visited a couple of days earlier during my tour of the southern highlights. I had come full circle on my southern adventures.

It had only been one week but it was more than enough time to fall in love with this beautiful island and its people. I know I always say this, but I truly do intend to go back- and hopefully check out that underwater waterfall. The brewery, too.  But you know what I won't be doing, booking shit from Viator.