Chamarel, Grand Bassin, the Tea Route: the 4 southern tours

The south of Mauritius looks nothing like the rest of the island. No long beach lined with hotels, no turquoise lagoon stretching to the horizon: mountains, gorges, a sacred lake, a seven-coloured earth and tea plantations. You go for the landscape and the history, and you come back feeling you have seen a different country.

Four tours in my catalogue cross it. They share several stops, so here is how to choose.

The main stops in the south

Trou aux Cerfs is the crater of a dormant volcano above Curepipe. You can walk around it in twenty minutes, and on a clear day you see a good part of the island.

Grand Bassin, or Ganga Talao, is a crater lake in the Savanne district. It is the holiest Hindu site in Mauritius, with statues of Shiva and Durga standing over thirty metres tall. Pilgrims come from all over the island during Maha Shivaratri. Dress respectfully: shoulders covered.

The Black River Gorges form the island’s national park. The road crosses them, with viewpoints over the whole south-west coast and the Alexandra Falls.

Chamarel packs three things into a few kilometres: the seven-coloured earth, dunes of volcanic sand that never mix; the nearby waterfall, the island’s highest; and the rum distillery, set among cane fields and pineapples.

The four tours, and what sets them apart

• Chamarel Seven Coloured Earth, Grand Bassin & the Gorges, from 109 €. The most direct route to the three major sites. This is what I recommend if you only have one day for the south.
• Trou aux Cerfs, Domaine Les Aubineaux, Grand Bassin, Mare Longue & Chamarel with lunch, from 119 €. The fullest on heritage: a colonial house and the Mare Longue reservoir are added, lunch included.
• Trou aux Cerfs, Grand Bassin & Rhumerie de Chamarel, from 129 €. With a driver-guide, not a coach. Pick-up at 8.30am, lychee wine tasting at the Takamaka Boutique Winery, lunch at Varangue sur Morne overlooking Le Morne mountain, ending at the Chamarel viewpoint.
• The Tea Route — Bois Cheri & Saint Aubin, from 149 €. A different south: the highland tea plantations, the Bois Cheri factory with tasting, and the Saint Aubin estate, an eighteenth-century colonial house where lunch comes from the estate itself.

How I tell them apart

You have one day and want the essentials: Chamarel, Grand Bassin & the Gorges. Best ratio between what you see and what you pay.

You are a group, you want your own pace and not a coach: the driver-guide option. Twenty euros more, and the day is yours.

You care more about tea, rum and colonial houses than viewpoints: the Tea Route. A slower tour, more about tasting, and quite unlike the others.

The south from the north: what you have to accept

I am based in Pereybere, and most of my guests stay in the north. The south is an hour and a half away, sometimes two depending on traffic around Port Louis in the morning.

That means an early start — often 8am or 8.30am — and a late afternoon return. It is a full day. It is also the one guests bring up most often after their stay.

If you are already staying in the south, around Bel Ombre or Blue Bay, it is all on your doorstep.

What to bring

It is cooler at altitude and it rains more often: at Grand Bassin and Chamarel, expect five to seven degrees less than on the coast. Take a light jacket, even if you are setting off from a beach at thirty degrees. That is the most common mistake.

Bring shoes you do not mind ruining — the paths around the falls are often muddy — and covered shoulders for Grand Bassin.

For the rest, my guide on when to visit Mauritius goes through the seasons: November to March is wetter in the south, which makes the waterfalls spectacular and the roads occasionally slippery.