Mauritius, widely known as the home of the now extinct dodo, isn’t widely known as a hiking destination. Most of the one million tourists who visit the country never even leave their resorts, but the opportunities for hikers are surprisingly varied.
With dozens of peaks, the highest of which is 2,716 feet above sea level, Mauritius offers a wide range of great trails to those willing to go off the beaten path. After spending almost five months living in Mauritius and countless hours peering out into the great blue from the country’s summits, I can fairly say that the travel guides don’t do it justice. As a destination, Mauritius offers so much more than its beaches.
All the paths in Mauritius we found were well marked with paint on the trees, and generally all well used. Nonetheless some of the peaks were quite challenging particularly near the top. Mauritius we found is a really excellent place for hiking. The problem mainly is getting access to the routes by the public buses, it is possible over short distances; but it is a big island, so not really feasible to attempt to travel too far from ones base to make a day trip by public transport.
For all our walks in Mauritius we found that we were able to use our ME maps navigation to direct us to a route, which proved very useful. It also told us when there was not route up the mountain.
Here’s a guide to some of the notable mountains and hiking experiences Mauritius has to offer:
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Le Morne Brabant
Le Morne Brabant [lə mɔʁn bʁa.bɑ̃] is a peninsula at the extreme southwestern tip of the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. On it is a basaltic monolith of the same name 556 metres (1,824 ft) high. Its summit covers an area of over 12 hectares (30 acres). There are many caves and overhangs on the steep slopes. It is largely surrounded by a lagoon and is a well known tourist attraction.
You’re about to climb Le Morne Brabant, a three-hour hike with an expert guide as the soft morning sunlight casts its rays over the ocean. As you gaze down at the sea’s swirling shades of turquoise from way up high, it’s the perfect time to reflect on how the mountain provided shelter for escaped slaves during the 18th and early 19th Century. Back on terra firma, spend the afternoon on the beach doing very little or, if you still have some energy, book a kite-surfing session.
The peninsula is steeped in cultural myth and legend in the early 19th century as a suggested refuge for Maroons and people who escaped slavery. After the abolition of slavery in Mauritius, on 1 February 1835 it is rumored that a police expedition was dispatched there ostensibly to inform those who escaped slavery that emancipation had made them legally free men and women.
However, fearing that the officials were coming to capture them, the slaves tragically leapt to their deaths from the top of the mountain, never realizing their freedom. Le Morne has been declared a World Heritage Site.
In addition to being a World Heritage site, it’s also the last place on the planet where the national flower of Mauritius, the Trochetia boutoniana, grows in the wild. If you’re lucky, you can spot the brilliant red blooms glowing against the turquoise waters.
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Le Morne is privately owned, so you do need a guide who has permission from the owners (I recommend Yanature), but most of the island’s mountains can be attempted on your own with instructions from Fitsy.com.
Underwater Waterfall Mauritius
Cobalt, cerulean, azure, ultramarine . . . When viewed from above, the Indian Ocean is so much more than just blue.
Greatest Nature's Optical illusion: The Underwater Waterfall of Mauritius
I was standing near the top of Le Morne Mountain, a basaltic monolith on the west coast of Mauritius. From my perch, I could see a smattering of small islands, a fleet of local pirogues, and a mosaic of corals. Kite surfers glided over the sea in a nearby bay, and sea birds banked in the wind. Mauritius, I thought as I looked down, is so much more than just a beach destination.
Other Notable Mountains
1 Trou des Cerfs 610 m: However the walk through the built up area is pleasantly rewarded when you arrive at the grassy park surrounding the rim which is a popular place and well maintained with several monuments and some exercise machines at one side. You can see down from here to the crater lake at the centre of the volcano. whilst the sides are forested with a mixture of native and exotic trees. We walked some 6km to the base from Curepipe village through the suburban coming out then on a road passing through the sugar cane plantations.
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4 Le Pouce 810m: Means thumb in French. From Bambous we took a bus into Port Louis dropping off near the place called Immigration. From here we followed the route (more or less) through the quiet urban streets, passing on route many Hindu temples with many dedicated to Shiva the God of the Mountains, and smelling the familiar scent of incense, which led us to the foot of the hills, from where we found a track leading up into the scrub, to the right of the ridge of Signal Mountain and Goat rock), up the Vallee du Pouce.
Once on the ridge we met with two Polish tourists also heading to the summit, and made a couple of diversions with them, for there are several other paths there where people have mislaid the way. The final part is a steep climb up the the pillar of the thumb, where fortunately the drizzle of the ascent had cleared so that we gained a full view from there. It was an amazing spot, where we could look north to the adjacent peaks of St Pierre and Grand Pic, and pack down to the Port area of the main city. There was a real sense of being able to see everything around. On the top, it being a Friday, we met a large part of Mauritians out for a walk.
Little Black River Peak: I used the information on Fitsy to hike Piton du Canot, Lion Mountain, and Little Black River Peak, the highest mountain on the island.
We found a path opposite the Chamarel Hotel marked (again) by green flags, which led up through regenerated forest on a pleasant well-used path climbing gradually up the ridge. We found and collected along the way a good many of the small red guavas that were growing wild on the trees here. Nearly at the summit we met a young German who told us he had no head for heights and was waiting there for his friends (deciding not to go further). On the top we found the rest of his partly, three other Germans, and a red painted bench which was very useful also for sitting on so you could get a view over the scrub down to the coast. In the other direct we could see over to the deep wooded gorge of the Black River national Park, with an impressive waterfall at its upper end.
Now we were becoming more familiar with the western peaks of the island we could distinguish successively the Rampart, St Pietter, Le Pouce and Grand peaks. The Morne summit itself is at 556 metres, and further to the west, but we did not find our way up it, though we were told there is a difficult path. This is a prominent mountain set on its own promontory at the south western corner of Mauritius island, with a distinct squarish top.
Lion Mountain: Another day, we hiked Lion Mountain on the east coast, where we briefly saw a wild Mauritius kestrel, once the rarest bird in the world. We didn’t see another person during the entire hike.
Hiking Experiences
I went on my first hiking adventure just a few days after arriving in the country. There was only one other vehicle parked in the lot, and a middle-aged man wearing running shorts was standing next to the car, stretching.
After watching him for a few minutes, I got out to introduce myself, assuming he was the guide. Using very rough sign language, he indicated that he couldn’t speak to me. Given that Hinduism is the predominant religion in Mauritius, I thought he might have been practicing silence-referred to as mauna in the Hindu philosophy. After we had smiled broadly at each other, I climbed back into my car to wait. It seemed unlikely that he could serve as our guide without speaking.
Eventually the guide arrived, along with eight other hikers, and we all set out on the four-mile round-trip hike. We made our way to the start of the trail, donning headlamps for the first stretch, as the sky was just beginning to lighten.
Most of the hikers were Mauritians, and they were excited to tell me about their country-I actually received two invitations to tea before the sun fully rose. We chatted about outdoor culture in Mauritius, and I learned about a local hiking club that met regularly to explore different parts of the island.
The first part of the trail passed through forest, and we hiked in a line until there was a break in the vegetation. Stepping up to the overlook, we were greeted with a spectacular light display. Sunbeams streamed through a mountainous valley, and the sea was glassy and still, with clouds mirrored in its surface.
The hike only got better as we climbed. Above tree line, the views became panoramic and the breeze was refreshing. Keeping a steady pace, we all made it to the end of the trail in less than two hours and took a break at the final overlook.
We couldn’t actually summit the mountain, since the top is a World Heritage site. Le Morne, I learned, is a place imbued with history and cultural significance. Runaway slaves used it as a hiding place during the early 19th century.
Table of Mountains in Mauritius
| Mountain Name | Height (m) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Le Morne Brabant | 556 | UNESCO World Heritage Site, historical significance |
| Trou des Cerfs | 610 | Crater lake at the centre of the volcano |
| Le Pouce | 810 | Offers panoramic views of Port Louis |
| Little Black River Peak | 828 | Highest peak on Mauritius island |
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