West Coast of Mauritius

Port Louis, the island's capital, was named after Louis XV. It is a bustling city, the relatively small port of which is one of the busiest in the Indian Ocean. Come and admire the Chinese Pagoda opposite the race-course, the Jummah Mosque in Royal Road, the typically English Saint James's Cathedral, or the Indian Tamil temple. The city's greatest attraction however is its market. It is, something between an Arab soukh and the Parisian halles - coloured saris, smiling faces, and high spirits contribute to the show of large baskets of vegetables, kitchen tools, and carefully laid out exotic fruit. And don't miss the stall selling herbs to cure every illness under the sun!

The Domaine des Pailles provides ample opportunity to become acquainted with the islanders' daily life in the past. In this magnificent natural setting you can visit an old reconstructed sugar mill, still used to produce rum. You can explore the domain on foot - especially the spice garden or alternatively on horseback.

Home to about 2000 birds of 140 different species. Some of these, such as the pink pigeon, are amongst the rarest birds in the world. There are also tortoises, monkeys, and tigers. In the flowering season the orchids are superb. All of this is set in a decor that is both breathtaking and peaceful with trees, streams, cane fields down to the sea, and the mountains in the background.

The Pieter Both mountain owes its name to a Dutch admiral and governor of the Dutch Indies who drowned when his ship was wrecked in the Baie du Tombeau in 1615. At the top of the mountain there is a stone held up in equilibrium, but in constant danger of tumbling down. A nineteenth-century legend claimed that the English would leave the island if the stone came down. Needless to say, it is still there, together with a beautiful walk among the sugar cane and mango trees up to the slope of the mountain.