Hiking Mauritius

Saturday morning, everyone woke up fairly refreshed. We had all been so tired after the previous days travels and turned in so early, that it provided a good night’s rest even though we had an early start. Kalyssa, unfortunately had had a somewhat sore throat the prior day which had turned into a full fledged cold with a cough, though she was still excited to go and see more of Mauritius. She took the first shower, and came out saying that she really liked the shower at our guest house. Alexandra took the next one, and then Natalie and then I.


When I got in, I turned the water to warm, and it was still cool. I turned it all the way to hot, in the hopes of clearing any cold water from the hot water pipes, and the water shut off completely. Hmmm… looks like another cold shower day, as we had in Cambodia. Unfortunately, the water here was much colder. I bathed as quickly as I could so as not to completely freeze myself. When I got out, Natalie asked me how I liked the shower. I said it was quite cold, and I mentioned that when I turned it to hot the water shut off completely. Kalyssa however had a warm shower.

Later in the day, we discussed this with Rajen so as to understand how/when the water was available. He explained that there were limitations to the water supply---similar to what we had in Mumbai, but the guest house has a reservoir so as to generally provide uninterrupted supply. However, they had a system of pressure boosters that needed to be used when the supply to the house was off. Leaving the boosters on though can cause water leaks. Our issue was simply that the booster had been shut off. He let us know that should we need hot water at any point and it isn’t available, he could switch on the booster within a minutes time.

Breakfast was served for us at 7:30am, and we enjoyed toast, homemade jam, yogurt and fruit which was all laid out for us and the other guests buffet style. At 9:00am we had scheduled a hike up Black River Peak which is the highest point on the island at a height of 845 meters. Rajen offered to drive us to and from the launch point for a fee. We had considered renting a care ourselves as the restaurant that we had lunch at the prior day offered a few cars for rent for the equivalent of $40/day, which was much cheaper than what he had asked for, however the prior evening, I never escaped to go reserve the car. Therefore, we went ahead and had him drive us. As we began navigating the twisting and turning Mauritian streets that snaked in and out of various villages we began to realize that it was a very good thing we had him drive, as we never would have found our way anywhere near the time of our launch. Most intersections do not have street names, and its only the largest roads that have consistent help in providing directions, and these are done simply by city names marked at each exit of a roundabout. Since our launch was from a small road in a Black River Gorges National Park, there’s no doubt it would have taken us all day to find it. Fortunately, Rajen knew exactly where it was.

On the way there it looked like there were some dark clouds in the distance towards the mountains. We expressed a fear that it may rain. In his normal, confident, mildly French accent, he said, “Not to worry, there is not going to be any rain today. They are watering the sugar cane, which means there is no provision for rain. Unfortunately a few moments later, it began raining. As we got to the launch point, it was still drizzly and windy. The air was about 70 degrees, but with the wetness and wind it felt fairly cool. Our guide from Vertical World, Ken, who had been waiting for us outside, shook our hand, and his hand felt like ice. Natalie exclaimed how cold he was, and he said yes it is cold out here. Ken asked if we brought rain jackets and warm clothes, as he thought it may rain for most of the hike. We unfortunately had had ponchos, but when we were packing in Mumbai forgot that we had this hike scheduled and left them behind to conserve room. Ken said he had one extra, and provided it. Natalie who was not in favor of the hike to begin with, and even less excited given the weather conditions asked about contingencies if we didn’t want to complete the entire 4-6 hour hike. “The little one has a cold with a cough and may not be able to make it, and with the weather, I’m worried the girls might get too cold. Alexandra jumped in immediately with “Mom, its not that cold we will be FINE.” Nonetheless Ken said there was no problem turning back at whatever point we desired.

We began to rearrange the contents of our backpacks to make sure we were packed efficiently. He also provided sandwiches and water for later in the hike, and we distributed these between his and our bags. Natalie grabbed a roll of toilet paper, just in case. Ken, smiled and said “No need, I’ve already got one.” With our experiences earlier in Cambodia we took care to always have both toilet paper and immodium on hand….just in case.

The hike began with a short walk down the paved road. As we started walking we heard a heavy rustle in the trees right next to us, and our guide pointed with a smile, look there’s a monkey. It took quite awhile for us all to see it, as we were looking deep in the trees, when suddenly we realized that he was only about 3 feet away from us and looking right at us through the leaves.



Traveller's Tree



We continued down the road and turned in towards a mud path. For most of the hike this path was entirely enclosed by very thick, small trees and bushes, that were 8 to 16 feet high---enough to block our view most of the way, but also good for blocking the wind. About 15-20 minutes into the walk, our guide pointed out a tree next to us, that had a trunk of overlapping stalks. He said “Zis is called a ‘Traveller’s Tree’” He asked if we knew why, which we did not. He explained that the tree collects quite a bit of water and that travelers that need water can use it to get water to drink. My mind immediately went to cactuses which also retain quite a bit of water. “I show you” he continued. He pulled a knife out of his pocket, and cut a small straight slice of about two inches into the trunk and twisted the blade slightly to open the slit, and immediately water rushed out as if a faucet had been turned on-at least a few cups! He explained the water runs down the leaves, and gathers in side all the overlapping stalks storing quite a bit of water.

  

Our First Glimpse From the Trail to the Top



Continuing up the path, there were constant obstacles, fallen trees, tree roots, mud puddles, somewhat sharp inclines and somewhat sharp declines. There was nothing more frustrating after a long uphill climb to then see a long descent, as in the psychological goal of reaching the top, this felt like backtracking. After about 30-45 minutes, we came to a small break in the overgrowth around us. Ken told us, that we could see the view. Alexandra was the first to look through the window in the trees, and was clearly stunned as her eyes widened, and she stared in a trance and said “oh wow.” Kalyssa was next, and the reaction was virtually identical. One would think that as Natalie and I followed having seen the reactions from the kids that our surprise would be muted, but it was not. Each of us proceeded with the exact same response. The image was absolutely amazing. A long gorge lay before us with mountain peaks in the distance, and misty air swirling between them as the canopy of clouds that hung just above them slowly shifted and changed shape in front of us as the breezes began clearing them away. “That was a great view, can we just turn back from here?” Natalie joked. Our guide, who I think was more entertained by us than even we were by him, laughed heartily. It was hard to pull ourselves from this view and head back into the tunnel of brush.

After this point, our guide pointed out the berries on all the trees around us. Since we entered the path, these small trees seemed to be the most prevalent, and the ground was consistently covered in fallen berries that had been smashed. They looked similar to large cherries, and were in shades from green to bright red, but with a much stronger skin to them. He said they are perfectly edible, and grabbed a handful, ate one, and offered them to us. We each tried one. It was fairly tart, and had several fleshy pockets inside with a hard round seed. I found it somewhat difficult to separate the fruit from the seeds in my mouth, and made several very non-graceful attempts to spit out these seeds. Ken told us that it is perfectly fine to swallow the seeds as well, instead of spitting them out. Natalie and the girls absolutely loved them however, and spent the entire rest of the trek snacking on dozens of them as we went along. After a couple hours of our hike, we came to another clearing from which we could see our ultimate goal. It still appeared to be quite a long distance away. Natalie, who had been hoping we were almost there, looked open mouthed, “We’ve still got to go that far?!?”

By now, Natalie, had started to build up a bit more confidence, and interest in reaching the end. In fact, she began to decide that she didn’t want help over some of the obstacles, or climbing some of the trickier inclines. A $1 bet arose between the 3 girls as to who would fall in the mud first. This as well entertained our guide who egged them on further. After about two and a half hours, we reached a fairly sharp incline. Ken asked us to wait, as he was going to go fasten a rope up near the top of the peak to help us to ascend it, as the last 20 meters or so would require near vertical climbing. He also warned us to get our jackets ready as it was very windy on top.

Can You Find the Frog?

We ascended this path which was now a bit more scary. The rest of the path had been enclosed, and though we were on the side of the mountain, and there was a steep drop constantly on our side, it was always full of very thick, tall brush, with no way to fall. As we scaled the summit however, we now had to climb about 20 feet at roughly a 65-75 degree angle, pulling ourselves up by tree roots, and the rope, and random footholds here and there. Losing ones grip would be a long tumble to the path below. After this vertical climb, there was a large lone dead tree where the rope was tied. This wasn’t quite the top yet, there was a somewhat winding path that went up to the very top of the summit. This path was only about 2 feet wide, and a bit crumbly. Though this final stretch was not difficult, the slope of the peak, was again about a 75 degree slope, with only small brush on it, and from this side, a tumble could take you several hundred feet down. Looking down from the path, it was hard to fathom how far, and steep the side of the mountain truly was, as unless you do this regularly, distance seems to be either a horizontal, or sometimes an upward concept. Distance downward seems strangely foreign in this situation. We made it to the very top of the peak, which had a pole on it marking the summit. It was flat, but only about 10 feet by 10 feet. The top was encircled with more of the same bushes creating a natural guardrail around the entire thing, except the entrance we climbed up and another small path leading down the otherside. At this point, we took several group pictures, pulled out our sandwiches, and had lunch.

After spending about 20-30 minutes on the peak, we began to retrace our steps. As we went down the first 25 feet or so from the top, Ken led, Kalyssa was behind him, Natalie behind her, Alexandra behind her, and me in the rear. As I mentioned previously, which was above the section where we fastened the rope was not particularly difficult, but it was along the edge of a very steep and long drop. As Natalie was descending, suddenly her right foot got caught in a root. She began to lose her balance, and began yell in fear “whoa, whoa, oh, oh, OH!” Meanwhile, her arms were windmilling in huge circles to maintain her balance. From where I was standing I could see her leaning at an extremely precarious angle on the edge of the cliff, and my heart jumped from my chest, as I saw her in slow motion teetering on what could be a terrible, even deadly fall. After 3 seconds which seemed like 3 minutes, she was able to regain her balance and upright herself. At this point, the fear, turned into laughter for Alexandra and I, as the spectacle of her arms spinning was so absolutely cartoonish. At this point, Ken who was another 15-20 feet below, turned around, and very casually asked in his French accent “What happened?” This sent Alexandra and I both to the ground doubling over in laughter at the entire thing, and we brought Ken up to speed on what he just missed behind him.

This was followed by a few minor trips and falls from both Kalyssa and Alexandra who lost their footing, and slid a ways down different sections of the steep incline. Ken had a bit of fun at their expense trying to determine who it was that actually owed whom a dollar.

At the exit of the hike, there was a lookout point where we could see more of the gorges as well as a waterfall. We finished the rest of our sandwiches here, and walked through a small market that had been set up. Very different from the markets that we went to in any of the prior countries, after looking at some stuff, and haggling a bit, we actually had vendors giving us free items as gifts. One vendor who we talked to, but hadn’t bought anything from, gave Kalyssa a small wooden carved dodo bird (remember, Mauritius is the only place evidence of the dodo was ever found), though then we proceeded to spend more time at his table, and did ultimately by something else. And after we made a purchase at another table, they came up to us afterwards, and gave us a magnet in the shape of the island, colored with the colors of the Mauritian flag, and told us that it was a gift for us. Quite a welcome change from India where often foreigners are given services they don’t necessarily want and then a tip is expected, or Hong Kong, where we were forcefully escorted away from market tables when the vendor determined we weren’t going to buy anything.



Black River Peak: Highest in Mauritius - Mastered!



At this point, we once again began to worry about laundry. We had all worn long pants, and were very muddy. The next leg of our trip is in Southern Africa, where it will be much cooler, even cold at times compared to the rest of our trip (remember it is now winter there.) Our guesthouse states on the guest rules that they don’t provide laundry service, but there is a place nearby that does. We asked Rajen about that on the way back, and he said since it was already late afternoon on a Saturday, we would not be able to get our close back in time for our Monday flight. Having spent the last 3 weeks in a few places where life is still a bit “simpler” and some of the modern conveniences so common place in America are rare if not non-existent, I was inspired to try and take care of the issue in a very “old school” way. The girls wanted to go to the beach again, so I sent Natalie with them to go snorkling, and I gathered up all the clothes we needed, blocked the drain of the shower, and washed them in the shower pan by hand, and let them airdry on a drying rack provided on our terrace.

At 6:30, it was time for the canarble wagon to roll out (there’s a reference for the Chicago readers…) and Rajen began serving us all some tasty cool beverages while Sandy finished up a meal of Meatballs, two different varieties of pot stickers, and fried rice. Once again it was a very good meal. After dinner I had a good opportunity to spend some time talking to Jean-Yves who was the son of the two parents celebrating their birthday at the guest house while we were there (his parents only spoke French, but he spoke English). It turns out we have somewhat intersecting lines of work as he works on the IT side for corporate financial systems, whereas of course, I’m a consumer of such services at my company. Interestingly he works in Geneva Switzerland, but lives just across the border in France. And we talked quite a bit about our respective travels, families, and work.

When we planned our trip, something that raised a few eyebrows talking to friends and family was the whole concept of staying at a guesthouse (though in the US, guesthouse has a bit of a negative cannotation of being very basic, substandard lodging, whereas truly in most places abroad this is more similar to a “bed and breakfast”) or homestay. However, this reinforced why I sought out these types of arrangements. One of the most rewarding thing about this trip has been meeting other people from around the world, cocktailing and dining with them in an intimate setting, and sharing stories. In a matter of only a few weeks, we’ve been able to share these types of experiences with people from Cambodia, Iceland, India, France, and Mauritius (not to mention New York) providing a multiplier effect to the expansion of our horizons and understanding of other cultures. These are the experiences of travelling that are absolutely priceless…