Mauritius Ebony Rainforest Reserve

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The Mauritius ebony rainforest sits in the south of the island, home to the protected ebony tree, the forests are in the Chamarel region.

It’s incredible to think that almost all the island used to be covered with ebony trees, before the Dutch exploited it in the 17th century.

It was a cloudy, rainy day, misty in places, but we managed to avoid a torrential down pour and and capture some impressive views. I read somewhere that it’s better to visit in the morning because the forest tends to get more rain in the afternoon….

Catch a ride – the jeep takes you up to the main ‘guided’ trail where a local guide will give you a bit of a guided walk – then jump in a jeep again to take you up to a higher point with views that will make you gasp – the camera doesn’t do it justice – honestly!
The climb is steep, narrow and winding – each time the jeep reached a spiral corner it had to stop and reverse back to manoeuvre around it  as we climbed higher – at one point we reversed back so close to the edge I thought were were going to tip over 😱 – of course you also have the option to walk up and back down again – apparently it takes about three hours to do this.

 

Yet doctors never prescribe a dose of nature! A lot of the time we’re caught up with artificial remedies (pharmaceutical medicines) for artificially created ills (concrete jungles etc…)
Ebony trees in Mauritius – green areas show the number of trees!!!! The forest and it’s trees are now protected, and Mauritius is working to try and restore as many as possible. One ebony tree takes between 60 to 200 years to grow fully
Museum

There are different types of ebony tree bark, some of which are exclusive to Mauritius

Views from the top

That bar of black ebony weighed a tonne – it felt like an iron bar, that’s one heck of a superior quality wood!

Thankfully we got a little bit of sunshine – but it was a relatively cloudy day, yet the view was still amazing. Normally when it rains you see nothing but mist.

These cloudy day views were an absolute sight for sore eyes – and then a member of the forest staff showed me their iPhone pictures of the view on a clear sunny day – the pictures looked like an unbelievable dream! More dreaminess overload!!

The Mauritius ebony rainforest gives another perspective of its beauty that was well worth the trip.

The gift shop

Tip: We did the Ebony Reserve as a private trip rather than an organised group trip – it would have been difficult to enjoy with a big crowd.

Next…a quick lunch stop

I have no idea what this place was called – but it was a beautiful  colonial house, very pretty and very nice food. In fact, whilst out on excursions in Mauritius, the lunches have been very ‘very’ good!

Maybe I’m out of touch but I’ve never seen one of these before – a loo roll holder that holds five rolls at once!!!! Seems like a clever idea to me…

 

 

 

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