Pamplemousses Gardens

Away from the coast and almost directly south of Grand Baie is the Cultural Centre and Nature Park: Domaine Les Pailles - Ouest - Port Louis / Moka, also known as the Royal Botanical Gardens. Pamplemousses stretches for four hectares and features plants from all over the world - wild bananas, camphor trees, clover and nutmeg trees from Manila and huge water lilies, known locally as 'flan tins' as well as a number of palms. There is also an art gallery and a cemetery.

You may also be interested in . . .
  • The gates are from Crystal Palace in London and are open each day from 8.30 am 5.30pm, entry is free. The best time to see the gardens is between December and April. It is a big place so you will need time and a decent map. You can hire a guide in the gardens but make sure you negotiate a fee and the duration of your tour before you start. There are few flowers in the gardens; it is not a horticultural display. Having said that one of the main features is the giant Victoria regia water lily native to the Amazon region.

  • The Garden is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Agro Industry and Fisheries and is administered by the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanic Garden Trust Board created under Act No.10 of 1999.

    The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanic Garden, formerly known as ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, PAMPLEMOUSSES covers about 37 hectares.

    1. Deep sea fishing: Some of the finest game fishing available occurs in the deep water surrounding Mauritius.
    2. Maha Shivaratree Festival: In February or March the Hindus honour Lord Shiva by making a pilgrimage to Grand Bassin Lake.
    3. Snorkelling: Snorkelling on the coral reefs
  • More like a small municipal park than actual gardens, the Telfair Gardens are hardly an outstanding sight. But they are conveniently opposite the Bus Park in Soullic, on the road to the Robert Edward Hart Museum and Gris Gris. The gardens were named after Sir Charles Telfair, secretary to the English governor, sugar baron and superintendent of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolan Botanical Gardens. You get a good view across the bay from Telfair to the graveyard at Cemetery Point, where Hart is buried.

  • The excursion is organized in a boat in the Tamarin Bay to meet the dolphin. Various tracks (of different levels of difficulty) are proposed which allow permanent contact with nature. Exciting opportunity to paddle from the mouth of the Grand River South East to a magnificent waterfall through impressive cliffs some 800 mts away. Forest of giant bamboos (some reach more than 15 m height!) The Grapefruit garden invites to the buccolic ballade, with the meditation. Eureka is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful creole houses of the Island at Moka.

  • Opened in 1991, Domaine Les Pailles Tel 212 4225 fax 212 4226 is an elaborate cultural and heritage centre. The facilities available here include rides in horse drawn carriages and a train, a working replica of a traditional ox driven sugar mill, a rum distillery producing the estate's own brew, a spice garden, a natural spring and a children's play area.

    To get to the Domaine, take any bus running between Port Louis and Curepipe, and ask to get off at Domaine les Pailles. From the road it takes less than half an hour on foot to the reception centre.

  • Situated on the West Coast, the beach is fringed with filaos/ casuarina trees provides a fine lagoon for swimming and watersports. Grand baie and the northern coastline beyond Tombeau Bay has many delightful beaches Trou aux Biches with its splendid Hindu temple; then further up the coast Choisy, one of the most popular beaches of the island, which offers facilities for safe bathing, sailing, windsurfing and water skiing. Finally, the coastline curves into Grande Baie itself, the main centre for yachting, water, skiing, windsurfing, and many other watersports.