la randonnée

Hiking Piton de la Petite Riviere Noire (Little Black River Mountain) - 828 meters, the highest point in Mauritius

Through friends of friends I found a group of Mauritians who organize hikes around the island a few times a month. The word "organize" should be used loosely here because I'm not sure putting 60 people on a bus, bringing them to a remote area, taking them on a 14 km hike and then leaving with whoever ends up back on the bus is the most organized outing. And, while playing with the English language, I think I must also attempt to redefine the word "hike" in a way which more appropriately describes my experience. Apparently what I know as hiking, is, in Mauritius, more like a walk or even a stroll through the outdoors. The hike began on a large, well cleared path, but after hopping over a small river, we took a detour directly into the forest. The hike took us scrambling up some small rock faces and through dense branches. It felt a
bit as if the forest was a kindergarten bully, attempting to trip and scratch me while pulling my hair (and probably laughing at me behind my back). After a few hours of battling the forest, we stopped in a clearing overlooking the valley of hills for lunch. We had some food, chatted, got rained on a bit and continued back into the forest which had gained a new and exciting element - mud! The same branches that were still threatening to permanently change my ability to see became handles on either side of a path of thick, oozing mud. The whole thing was pretty hilarious. The very last push to the top was the densest part of the forest. But just when I was having a hard time believing anyone had actually been down this "path" before, we reached a small summit and a torn white flag on a stick announcing we had made it to the top of the island. And the view was amazing. I'm not sure these pictures do it justice, but I hope they'll give you an idea.






This was were the path became quite steep. We assumed we were at the top which is funny looking back on it.







The view from the top.



























There are a few different groups of people that do this sort of hiking around the island, so expect more stories like this!