November 1, 2015

Hiking from Ganga Talao to Black River Peak and Chamarel - Part 2

... continues from Part 1...


Piton de la Petite Riviere Noire (Black River Peak (left), the highest mountain in Mauritius - 828 meters / 2717 feet
We still have a couple of hours to walk


The trail-head to Black River Peak is just a few meters after the Gorges Viewpoint


The path is easy to follow, but unfortunately not much to view due to the tall vegetation on each side


An old boundary post from 1878, border between Savanne and Riviere Noire (Black River) districts, set up when the island was a British colony (1810-1968)


The trail is pretty much like this all the way, with some big boulders, uphills and downhills, an easy 3.5 km / 2.1 miles walk.


Less than an hour from the trail-head, we reached this magnificent view to the Southwest coast, with Le Morne Brabant (Unesco Heritage Site), Piton du Fouge and Petit Moka (?)


Piton du Fouge, Southwest


South coast, Baie du Cap village behind the mountain


... and here the steep and difficult part starts! At least there's a rope to hold.


Piton de la Petite Riviere Noire - we didn't make it to the summit! We made it to that big tree you can see on the photo. Not many meters left, huh?!  We both have no head for heights and since I started to get cramps in my legs, we decided to surrender, take a break and start on the return trip. No defeat! At our age it's better to be safe than sorry!


View towards Montagne Rempart, Trois Mamelles and Corps du Garde


View towards the South; Baie du Cap



We have finally reached Chamarel after almost 7 hours walk, very tired and starting to do silly things! :) 


Just outside Chamarel village is Rhumerie de Chamarel


Love the way they have planted the bougainvilleas, such a clever idea! 



Piton de la Petite Riviere Noire seen from Chamarel



Pineapple field 


Back to civilization! Chamarel village. 
We were not sure we'd get a bus back to base this late afternoon, but were told there's a bus at 16:00. 
It felt good to sit down for a rest, watch some villagers chatting away opposite the street and memorize the wonderful hike.

Distance from our home; 28.4 km / 17.6 miles, 7 hours walk. 




2 comments:

StephsQults said...

wow, magnificent views but my goodness, that hike would have taken me a week, not a day, you must both be ultra fit! Thanks for posting it

Uniquely Yours Creations said...

Astrid - You live on such a beautiful island!