Mauritius Fun

Mauritius

Island of Mauritius 

We are in Mauritius. Mauritius is an island off of the coast of Africa, beside Madagascar.  It is still a part of the African continent and is located in the Indian ocean. The island is 45 km in width and 65 km in length.

It took us 4 hours to get to Mauritius by plane. It wasn’t that long. The almost the whole island of Mauritius is circled by coral reef. That makes for really good snorkelling. Mauritius is a beautiful country and It is cool! It is super hot and there are a lot of beaches. The other day it was 36 degrees Celsius without the humidity. HOT and STICKY!  The population is 1.27 million people it less than Toronto population of 6,417,516 people.  Their official language is English but everyone speaks French and creole.  

Mauritius flag

On our first day, we got in to the airport at night and didn’t arrive at the place we were staying until 10:30pm.  So, we didn’t do anything but travel.

On day two, we went to the beach.  We went to the beach and swam because it was hot. We also, explored the beach area.It is so nice.

On the third day (march 13) was Mom’s birthday. First, we went snorkelling and we saw an angel fish, sea urchin ,needle fish and a lot of small colourful fish.  

Then, we went back to our house and got out of the sun for awhile.  Then, we went on a walk on the beach and went swimming again. Then, we went to a restaurant called L’ananas.  It was delicious.  

The next day, we went to the central market in Port Louis. Port Louis is the capital of Mauritius.  It was a really neat market.  There was so much to look at. Lots of vegetables, fruits, spices, other yummy food and clothes. 

We drank coconut milk right out of a coconut!

 I liked the coconut milk. The man cut open the coconut for us and we enjoyed our drinks.  When it was finished, we took it back to the man and he chopped up the coconut for us so we could eat it.

We also,  smelled spices ( I think mom was in heaven smelling everything).  It was fun at the market.  

After that, we went to a different beach and rented chairs and an umbrella. We ordered lunch too and they brought it to our umbrella.  I had shawarma. One of my favourite things to eat!

On Friday, we went to flic en flack. Its one of the biggest beach on Mauritius. It was a beautiful beach but it had to many sea urchins.

On Saturday, we went swimming with wild dolphins from our boat. It took 45 minutes to find them. When we found them we had to jump off of the boat quickly and swim to them. We would try to follow them. The dolphins would swim away so we had to get back on the boat and when we found them again we went back in. The second time we jumped in, we got so close I could have actually touched the dolphins.  There was a very cute baby dolphin too. It was cool. 

Next, we dove near a reef .We saw sooooooooooooo many fish. After that, we went back on the boat and we went to an island and had lunch. Also, we bought dodo bird statues. Why? you may ask yourself…I thought that they are dumb? They weren’t dumb.  The dodos are smart but they did not have any predators and did not know how to defend themselves.   They are now extinct.

floating fruit store

floating shop

Sunday, we went swimming with the turtles. It took not even 5 minutes to get there by boat! We jumped in the water and the turtles hung out with us for awhile. They would swim right beside us. It was so much fun. I loved it.

Mom didn't get any pictures of me swimming with the turtles.

BYE BYE MAURITIUS

Monday, We went back to Pecanwood our flight took 4 hours.

Goodbye Cape Town. Hello Bush House

Good bye Cape Town 

my hair is so long I have the best bed head!

We left Cape Town to go back to Pecanwood. We spent a month there and it was fun. It took 3 long days in the car to get back.

We did get to stop and check out some stuff.  I liked being at the beaches in Wilderness. 

When we got back we got ready to go on safari. 

The Bush house

the bush house

We went to the bush house. The bush house is a game lodge in Madikwe. It took 3 1/2 hours to get there.  At the bush house they really have nice rooms, a hide where you go underground and you see animals up close, a bar , a water hole where animals come to drink and swim and a gym. We went there to go on safari. 

When we first arrived, we walked towards our rooms and realized there was an elephant at the waterhole.  We watched him for awhile and then went to our room.

Watching the waterhole when we first arrived

On our first drive we saw elephants, zebras, buffalos, giraffes, wild dogs, wildebeests.

Spencer came on Safari too

We also saw parts of a dead giraffe. It died naturally. I think it looked like it exploded,  but it died on its own.  Then, two brother male lions came and ate it. Next, a hyena came to try to have some but it got killed by the lions.

We also stopped when we were out on our drive for snacks and drinks. 

That was pretty much it for the game drive. Then, came back to the lodge and there were 2 white rhinos at the water hole. Super cool.  We had a nice dinner outside and then went to bed.

On our second game drive, we had to get up at 5:10am.

sun waking up

morning drive

When we were on this game drive we got a flat tire!  Oh no.  Patrick our guide had to change it. 

flat tire

Waiting for the tire to be changed

We saw elephants, klipspringer, rhinos, and we saw two elephants play fighting. It was cool.

 When we got back we saw at the waterhole a herd of elephants drinking. We saw baby elephants playing and swimming in the waterhole too.  Giraffes came to the waterhole to drink but they got bullied by the elephants and left.  Check out how the giraffes drink.   It was cool.  Lots of elephants came to the waterhole that day.  the most we saw at one time was 31 elephants. (those are the ones we could see). 

I liked watching the animals from the hide the best because you got so close to them.  Mom and Sammy were sitting in the hide watching the animals and got splashed with mud when the elephant was giving herself a bath. HAHA!

On are third game drive we saw lions, wild dogs, the dead giraffe again, buffalo, rhino and zebra. But when we got back to the lodge we saw something amazing a black rhino and a white rhino. The black rhino is very rare to see.  It was so cool.

On or last day, we saw TWO sets of male lions. One set was the lions who killed the hyena and ate the exploded giraffe.  We also so a spotted hyena. We also  chameleon Sam and Dad held it .

the first set of male lions

hyena

Dad found a millipede

second set of male lions

chameleon 

I was sad we had to leave but it was fun.

This was our guide Patrick. He was awesome.

The Apartheid Museum

We went to the Apartheid museum. Do know what the apartheid was? The whites were mistreating  the blacks and any other person who wasn't white. The word apartheid means "apartness" in Afrikaans.  Some of Afrikaans people believed that they were superior.  There were so many rules, 131 to be exact.  The black people were not able to live in the same towns or even the same houses as white people. They couldn't even go in the same doors.

 In 1948, the all white government made a bad choice to enforce the apartheid and it lasted until April 27th, 1994. It lasted 46 years.  Nelson Mandela helped bring an end to the apartheid. 
In the museum there were lots of pictures, movies and lots of information about the apartheid . It made me feel super sad. 

There was also a section in the museum about Nelson Mandela.  He was a great man.  I learned a lot about him.  He was the first elected black president of South Africa and helped bring the South African people together. Nelson Mandela died on December 5th 2013.

Did you know that there is such thing as the Rugby World Cup?

It is a rugby  tournament that has countries like Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, Australia and England . Also, Nelson Mandela had a lot to do with the rugby world cup in 1995 and helping the country come together by sport .

See ya Nate!