Queen Elizabeth Voyage: April 12, 2017, Mauritius

April 12, 2017, Port Louis, Mauritius

We have an all day ship’s tour today. We start at Port Louis, the capitol of Mauritius. We travel by bus through the center of the island to the southern coast, There are a number of very modern buildings, factories, and shops along our route. This country seems to have become much more prosperous since our last visit ten years ago.

Our first stop is at La Plantation de Saint Aubin. Once a large plantation, now a small place, but with a number of displays about vanilla and rum and a restaurant. Vanilla is difficult to grow, individual plants require hand pollination. Once grown and harvested, the vanilla requires several months of aging, drying, sorting and packaging. The plantation also has sugar cane. The cane requires two years of growth before harvesting. The cane is then fed through a press to squeeze out the juice. Then comes fermentation and distillation to get to the final product, rum. We also tour some of the gardens and the attached restaurant.

Our second stop is to a tea factory, Le Domaine de Bois Cheri. We view a short video about the process of producing tea, from growing, harvesting, fermenting, drying, sorting, mixing and packaging. We also tour the factory is actually see these step for real. The final step in the process is sales. This factory also has a restaurant beside a lake and overlooking the sea. We had a buffet lunch and drinks in this restaurant.

The final stop is to an old, 1872, mansion, Le Domaine des Aubineaux. This home is very much in original condition. It has been in the original family until recent times. Everyone agreed that it was interesting but the place needs a good restoration. In addition to being a restaurant, the facilities are rented out for other functions. There was a company that was doing a team building exercise with some of its employees.