Port Louis, Mauritius
Mar. 2, 2023
Only Janice went ashore at Port Louis for shopping, but I’ll pass on a little more information about the port for general interest.
Mauritius is an island country about 500 miles east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The capital is Port Louis, located in the northwestern part of the island. The island of Mauritius is volcanic in origin and is almost entirely surrounded by coral reefs. The northern part is a plain that rises to a central plateau, varying in elevation from about 900 to 2,400 feet above sea level. The plateau is bordered by small mountains that may have formed the rim of an ancient volcano; the highest point (2,717 feet) is Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire in the southwest. The two major rivers, the Grand River South East and the Black River, are the primary sources of hydroelectric power. Lake Vacoas, one of the main reservoirs, is the chief source of water. The white sands and translucent blue water make the beaches of Mauritius some of the best in the world.
More than half of the country’s area is almost entirely planted in sugarcane, the major export crop. Vegetables and tea for local consumption are also grown.
The climate is subtropical, with fairly uniform temperature throughout the year. Mean temperatures vary from the mid-70s °F at sea level to the upper 60s °F on the high plateau. The day we were there it was 92°. Annual rainfall varies from around 35 inches on the west coast to 60 inches on the southeast coast and about 200 inches on the central plateau.
In 2022 the population of Mauritius was 1,279,000 and the population of Port Louis is about 150,000.
Although English is the official language, it is spoken by a very small percentage of the population. Creole, a French-based patois, is spoken by about four-fifths of the population and is the lingua franca of the country.
Here are a few popular sites in Port Louis.
Although dedicated to the world-famous Mauritian one-penny and two-pence stamps of 1847, the Blue Penny Museum is far more wide-ranging than its name suggests, taking in the history of the island’s exploration, settlement and colonial period.
Central to the museum’s collection are two of the world’s rarest stamps: the red one-penny and blue two-pence ‘Post Office’ stamps issued in 1847. To preserve the colors, they are only lit up for 10 minutes at a time: every hour, at 20 minutes past the hour. The stamps are considered a national treasure and are probably the most valuable objects on the entire island.
The shrine of French Catholic priest and missionary Père Jacques-Désiré Laval is something of a Lourdes of the Indian Ocean, with many miracles attributed to pilgrimages here. The padre died in 1864 and was beatified in 1979 during a visit by Pope John Paul II. Père Laval is credited with converting 67,000 people to Christianity during his 23 years in Mauritius.
Port Louis’ famous Central Market, the center of the local economy since Victorian times, is a good place to get a feel for local life, watch the hawkers at work and buy some souvenirs. Most authentic are the fruit and vegetable sections (including Chinese herbal medicines and aphrodisiacs).
The major attraction at the Natural History Museum & Mauritius Institute is the famous reconstruction of a dodo, an extinct flightless bird of Mauritius. The birds were first seen by Portuguese sailors about 1507 and were exterminated by humans and their introduced animals. The dodo was extinct by 1681. The dodo is frequently cited as one of the most well-known examples of human-induced extinction.
As we resume sailing towards Africa, our next port will be La Possession, Reunion.
