Black River Gorges National Park: Mauritius' Wilderness Interior
A 20-minute drive from Flic en Flac leads to Mauritius' only national park — 6,500 hectares of endemic forest protecting the pink pigeon, echo parakeet, and the island's last wild rivers
- 1
Black River Gorges Viewpoint
The dramatic vantage point overlooking the forested gorge below — a landscape that looks nothing like the tourist coast of Mauritius, ancient and deep wilderness
- 2
Macchabée Forest Trail
A 10km trail through the best-preserved native forest in Mauritius — ebony, tamarind and traveler's palm in a forest that once covered the entire island
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Pink Pigeon Spotting
The pink pigeon was down to 12 birds in 1991 — conservation efforts have brought them back to over 400 in the wild, many visible in the Macchabée Forest
- 4
Black River Waterfall Swim
A path leads to a waterfall that drops into a natural pool in the gorge — one of the few places in Mauritius to swim in fresh mountain water under endemic forest
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Echo Parakeet Forest
The eco-parakeet - Mauritius' only endemic parrot - was saved from extinction; their cries are now heard through the Macchabée forest in the early morning
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Chamarel Seven-Color Earth
Leave the park via the village of Chamarel and stop at the famous multicolored volcanic soil — bands of red, brown, violet, green and yellow sand that never mix