The Pamplemousse Gardens Mauritius

A highlight of our holiday in Mauritius was the chance to visit the Pamplemousse Gardens. Opened to provide sailors and explorers with a readily accessible source of Vitamin C, these gardens now are an oasis to the local wildlife. They are also a magnet for tourists through their array of fauna and flora. This post gives you a small glimpse into what a trip here looks like. The long and short of it is that I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Mauritius.

Pamplemousse Gardens; History

The Pamplemousse Gardens in Mauritius are the oldest gardens in the Tropics. They were established in 1735 to provide food for local people and for sailors. Later on, they were used to cultivate plants that were of economic importance for the French and English colonial companies. An example of this was sugar cane varieties for trade, as well as eucalyptus to tackle malaria epidemics. Since its founding, it has retained worldwide botanical importance and continues to do so today.

Pamplemousse Gardens; Getting There

The Pamplemousse Gardens are quite high up on the island, unlike most of the other attractions. The majority of the hotels are also in the South, meaning that you will likely have a bit of a journey to get there. We took a transfer from our hotel, the Lagoon Attitude, which was in the North. It probably took us about 20 minutes to get there, but it was part of a larger trip.

Tickets were around 200 rupees to enter, which is about £5.50 at the time of writing. I personally think that this is a steal with everything that you can see in the garden.

Pamplemousse Gardens; Wildlife

The gardens are just as much of a zoo as they are a botanical garden. There are various enclosures dotted around the starting point where you can find deer, tortoises and birds. However, it is when you get deeper into the gardens where you see more of the locals. The most frequent animal is, without doubt, the mosquito. Jack wore shorts here and instantly regretted it.Make sure that you top up on any anti-mosquito cream. Fortunately, Malaria is not present on the island and so you do not need to take anything.

Deeper into the gardens you will hear the screeches and screams of the island’s noisiest animal. In the trees there are hundreds of Mauritian flying foxes, all loudly squabbling for fruit. These loud-mouthed bats can be seen all throughout the gardens and are the largest thing in the sky. They present a fantastic photo opportunity, if you are lucky enough to have a zoom lens. Also in the sky are the common birds you are familiar with in Mauritius. Weaver, bulbul and foddy birds can be seen as a quick dash of colour.

Other local wildlife that will commonly appear are lizards. The large and vibrantly green day gecko can be found throughout the garden, but you need to look carefully! Whilst they are a vivid green, they will sit perfectly still. The other lizard is the oriental garden lizard, which will speedily run out in front of you. There are apparently a fair few lizard species on the island, but these were the two that we saw most frequently. We also saw ornate day geckos around the hotel and in the ebony forest.

Pamplemousse Gardens; Plants

The botanical garden is world-famous for its collection of plants. There were plants of all shapes, colour and sizes. Fortunately for us, our guide was local and was again part of Mautourco (see our post on the ebony forest). He made the entire day come alive and his local knowledge of the plants really helped with that.

Starting off with the most famous, the giant lilly pond is a spectacle. These giant lilies are monstrous and can grow up to two metres in diameter. They also sent out beautiful flowers which decorate the long pond. I really loved the tranquillity of this spot, at least, when the other tourists weren’t around! They were reason enough to visit.

As you walk around the island you will also see a variety of palm trees. Our guide knew them all inside out and would tell us the stories of their naming. My favourite had to be the crocodile palm tree. Our guide picked up a piece of bark from this tree and showed us why it had such a ferocious name. It looked exactly like the upper jaw of a crocodile.

Overall, the plant diversity of the gardens is second to none. However, make sure that you go with a guide who can explain them all to you. Plus, the site is quite large and the local guides know how to best navigate it.

Pamplemousse Gardens; The Verdict

If you are in Mauritius you need to visit here. The history and wildlife is great and the plant diversity is just incredible. I would recommend coming with a guide to help you understand the place as my blog post cannot really do it justice. Most of the tour companies will offer a package that comes here. We decided to include it as part of the tour Mauritius Your Way, where we could choose our destinations throughout the day. It was a highlight of that tour and of the entire trip.

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