Beachcomber Magazine 08

MAURITIUS PORT LOUIS CAP MALHEUREUX GRAND BAIE GOODLANDS TRIOLET POUDRE D’OR ROCHES NOIRES PÉREYBÈRE MONT CHOISY PAMPLEMOUSSES TROU AUX BICHES GRAND GAUBE SAINT-ANTOINE ANSE LA RAIE POSTE DE FLACQ POINTE AUX PIMENTS TERRE ROUGE FLAT ISLAND SERPENT ISLAND ROUND ISLAND COIN DE MIRE ROAD TRIP BEAUTIFUL MAURITIUS 20 Port Louis is behind us. In the distance, the mountain range dominated by Pieter Both draws a rocky horizon. The road advances through an ocean of sugar canes to the Pamplemousses Botanic Garden. In the nineteenth century, the travelling botanist Pierre Poivre transformed Governor La Bourdonnais’ former vegetable garden into a botanical garden – the first of its kind and still the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Despite the lack of upkeep, it still shows signs of its latter-day splendour, including the royal palm trees. The sun rises in the sky, sharpening the lazy shade of the palm trees on the path leading to the water-lily pond. Once almost destroyed by snails, the giant thorn-lined leaves have regained a gentle green colour. Among other rarities, the last magenta flowers of the cannonball trees (Couroupita guianensis), swollen like ripe fruit. The end of summer in the Southern Hemisphere brings with it the thousands of flowers of one of Before being planted with sugar cane, the soil is cleared of its volcanic rocks. Avant d’accueillir les plants de canne à sucre, la terre est nettoyée de ses rocs volcaniques. 

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