Tamarind Falls – Marks Meanderings

The third and final part of our Mauritian adventures with Yanature (the tour company), was a half-day hike to the Tamarind Falls, also known as the 7 cascades. A must do apparently for anyone visiting the shores. Again, we had organised transport to pick us up from the hotel. We had a later pick up on this morning which was greatly appreciated! It meant we could enjoy breakfast before leaving.

The first hiccup of this trip occurred when we walked out, a taxi driver ushered us to jump in and he drove off hastily, clearly working to a tight time schedule. Half asleep we naively just followed him. Not until he left the complex did he and we realise that we weren’t the right guests for him to pick up, and he had to make a quick and embarrassing U-turn and return us to reception where our taxi was waiting. We quickly changed over before leaving for a second time. We then made the rather peaceful journey, inland and north of where we were staying.

On our arrival we were greeted by our hero Rowin, our guide from our first “hike”. Our mix up before we left meant we were the last to arrive, and this time we weren’t so lucky as to have our own personal tour. We were to be accompanied by two couples from Czechoslovakia, making us a group of 6 plus Rowin. We were dropped off on some fairly flat ground and on the edge of some sugar cane fields, we made our way around the edge of the crops. As we progressed, Rowin said that we were to take the small gap in the trees. Clearly this was a gap with which he was well acquainted. He had warned us that this hike wouldn’t be as difficult or technical as the mountain one which meant we were in relaxed spirits. We then started the descent down a steep track, using the trees, branches, roots and anything else we could lay our hands on for support (these would have been great on our first hike). Our hike was to navigate and see 5 of the cascades on the river Tamarin (see the second Mauritian second blog). Had we done the full day hike we would have seen all 7.

We arrived at the top of what was the second cascade, and clearly the highest point of the river we were to see. The area a hub of activity, as different tours were setting up or off. If the first cascade was also here it wasn’t that impressive as we didn’t even notice it, I fear it may have been nothing we hadn’t seen before. On the edge of the flowing water we walked around a few groups who were evidently going to be taking a more direct route to view the waterfalls. Rowin encouraged us to come close to the edge to look over the waterfall. We were going to get used to this as it happened again and again throughout the hike. Hannah watched from safe ground and at a distance as I laid down to peer over. I’m sure there are more daring “travellers” out there who will try to capture a more daring shot. I was happy just to say that I had peered over.

Customary snaps captured we found a safe place to cross the flowing water and started to make our way down the steep forest to the bottom of the 2^nd cascade/waterfall. We zigzagged our way down, Rowin carefully guiding us as we dodged trees and stumps. Some of our other group’s members shoes probably weren’t appropriate as they tackled this section. As we came down we began to realise that we were going to be walking behind the waterfall. Whenever this happens it is an incredible experience. There were a couple of viewing points where we could grab a picture of the water falling from above. Rowin informed us that when we got to the bottom we could go for a swim. Already sweating in the heat this was music to my ears. We skirted our way around the edges to find our own little spot where we could gain access into the natural pool. I stripped off, climbed on top of the rock as I was told before jumping out into the pool. So cool and refreshing. I swam around the pool, before swimming underneath the falling water. I returned to the others and quickly dried off so we could carry on.

We left waterfall/cascade number 2. An impressive drop of water we hoped that the rest would be equally as impressive. For the moment we had done the serious descending, we went through some trees and navigated a muddy section before we arrived at the third waterfall. This one was tucked away on the other side from where we were hiking so wasn’t as impressive as the second one, we had just left behind. We quickly captured our custom photos.

Sadly the 4^th waterfall wasn’t that impressive either, on our approach there was a pool where a few people had stopped and whipped off their shoes for a natural fish pedicure (personally I couldn’t think of anything worse) but it did lead us to the top of 5^th and final waterfall we would be visiting. Again, there was a ledge where the water was falling, now more confident we were able to grab a spot near the edge for a photo, Hannah more confident and daring now, Rowin as always, our willing photographer.

Photo’s duly taken we made our final descent around the edge of the water through the local foliage to arrive at the final destination. By now we were all ready to cool off. We quickly stripped off and a combination of sliding graciously in and bombing were witnessed. I managed to climb up a little bit of the waterfall for a full shower this time before bombing off. Nature’s gift provides much more fun than the latest smart phone or video game. After playing about in cool and fresh water, we climbed out, and, after navigating the uncomfortable ground back to our clothes, got ourselves ready to descend back to civilization.

Before we left the river, Rowin wanted to show us the top of the sixth cascade which I think was perhaps the most impressive. It certainly looked the highest of all the ones that we saw. Hannah, invigorated from her swim and hike through nature’s playground, was brave enough to join me to peer over the edge. It certainly looked a long way down and can see why it was a full day hike to complete all 7. Perhaps next time we can tick those final two off.

As the saying goes, what goes up must go down, or should I change it to what goes down must go up, sadly we had done the down first so we needed to get back up to starting point, where those sugar cane fields were. Rowin led the way and picked a gap in the trees which was an apparent path to the top. No struggling this time for us both, we were able to relax and enjoy this thoroughly compared to our experience on the mountain. Our only mistake was not re-applying the mossie spray, as they could clearly tell we weren’t local. We finally reached the top, after what seemed an age when we came out further into the sugar cane fields, we had earlier started in.

We walked slowly along a designated flat footpath back to where all the cars parked, and our taxi was waiting. It was here that we had to say goodbye to our guide, Rowin. He had been superb!! He provided us with two thrilling days of adventure, and certainly had taken us out of our comfort zones. Both days beat sleeping on a sun lounger. I’m sure we will keep in touch – he and his son are big Man Utd fans (yes I know that isn’t much fun these days). He is a fan of modern technology so this makes this cheap and easy to stay in touch. Common ground shared and a friendship built through travel is what travel is all about.

Join us as our next set of blogs as we look at some of the places we visited on taxi tours of the island.