Eco-Friendly Travel Guide To Mauritius

Travel is always an exciting way to experience new things, from adventures along the coast of your own country to exploring hidden gems you find in brand-new places around the world!

Mauritius has been an incredibly popular destination as it combines stunning beaches, unique cultural sites and all sorts of adventures that are all packed onto this small island.

While travel is an exciting way to experience a new place, it is becoming incredibly important that we, as travellers, are responsible while visiting a new region. The impact that our activities have on certain areas around the world has consequences on the communities that live in the region. To avoid contributing to negative environmental impacts in Mauritius, we here at Flight Centre have come up with the ultimate eco-friendly travel experience guide.

Read on to find out more about how you can experience this beautiful island in a way that ensures generations to come will be able to do the same.

So, what eco-friendly activities can you do when in Mauritius? To ensure that your Mauritian adventure does not have negative consequences on the environment, it is important to think about the activities you partake in.

There are many different things that you can do while in Mauritius that can actually help contribute to sustainable tourism in this country and doing a bit of research into what these activities are a great way to plan out your holiday!

To ensure that you find the best activities, we have come up with a few suggestions on several eco-friendly activities to enjoy while in Mauritius.

The small islet off the coast of Mauritius called Ile aux Aigrettes is a stunning nature reserve that has looked to introduce the Aldabra Giant Tortoise into the environment. Mauritius was once home to a stunning species of giant tortoises, and these majestic animals roamed around the island freely.

Sadly, in the 1700s, this species became extinct and the giant tortoise population was eradicated. In an attempt to restore the natural ecosystem of this region, Aldabra Giant Tortoises from Seychelles were moved to repopulate the area. Today, you can come across many of these different giant tortoises as you wander around the island, not to mention the abundant bird and plant species that you will be able to spot!

Visiting the Aldabra Giant Tortoises on Ile aux Aigrettes is a great way to get into nature and enjoy all that a stunning nature reserve has to offer. One of the great things about visiting this region is that the fee you pay to tour the island goes directly back into the funding that supports the conservation of these magnificent giant tortoises.

While many head to Mauritius to enjoy the stunning beaches and crystal clear water of the Indian Ocean, taking a trip inland to Chamarel’s Ebony Forest Reserve would be an amazing way to experience the natural wonders and beauty of this small island country.

The hike up to the summit of Piton Canot offers stunning views of the entire island and the surrounding bays. The hike to the peak is around 6.1 kilometres, so be sure to pack in your hiking boots if you plan to venture all the way to the top. The Ebony Forest is an amazing organisation and supporting them by joining one of the tours or making a donation can go a long way to helping this conservation group protect the fauna and flora of Mauritius.

The organisation's main goal is to teach the next generation about how they can help preserve the natural environment. They visit schools and have various projects that are all centred around sustainability and creating a better tomorrow for generations to come.

While many different hotels and tours will offer travellers the chance to enjoy a snorkelling experience, making sure that you are going to a protected reserve can help ensure that you are doing your part for sustainability.

One of the best places to enjoy this activity is in Anse la Raie lagoon which is a voluntary marine conservation area that does not allow fishing or any other potentially destructive activities to occur in this area. Supporting an area like this can help not only provide the funding that organisations need to sustain an environment like this but also encourage others to enjoy snorkelling in an environmentally friendly way.

The snorkelling tour will provide you with the kit that you need as well as the boat ride to get to and from this protected area. All proceeds go towards the protection of this voluntary marine conservation area.

When it comes to finding environmentally-friendly activities to do in a foreign country, you may find that there is a ton of research that needs to be done. To avoid the hassles that come with compiling different places to visit and sights to see yourself, you can arrange to go on an eco-tour.

An eco-tour will plan out and do all the research for you, ensuring that you get to see the most amazing sights and take part in many fun activities, all of which will be entirely eco-friendly!

An eco-tour takes the hassle out of researching the various eco-friendly activities and sites and planning all of the most amazing sites with the most eco-friendly companies and hotels on the island. This is a great way to have a fun day planned out for you while also ensuring that the activities you and the sights you enjoy are not negatively impacting the environment.

Part of helping to ensure that you leave Mauritius having aiding a bit to the locals also means venturing to the smaller parts of the island and contributing to the local economy. While it may be tempting to stay at your hotel and enjoy all that it has to offer, getting out into the city and exploring local restaurants and shops helps to contribute to the island’s economy. Along with helping to build the economy up, you have the opportunity to experience Mauritius in a much more authentic way!

From local foods to gifts that can be bought from the vendors along the streets of the small towns, you will get the chance to experience Mauritius and its unique culture!

As Mauritius is a country that sees a high number of tourists venturing to its shores each and every year. It is now more important than ever that the environment be protected. Through the efforts around the protection of marine conservation, initiatives to sustain the fauna and flora of the region and local interventions around ecotourism, enjoying Mauritius safely and responsibly by supporting these initiatives is vital.

Mauritius is a beautiful country with so much to offer those who visit, and we need to protect the environment to ensure that generations to come will be able to experience this region as we do today!