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Chamarel - Seven coloured
earth in the south west region of the island |
The presence of
the seven coloured earth at Chamarel is a wonder and a mystery of mother
nature. The island is of volcanic origin and some presence of minerals
have been noted. The seven coloured earth are found in layers of
different colours in forms of sand dunes of different colours like. Red , Brown ,yellow , orange, violet,
dark brown, ochre,
tinge of red mixed with other colours,
pink, grey
and other colours that change upon the reflection of
light.. In this region, coffee beans, bananas, palm and
pine apples are grown.. |
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Chamarel and
Alexandra Falls |
On the way to Chamarel seven coloured earth- on
passing the sugarcane fields, crops and other plantation and before
reaching there, one can see the Chamarel as
well as the Alexandra Falls. Chamarel- seven coloured earth and its falls |
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The Bougainvilla
is a plant with bracts
which creeps and have multi coloured flowers.They
grow throughout the year. The colours are mainly red,
white, violet, orange and pink
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Flower Alpinia red
Allamanda Tecoma Aloe |
Alpinia purpurata
red ginger Agave
americana Agave americana Alpinia red
- Photo La Vanille Crocodile Park The leaves of the aloe plant is used to make
strings and jute bags.
Allamanda Tecoma Cathartica Tecoma stans
golden trumpet
is a creeping breed
with yellow flowers in the form of trumpet which grows all the year
round.In Mauritius this plant is found on the
road sides and the flowers are used as offerings during ceremonies and
prayers.. |
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Callistemon lanceolatus
Plant Flower
Canna Generalis |
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L'Aventure du Sucre Sugar Adventure Beau Plan
Pamplemousses North of Mauritius |
L'Aventure du Sucre in
Mauritius is an extinct sugar mill, then known as Beau Plan sugar
factory and now converted into a museum showing the different stages of
the sugar industry till to date. It is situated in the north of the
island at Beau Plan - 300m from the botanical garden of
Pamplemouses,which has its origin in 1736, by the then French governor
Mahé de la Bourdonnais who started its residence and named it" The
domaine de Mon Plaisir". It was then further developed by Pierre Poivre,
in 1767 a botanist who was helped by an indian indentured labourer,
Rama. In 1775 the huge water lilies, its water ways and canals joining
the river Céré was created by Nicolas Céré.The aventure du sucre is
an ideal spot to discover the history of the sugar industry and the by
products derived from the sugarcane like sugarcane juice, un refined
sugar, white sugar, sugary products, lolly pops, sweets, fruit paste,
rum and alcohol based products. The end products from the sugar
extraction is used as fertiliser in the sugarcane fields,whilst bagasse
is burnt in combustion chambers and boilers to make electricity which is
finally fed to the main electricity grid. Molasses are used in the
distillation process to make local rum.
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Mon Loisir Sugar Estate Usine Sucrière de Mon
Loisir Rivière du Rempart |
This factory reminds me of my childhood when during the
school holidays, I went with a village elderly man,bail gari Heetun, to
deliver the sugarcane to the Mon Loisir sugar factory after it was
harvested and loaded in an ox cart.We had loaded the sugarcane in the
cart manually and then took the direction to Mon Loisir sugar factory.I
was my own master then, in control of the ox along with the load of
sugarcane in the cart from my residence Gokoola to Mon Loisir-over a
distance of 4-5 km.The adventure and experience
was undeniably great with lots of fun .My joys knew no bound and but
alas !It was short lived,only to be reprimanded and punished in the
evening by my father who had come to know of my act as a cart driver
from a lorry driver who whispered in the ears of my father when they met
each other in the evening over a drink,made from sugarcane, in the local
shop of my hilarious adventure of a 16-17 year old. |
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Sugarcane flowering announcing the
arrival of the harvest
season. The Mauritian economy is based on agriculture,
textile industries, tourism,
off-shore banking, cyber
island and the free port.
Sugar cane was the main revenue provider of
Mauritius. Sugar was exported mainly to
Europe.Un fortunately with the arrival of beetroot
industry, the production and exportation of
sugar has greatly decreased despite the fact that there is no comparison
between the taste of these two types of sugar. With the rise in the price of crude oil in the
world market, our sincere wish is that Mauritius should start to produce
ethanol derived from the by product of the sugar industry like in Brazil
and be self sufficient. This would allow the Mauritian Folks to raise
their standard of living and be less dependent on the outside world for
replenishing in fuel .
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On the tea plantation road
towards -Bois Chéri et Corson |
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| Tea cultivation-(Chai- garma garma
chai- tea- hot hot tea. Tea is well known
for its different virtues and remains the most ancient drinks and widely
consumed in the world after water. It is grown in the cool and humid
high lands and plateaus of Curepipe,
Nouvelle France, Grand Bassin and Bois Cheri.
The picking up of tea leaves is done manually and
painstakingly by choosing only the new buds -
two leaves and one bud are plucked. To facilitate the picking of tea
leaves the plants are kept at a height of around one metre. The two well
known brands are Corson
and Bois Chéri. Do not miss a guided tour of Bois Chéri tea for
an illustration of the processes involved, tasting and to
discover the history of tea in Mauritius. Today you can find your preferred tea as the
companies have adapted themselves by proposing different varieties of
tea like natural tea ,vanilla flavoured , Black label, Golden
Pekoe, menthol,
coco, Bergamot, Cardamoms, Chocolate Earl
Grey, honey,caramel and
exotic fruit.
The
CORSON tea factory
proposes a range of tea with fruit - taste of
pine apple, citrus, litchis, kiwi
, banana ,
granadilla , mangoes etc. The other two main resources of Mauritius are
Tourism and Tea.Tea
of Mauritius derives its origin from Sri Lanka-Ceylon and India. |
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beds.
The cultivation of tobacco is the main activity of a few tobacco growers
in Mauritius.If you are passing by Gokoola,
Piton, stop by to say hello to my brother
Bouboul JHEELAN,a
tobacco grower from father to son. He shall be glad to shed some light
and share his experience with you in this field over a cup of tea.
The seedlings are sown in tobacco beds made by
digging and lifting up the ground. It is watered daily.Then
the young plants are uprooted and transplanted by putting them inside
round balls made of cow or lamb dung. Then after they are planted in the
soil and watered often. The harvest starts after two months when the
leaves are matured by observing a change in texture and colour. Two to
four yellow leaves from the bottom are plucked by hands.
The tobacco stem and its leaves are very
fragile and the quality of the harvest depends
mainly on the atmospheric conditions prevailing and worms which seem to
like the leaves and eat up most of it if they are not sprayed with
insecticides now and again. It is harvested bi annually
but the leaves with good quality are obtained in the
second half of the year from November to January as the weather is
hotter. Then after the
leaves are tied in sticks (baguettes), taken to a barn and hanged onto
horizontal poles known as stalls, to be flue cured by a heater
propelled with diesel or by burning wood as in the olden days. This step
takes at least a week before the tobacco is fully dried, by undergoing
several processes whereby the leaves are allowed to turn yellow at the
first instance by regulating the temperature, then de humidifying to
draw out the excess moisture from the leaves and then putting the colour
known as fixage by supplying air from vents and increasing the
temperature gradually to a set limit, before finally drying up the
leaves.
After the leaves are flue cured,
they are untied from the sticks and sorted out into
different grades by a grader based on the colour of the leaf. Those that
have retained the yellow colour have a higher market value.They
are then finally weighed and sent to the tobacco board. They in return
finally send them to the cigarette manufacturing factories to turn out
into different brands of cigarettes. |
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Pumpkin
Squash Marrows of
Mauritius |
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| Like the chou chou,
the pumpkin or patty pan is also a creeping plant and
the leaves along with the tender stems are used for daily kitchen use.
It can be turned into nice delicacies by cooking them with or without
spice, oil or used to make " bouillon or to
garnish the plates". |
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Le Piment Carri - Piment Cari Carry |
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| This is a type of chilies known as
piment carri and
are slightly bigger than the normal chilies and less pungent too.
In Mauritius, the inhabitants sliced them into two
and fry them with some salt in oil. It can be eaten with any meal, rice
or bread and it gives an added taste to the tongue .Drenched in chickpea
flour, it turns out great and can be eaten just like that and are sold
by hawkers everywhere by the roadside in any corners of the island. |
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Squash and patty pan
Shallots or spring onions and garlic chives |
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| Spring onions or shallots and garlic
chives are widely used in the preparation of Chinese dishes or fried
noodles. It can be found equally in tomato rougaille or chutney. |
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Pickle Zasar Jasar
Achard Anchaar Zansard of vegetables -
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| Pickle of cabbage,
carrots and French beans cabbage,
green beans and carrots are grated finely and put in boiling water with
some salt added inside just for few minutes and then sun dried to get
rid of the moisture. They are then mixed with a paste, previously made
of fresh garlic, green chilies, onions, oil, turmeric and mustard
seeds. It can be eaten just like that with plain bread or as an extra
with any meals. |
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Pickle Anchaar Zasar
Jasar Achard of vegetables |
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| The Chutney de
tomatoes, apple or
hog plums, coconut or
finely crushed mango with spices.
Green bananas deep fried in oil with some salt and
added spices of garlic, red chilies, mustard and turmeric turn pout to
be a mouth watering delights. It is better than the fried ones sold in
the shops. Chilly bites and samoosas in the
form of triangle have vegetable or minced meat stuffed inside.. |
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Holi or Holika -
The festival of colours |
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Back to1835,after the abolition of
slavery by the British in the commonwealth states ,the
then French barons, who owned the sugar
estates were left with no other option than to
turn to British Indian Empire, for Indian migrant workers to toil
their sugar cane fields with false and egoistic promises made to them
that they are going to a land booming with gold mines and that on
turning stones from the fields you` l l find gold -I quote" Zameen ke
pathar oulatne se, sona nikal ta hai" what a bull shit to believe and
these ignorant and illiterate people, albeit taken for a ride and
though fed up of living in dire poverty, clinged with hopes to improve
their lot and living conditions of their folks, out of whom some
were my ancestors .They got carried with the dream of becoming rich
overnight and thus came in search for gold just to get rid of the
poverty in which they were living. Then after followed the migration and
the coolies as they were known, came along with their cultures out of
which this is one of the most cherished and long for festival.Holi
is an ancient festival of India and was originally known as 'Holika'.
Holi was celebrated with more pomp in the
Eastern part of India,from where most of the
migration occurred.
It is said that Holi existed several centuries before Christ. However,
the meaning of the festival is believed to have changed over the years.
Earlier it was a special rite performed by married women for the
happiness and well-being of their families and the full moon was
worshiped.
So when, its time for Holi, please don't hold yourself back.
Enjoy the festival by participating
with full enthusiasm and gaiety in the
month of March .
But, what makes Holi so unique and special is the spirit
in which it is played ,whether in families, friends, neighbours as it
sees no caste ,creed or religion. I quote again " Rang barse bheege
chunar wali rang barse-oh rang barse bheege chunar wali rang barse", Oh
thy colour - Soak the blouse and veil of thee
ladies" and behold the sight! |
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Cavadee Le Thaï Poosam Cavedee |
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| This festival
is celebrated
in the month of Thai- which is the month of January or February and
when there is the day of the star Poosam
during the full moon ,whence the name thaï
poosam cavadee..
The thai poosam cavadee is
celebrated by people of Tamil origin in the
honour of their lord Murugga or Mourouga or
Mourougan who had destroyed the demon
Asuran Tharakasuran with the blessings of his
parents the almighty Shiva and Parvati.It
is celebrated by piercing the body with needles
and the tongue and cheeks by pins.The
backs of many devotees are spiked with hooks, often with lemon
attached and milk is put in a small bowl known as
a somboo. The devotees, in a trance and in
penitence, walk while carrying the cavadee, (
an arc of wood, metal or plastic symbolizing the sacred mountains, and
covered with flowers and at the base at each end
there is attached the somboo). The arc is laid down in the temple
at the feet of the statue of a divinity. The Thaipoosam
cavadee is a ceremony about the purification
from evil. It originates
from South India and is deep-rooted in the tradition
of the Tamilians. It is a big sacrifice as the purification process
of the soul starts and span over a period of ten days by fasting. A
strict vegetarian diet should be maintained and sexual pleasures should
be refrain from. Cleanliness is observed through out the whole period.
The houses are kept clean or else there is a guilt feeling of being
sanctioned by the god.On the day of the
festival, they get up early and the devotees go to the nearby river to
take a dip and carry their cavadee on their shoulders. They are in a
trance and no longer feel the pain from the needles, hooks and pins
inserted in the body: the cheeks,
tongue, back and the feet.
They find an extra innermost strength to pull
additional weights by hands and back.
The walk on fire or
walk on steps of sharp knives is very spectacular.
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