Chamarel
The hills of the south-west: a village with the Seven Coloured Earth and a waterfall, a rum distillery, and the Black River Gorges above — the one day on the island spent without the sea
- When to go
- September 21° · 8 rainy days
- Per day
- €€€price 3 of 5
- How many days
- 1days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 31 km Mauritius
- Right now
Chamarel is the day inland done from the west or south coast: a road of hairpins through rainforest, a viewpoint over the Black River Gorges, a hundred-metre waterfall, dunes in seven colours that never mix and a rum distillery to finish. Everything is within ten kilometres and fits into one morning, before the cloud comes down on the hills.
The road starts on the coast at Case Noyale and climbs in hairpins through forest, with a viewpoint halfway from which you see the lagoon, Bénitiers and Le Morne — and that is the first stop, in the morning while it is clear. Chamarel is a village on the plateau, with a church and Creole restaurants, and the Seven Coloured Earth park at its end: dunes of volcanic earth in seven shades of red, brown, purple and yellow, formed by the decomposition of basalt, on which nothing grows and which do not mix even after rain. The site is smaller than expected, the path around it takes fifteen minutes, admission €14.70 per person; the giant tortoises in the enclosure beside it are on the same ticket.
The Chamarel waterfall is in the same park, with a viewpoint on the road to the dunes: a hundred-metre fall of the Saint-Denis river over a basalt cliff into a gorge of rainforest, the highest on the island and finest after rain. Getting to the foot takes an hour down a steep path, and few do it; the viewpoint is enough. The Rhumerie de Chamarel, on the way out of the village, makes rum from cane on its own fields and has a tour with tasting and a restaurant with the best lunch in the hills — that is the end of the morning, and the reason you do not drive back before two.
The Black River Gorges, the national park above Chamarel, are the remnant of the forest that covered the island before it was cut for sugar: the Gorges viewpoint on the road to Grand Bassin gives the view over the whole park to the sea, and the trails — Macchabée, Parakeet, to the Alexandra falls — run from one hour to six through the island's only rainforest, with endemic birds that live nowhere else. Go in the morning before the cloud, with water and trainers; in the afternoon the hills close in fog. Grand Bassin, the sacred lake with the temples, is twenty minutes further along the same road.
What to see in Chamarel
The Seven Coloured Earth
Dunes in seven colours of decomposed basalt, which do not mix even after rain and on which nothing grows. A fifteen-minute path around the fence, in the morning with the sun from the east when the colours are strongest. Smaller than expected, and still you go.
The Chamarel waterfall
A hundred-metre fall over a basalt cliff into a gorge of rainforest, the highest on the island, with a viewpoint in the same park. Strongest after rain; the descent to the foot is an hour down a steep path and can be skipped.
The Rhumerie de Chamarel
A rum distillery using cane from its own fields, with a tour, a tasting and a garden restaurant. Lunch is the best in the hills; rum is bought here, not at the airport, where the same bottle costs more.
The Gorges viewpoint
The viewpoint over the Black River Gorges, on the road to Grand Bassin, with the view across the whole rainforest to the sea. Five minutes from the car park; clear in the morning, fog in the afternoon. The Macchabée trail starts here.
The Macchabée trail
Three hours through the rainforest of the Black River Gorges from the viewpoint to the river, with endemic birds — the pink pigeon and the echo parakeet — that live nowhere else. Water, trainers, morning; the longest trail in the national park.
Grand Bassin
A crater lake twenty minutes further on, sacred to Hindus, with temples and a thirty-three-metre statue of Shiva. Free and quiet, except in February for Maha Shivaratri. The end of the hills before going back to the coast.
Two things you probably did not know
The seven coloured earths at Chamarel are sand dunes in seven shades, from red to purple. The colours come from volcanic rock that broke down into minerals of different density, so after rain they separate again instead of mixing.
Chamarel makes rum from fresh sugar cane juice rather than molasses like most rum in the world. That method, rhum agricole, is used almost only on Indian Ocean islands and the French Caribbean.
Ready for Chamarel?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Chamarel — day trips or weekends.
Mauritius
→An island where you do not choose a hotel but a coast — west for sunsets and calm sea, north for nightlife, east for wind, south for kitesurfing
Tanzania
→The Serengeti, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar in one country — and three different bills: the safari by the day, the mountain by the night, the island by an insurance paid at the door
South Africa
→A country of long distances and reversed seasons, driven on the left throughout
Thailand
→Two coasts the monsoon never reaches at the same time, and a north seen through smoke in March
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: Le Morne, Flic-en-Flac and Port Louis
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Chamarel if you have been.
Front row for the next trip
Leave your email and we'll let you know when a new destination or story goes up.