Le Morne
A 556-metre mountain on the south-western cape, a monument to escaped slaves and World Heritage — with a lagoon beneath it for kitesurfing, and one of the finest beaches on the island
- When to go
- October 24° · 13 rainy days
- Per day
- €€€€€price 5 of 5
- How many days
- 3days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 37 km Mauritius
- Right now
Le Morne is a peninsula under the mountain of the same name, with four hotels and nothing else: one of the finest beaches on the island, a lagoon with the wind kitesurfers come for, a dawn climb of the mountain with a guide, and an underwater waterfall that exists only from the air. You do not come here for a week but for three days, and not for the village — because there is no village.
The mountain is the reason and the story: a basalt block of 556 metres with cliffs on every side, where escaped slaves hid in the 18th and 19th centuries, with caves on top they lived in. Legend says that in 1835, seeing soldiers climbing, they threw themselves off the cliff — while the soldiers were coming to tell them slavery had been abolished. World Heritage since 2008. The climb takes three and a half to four hours return: the first part is a path, the second a steep rock with ropes, where you are checked and may be turned back without a guide; you go at dawn, with a guide from Le Morne village, and from the top you see the lagoon, the underwater waterfall and the whole south.
The lagoon west of the mountain is the best kitesurfing spot on the island and one of the best in the world: the wind blows from May to October almost every day, the water is shallow and warm, and One Eye on the edge of the reef is a wave for those who know. The schools are on the beach by the hotels, with gear and lessons; anyone not kiting watches from the sand. The beach itself, under the mountain with casuarinas and sand that does not burn, is public and one of the finest on the island; at weekends families come from the village, on weekdays it is empty.
The underwater waterfall is an illusion — sand sliding off the reef into the deep that from a plane or helicopter looks like a waterfall beneath the sea. It is seen only from above: a helicopter or plane flight from Port Louis, fifteen minutes and a price for two like a hotel night, or from the top of the mountain, where it can just be made out. Île aux Bénitiers with Crystal Rock, an hour by boat from Le Morne or La Gaulette, is an afternoon trip with a mask and lunch on the sand; Chamarel and the Black River Gorges are half an hour up the hill. The evening is the hotel, because there is nothing else — and that is known before booking.
What to see in Le Morne
Climbing Le Morne
Three and a half to four hours return, with a guide, at dawn: a path through forest to the plateau, then rock with ropes to the top. On the summit a cross and the view of the lagoon and the underwater waterfall. Not climbed after rain, when the rock is slippery.
Le Morne beach
The public beach under the mountain, with casuarinas, white sand and a lagoon that is shallow a hundred metres out. One of the finest on the island; go to the part south of the hotels, which is empty on weekdays and at weekends.
Kitesurfing in the lagoon
Wind from May to October, shallow warm water and schools on the beach. For beginners in the lagoon, for the experienced One Eye on the reef, one of the most famous waves in the world. Lessons by the hour, gear by the day.
The underwater waterfall from the air
Sand sliding off the reef into the deep that from above looks like a waterfall. A helicopter or plane from Port Louis, fifteen minutes above; expensive and the only way. From the mountain top it can just be made out, from a boat not at all.
Île aux Bénitiers
An island in the lagoon an hour by boat, with Crystal Rock in the sea for the photograph, snorkelling over coral and lunch on the sand. In the afternoon, per boat; boats leave from La Gaulette and from Le Morne beach.
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The slave monument
A monument at the foot of the mountain, with figures from every country the slaves were brought from, opened in 2009. Ten minutes, on the way to the beach; 1 February, the day slavery was abolished, is celebrated here.
Two things you probably did not know
Le Morne is UNESCO listed as a memorial to escaped slaves. By tradition they hid on the summit, and when police arrived in 1835 to announce that slavery had been abolished, they thought they had come for them and jumped from the cliff.
From the air an underwater waterfall appears below Le Morne: sand and silt dragged by currents over the edge of an undersea shelf. The waterfall is an optical illusion, but the movement of the sand is real.
Ready for Le Morne?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Le Morne — 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: Chamarel, Flic-en-Flac and Port Louis
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Le Morne if you have been.
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