Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Black River Gorges National Park – Part 1

As Yashvin mentioned in his post Bloggers go hiking in Black River Gorges, the 3rd Mauritian Bloggers event, held on Saturday 17th July , consisted of a trek down Black River Gorges National Park, from Petrin to Black River.

 

The first part of the trek (in green) was along the Macchabée trail to the viewing point. The second part (in red) was the descent to the Visitor’s Centre…

 

DSCN3604

So among the bloggers who were there at the starting point was

  • Tushal (who claimed to know the trails like the back of his hand),
  • Girish,
  • Yashvin,
  • Dakshinee,
  • Julien,
  • Preetesh,
  • Sundeep (above, who ominously predicted that everyone will fall by the end of the day),
  • & me (who was attempting this trek for the very first time).

 

A lovely sight greeted us at the entrance…

 

… & a not-so-lovely one. The muddy trail.

 

So we bravely set off, guided by this milestone, which fortunately didn’t mention the distances…

 

By the time we reached out first crossroad, it started raining heavily & the raincoats, umbrellas & Sun’s towel was out.

 

Our first stop where we had our first view of the Black River Gorges.

 

Visibility was low as heavy clouds & mist were blocking the scenery. Our blogger-turned-guide-for-the-day, Tushal took out this opportunity to snap some photos on his E72.

 

The heavy rain caused a small rivulet to form, but that didn’t discourage our bloggers party.

 

First spot of bother as we had to trudge through the middle (tested by Yashvin).

 

Second stop, still the heavy mist clouding our view, but the waterfalls were now visible.

 

Back to the trail, with our two Brinks Security men leading the way…

 

The second crossroad, where we had choose between the Macchabée View Point & the Mare Longue trail.

 

By the time we reached our next vantage point, the rain had stopped & the mist was disappearing…

 

& finally, we saw the waterfall. :)

 

With the sun out, our bloggers took out the opportunity to take off their raincoats & for the Sun to dry his towel…

 

Take some photos.

 

More photos.

 

More…

 

After the photoshoot session, we reached our third crossroad, where the choice was to take the short Macchabée trail (towards the viewpoint) or the longer Black River one (above)…

 

Luckily, this beautiful Hibiscus Azalea was there to guide us…

 

So we were off again, having walked 3 km so far according to this milestone.

 

Panorama_Gorges

At the next stop, I shot this panorama of the highest peak of Mauritius – Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire (828m). At this point, Tushal was wondering what if you could build a house here…

 

DSCN3761_2

White flower found on the wayside.

 

DSCN3766_2

While we were reviewing Sun’s iPod Shuffle, this Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquito bit Yashvin’s thumb.

 

DSCN3771_2

Pretty soon, we encountered our first rainbow of the day!

 

DSCN3778_2

1 more km to go.

 

DSCN3795_2

DSCN3815_2

Panorama Gorges Rainbow

The rainbow got better!

 

DSCN3820_2

The final walk before we reached…

 

DSCN3826_2

… the Macchabée View Point!

 

Panorama Mare Longue

Panorama Tamarin

Panorama Black River Range

The view was spectacular!

 

DSCN3829_2

Tamarin.

 

DSCN3867_2

& while we were having lunch, we wondered that if there was a KFC at the end of a trail, a certain blogger would have definitely been there…

 

DSCN3910_2

So far we’ve had a superb day. The weather was great. We were in high spirits. Tushal was building houses at every viewpoint instead of whining about his internet connection.

 

DSCN3852_2

DSCN3854_2

But we had accomplished only half of the journey. There was still the 6km descent to Black River. Given that this was my first-time trek here, I had no idea what was lying ahead of us…

Part 2 is here - Black River Gorges National Park - Part 2 :P

Links:

20 comments

Anonymous

wow...i totally love ur photoblog blog...there are really awesome shots..such as the panoramic shots and the views.. i really don't want to do that but i'd love to give u a little advise for when next time u go trekking and taking photos, u avoid doing that little mistake which can refrain someone from seeing the real beauty of a photograph; here's the tip, whenever u see an object such as the mile indicator..dont snap the pic from up or half way on ur legs... sit down and snap it.. u can do it for the flowers also..it requires practice at start..but hopefully with time..u can get beter.. that doesnt mean u shud do it all the time..but at least consider it whenver ur shooting something which is on the ground.

carrotmadman6

@Yashna
Okie, I did it for the flowers, but was too lazy to do it for the milestones... :p

Yashvin

@Yashna : I tried to do that too, but I was not feeling at ease with my undersized raining coat. But I might agree with what Carrot might say : Everywhere was muddy, so it was kindda unpractical to go low for those pics.

@Carrot : Thumbs up for one of the most detailed post I read :P
LOL @Tushal who kept imagining far fetched ideas about his house!

And that's only the beginning, part 1...

Kurt Avish

Amazing shots. Specially the rainbow ones.

Tushal

@yashvin--> Huh. . my house?ideas?Huh

nav

Black River Gorges as i've never seen them before! Even though I actually haven't been to the National Park, these photos show me unique views of the Park.
The rainbow shots are really great, would have been great to have a group photo with the rainbow in the background.

Keep up the nice pics!

preetesh

woowww...lovely..waiting for part 2 now :)

carrotmadman6

@All
Thanks! :D

@Tushal
Don't you remember saying "Penser si to ti ena en lacaz la..."

@Nav
Aaah! We didn't think of that! :|

Tushal

A dak. waiiiii. . si to ti ena lakaze la ba, ti pou mari nice. sauf pa ti pou gagne internet. xD

Rikesh

@tushal pa grave sa. to ti pou aret plaigner net si to pena internet :p

@carrot zoliiiiii fotos :) or 'nice tofs' as one would say :) I regret I couldn't come :(
ps: the mosquito could also be an Aedes albopictus, which is also common in Mauritius(name mentionned during the Chikungunya campaign).

carrotmadman6

@Rikesh

Thanks! :)

curiousEngine

awesomely superb pics!! my favourites being the Panorama pics and the hibiscus flowers and the capture of the mosquito bites.

you will do wonder if give u professional cameras...

carrotmadman6

@Ashesh
Thanks! :)

Even if I had a pro-camera, I would have never brought it there. Yashvin didn't bring his DSLR either... :P

Bhamesh :)

interesting Trek.. nice to have it with you through your pics and captions...
waiting for part II... :P

carrotmadman6

@Bhamesh
Er... Part 2 has already been posted! :p

Anonymous

Have done this trek several times on my own, about 20-15 years ago and before the zone has been defined a "National Park" with regulations and permits and limitations and all that. Your pictures are nice memory. We just took the jungle as you did, to avoid the steep mudslides. Always walked down all the way through miles of sugarcane (there was no NP House at the jungle edge) to the coast road bend where there is a Chinese restaurant upstairs, and a bus stop.

There are many more undocumented treks possible in this area, to waterfalls and bassins in the jungle.

Also down to Chemin Grenier via Bassin Blanc is a beautiful trek, and so on.

Joerg Klingenfuss, Germany

Mauritius Photography Blog

Great photos friend. Keep it up!

My favorite photo is that where you are having lunch...simply great...the sky, the sea, the view, the one sitting with a hat...Great!

Priscille

Oh wow! Your photos are amazing! Well done! :)

Xtol Lord

Awsome shots! 

A bit late by 2 years, but the pic labelled hibiscus is not a hibiscus but an azalea :P

carrotmadman6

Never too late for an edit. ;)

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...