Sights in Africa
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Chinese Temple
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Central Market
Port Louis' rightly famous Central Market, the centre of the local economy since Victorian times, was cleaned up considerably in a 2004 renovation. Many comment that it's lost much of its dirty charm and atmosphere (you're far less likely to see rats, although it's possible), but it's still a good place to get a feel for the everyday life of many locals, watch the hawkers at work and buy some souvenirs. Most authentic are the wonderful fruit and vegetable sections (including herbal medicines and aphrodisiacs).
If you're looking for souvenirs, a wide variety of Malagasy handicrafts are available, along with souvenir T-shirts of varying quality. The level of hustling here…
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Caverne Patate
Caverne Patate, in the southwest corner of the island, is an impressive cave system with a few stalagmite and stalactite formations. There are four guided tours daily, usually at 9am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm, during which a guide points out formations with uncanny resemblances to a dodo, Buckingham Palace and even Winston Churchill! The 700m tunnel is an easy walk, but gets slippery in wet weather; wear shoes with a good grip and take a light jacket or pullover.
The track to the caves is signposted off the road from La Ferme to Petite Butte. Buses en route to La Fourche can drop you off at the turn-off.
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Cathedral
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Carnegie Library
Next to the town hall, the stone building with the distinctive neoclassical porch houses the municipal Carnegie Library. Its collection includes rare books on Mauritius dating back to the 18th century.
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Botanical Gardens
For respite, the manicured botanical gardens, full of streams and birdsong, are about 10 minutes' walk south of the centre. This is a good place to mug up on native plant life before venturing further afield. Star attractions are the coco de mer palms lining the main alley. There's also a spice grove, a pen of giant tortoises, a patch of rainforest complete with fruit bats, and a cafeteria.
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Botanical Gardens
The well-kept gardens of Curepipe were created in 1870 to foster foliage that thrived in cooler weather – the grounds in Pamplemousses proved far too sweltering for certain species.
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Black River Gorges Visitors Centre
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Big Game Parks
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Bananaland
Continue on the RN2 from La Cayenne and you'll soon come across Bananaland, a family-run operation where you can visit a banana plantation and buy various banana products, including jam and cakes. Everything is homemade and organic.
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Anse st José Doctor's House
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Anglican Church
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Aapravasi Ghat
If you've spent at least a day driving around the island then you've probably noticed the dozens of large brown signs cryptically mentioning this cultural site without providing any further information. Aapravasi Ghat is a small complex of buildings located on the seafront – it served as the island's main immigration depot for indentured labourers from India. Britain pioneered their indentured servant scheme in Mauritius and from 1849 to 1923 over half a million immigrants were processed here before being shipped to various plantations or other colonial islands. Today, almost 70% of Mauritius' citizens can trace their roots back to Aapravasi Ghat. The Aapravasi Ghat Trust…
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Hector Pieterson Museum
This powerful museum illuminates the role of Sowetan life in the history of the independence struggle. It follows the tragic incidents of 16 June 1976, when a peaceful student protest against the introduction of Afrikaans as a language of instruction was violently quelled by police. In the resulting chaos police opened fire and a 13-year-old boy, Hector Pieterson, was shot dead. The ensuing hours and days saw students fight running battles with the security forces in what would become known as the Soweto uprising. On the first day alone, close to 200 teenage protesters were killed.
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L'Aventure du Sucre
On the other side of the motorway's roundabout from the botanical gardens, the former Beau Plan sugar factory now houses a fascinating museum. It not only tells the story of sugar in great detail, but also covers the history of Mauritius, slavery, the rum trade and much, much more. Allow at least a couple of hours to do it justice.
The original factory was founded in 1797 and only ceased working in 1999. Most of the machinery is still in place and former workers are on hand to answer questions about the factory and the complicated process of turning sugar cane into crystals. There are also videos and interactive displays as well as quizzes for children. At the end of the…
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Place d'Armes
The city's most imposing boulevard, Place d'Armes – the Champs-Élysées of Port Louis – is lined with royal palms and leads up to Government House, a beautiful French colonial structure dating from 1738. Outside there's a typically solemn statue of Queen Victoria in full 'we are not amused' mode. The statue of Mahé de Labourdonnais at the quayside end of the avenue is the best-loved in the city and has become Port Louis' emblem throughout Mauritius.
One of the major intersections is named after Sookdeo Bissoondoyal, a senior Mauritian politician, independence leader and, eventually, opposition leader against Navin Ramgoolam, who died in 1977.
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Jardins de la Compagnie
It's a real pity that Jardins de la Compagnie (Company Gardens) has such a sleazy atmosphere as it's by far the most attractive park in the city, with its vast banyan trees, huge number of statues, quiet benches and fountains. During the day it's perfectly safe, but you should avoid it at night when it becomes the city's favoured hang-out for prostitutes and drug addicts. In early colonial times, the gardens were the vegetable patch of the French East India Company. Today, it's best known for its statues of local sculptor Prosper d'Épinay and the much-loved musician Ti-Frère.
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Museu de História Natural
The recently renovated Museu de História Natural near Hotel Cardoso is worth a stop to see its Manueline architecture and its garden with a mural by Malangatana. Inside are some moderately interesting taxidermy specimens, and what is probably the region's only collection of elephant foetuses.
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Museu da Moeda
The Museu da Moeda, housed in a yellow building on the corner of Rua Consiglieri Pedroso, dates from 1860. Inside are exhibits of local currency, ranging from early barter tokens to modern-day bills. At time of writing, it's temporarily closed for renovations.
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Fortaleza
The old fort was built by the Portuguese in the mid-19th century near the site of an earlier fort. Inside is a garden and a small museum with remnants from the era of early Portuguese forays to the area.
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Cathedral
Beira’s cathedral was built in the early 20th century with stones from the old San Caetano fort (1505) in Sofala. The streets around the port are lined with faded colonial-era buildings.
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University of Botswana
Contains plenty of books and periodicals dealing with national topics.
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Bahnhof
Swakopmund brims with numerous historic examples of traditional German architecture. The ornate railway station, or Bahnhof, built in 1901 as the terminal for the Kaiserliche Eisenbahn Verwaltung (Imperial Railway Authority), connected Swakopmund with Windhoek.
In 1910, when the railway closed down, the building assumed the role as main station for the narrow-gauge mine railway between Swakopmund and Otavi. It was declared a national monument in 1972 and now houses the Swakopmund Hotel & Entertainment Centre.
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Owela (State) Museum
The other half of the National Museum of Namibia, about 600m from the main building, is known as Owela (State) Museum. Exhibits focus on Namibia's natural and cultural history. Attached to the museum is the National Theatre of Namibia.
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