Saving the Mauritius kestrel

Mauritius. [Name] and I arrived in Mauritius on Tuesday morning. We are staying until Sunday at Villa Harmonie on the small peninsula Îlot Fortier near Black River on the west coast. It is a tranquil spot looking out on the Indian ocean, with views to Le Morne across the bay. On the first day we relaxed at the villa, swimming in the small salt water pool, canoeing in the bay and watching crabs dart into their holes in the beach, among the mangroves.

Yesterday, we hired a scooter and drove to the Ebony Forest in the south west, where we did a 3-hour hike through the jungle in the rain. Although we got soaked, we absolutely loved it. We saw giant tortoises and flying foxes, which are large bats. The museum had a good display on the history of the island, which was colonised by the French and English before it gained independence. The large Indian population today began as imported indentured labour to work on the sugar plantations.

There is an interesting story of biological control. After locusts were devastating the crops, they started protecting the Myna birds, which recovered in great numbers and took care of the locust infestation. After the forest, we visited the Chamarel Waterfall, an impressive 100 metre high spectacle, and then the Seven Coloured Earth Geopark, where different chemical reactions in the basalt soils have created umber and ochre variations in one site, which is about the size of half a football field.

Tomorrow, we will visit another project – La Vallée de Ferney, a forest and wildlife reserve and conservation area that supports agri-entrepreneurs from neighbouring communities. Both projects are supported by CIEL, a corporate conglomerate who invited me to speak at their sustainability event (on Monday) and to co-deliver a training workshop with [name] on integrated value management. As always, we feel immensely privileged to be able to combine work with travel in this way, and we are motivated to keep making these opportunities possible.