The dirt road is fenced on both sides. As it diverts from the neighborhood, a quick turn left was the spot where a flock of common waxbills and couples of scaly-breasted munia and yellow-fronted canary were seen — both introduced. Walking the road towards the Ocean provided some vegetation clearings from which the mudflats could be seen at distance. Good numbers of black-bellied plovers and whimbrels ran back and forth. Before I knew I would be able to get to the other side of the fence with RTREBS, I made sure I connected with all the waders I could from afar. Common sandpiper, greater sand-plovers, and Terek sandpipers also foraged in the mud and mangrove beaches — the two latest, exciting lifers.

Close to the end of the road, the fence finally ends. At that point, the scene is spectacular as the Indian Ocean features gorgeous shades of electric blue. Motorbikes passing back and forth while I walked the road belonged to fishermen and locals visiting a small church. Around the church, a couple of house crows behaved inquisitively. I approached the river mouth to enjoy the views, despite the shore was full of litter. Flocks of sanderlings and ruddy turnstones and some whimbrels were seen at very close range. On the other side of the river, a small group of curlew sandpipers foraged in the mud. I then walked down again, but this time on the other side of the fence, for closer looks of the birds.

The birds obliged. I made it through the mangroves to a bird hide that was closed. The platform however allowed me to approach the birds without disturbing them. Good numbers of black-bellied plovers, whimbrels, and greater sand-plovers probed the mud for preys — perhaps feeding on the thousands of fiddler crabs of the area. After some waiting, a Terek sandpiper showed up again and gave great views for a while. Once satisfied, I started the walk back as the temperature rose. On the fence between RTREBS and the dirt road, a tiny warbler-like bird sitting on the creeping vines turned out to be a Mauritius gray white-eye, a bird I did not expect to see on this part of the island.

I visited Flic-en-Flac hoping I could get a glimpse of the marine life of the island. However, the tide was at its highest point and the visibility was quite bad. I still enjoyed the dip but saw no more than four fish. Few people were around — all tourists — and no one was in the water besides a few people in a fenced beach (protecting for sharks?) so I decided to get dry and walk south.

The sand was full of ghost crabs which ran to their burrows once I walked too close. I noticed several Mauritius gray white-eyes on the palm trees, but this is a more classic area for the species, and it seems to be quite abundant. As I walked through the gardens of different resorts (which are just open at the beach), I noticed many common mynas and zebra doves feeding on the lawn. Several confiding Mascarene martins sat on top of umbrellas, dipped on the infinite pools and displayed close-range flights on a resort. Among the palm trees I spotted numerous Oriental garden lizards. The Pandanus trees bore several tiny blue-tailed day geckos, endemic to Mauritius. The views, once again, were awesome as the shape of Le Morne appeared at the end of the beach over beautiful blue hues.

I walked back to Wolmar area where I dropped off the bus and kept walking north through a vibrant set of beach stalls. A mixed flock of village weavers and red fodies fed on the ground, and a Mascarene swiftlet flew over closeby. I caught one of the last buses of the day (check out the schedule!) and the drive back was quite scenic. Halfway, a police station had a big tree next to it where tens of Mauritius flying-foxes gathered.

When I got back to the hotel I called it a day and just strolled around the waterfront and commercial area of Port-Louis at night afterwards. I got the news that my departure from Mauritius had been rescheduled on Sunday 5th midday, which meant I would have the entire Saturday to explore the island.

I had an early breakfast again while I browsed the internet about how to get to the south end of the island — Mahébourg. I was a bit confused about the departure terminal (Deschartres St) and committed the mistake to ask at the hotel reception, where the staff did not hesitate to ask for an extremely overpriced taxi (400 MUR, approximately 8 EUR) for a walkable distance of 5 minutes — I provide the location on the Port-Louis map, but I recommend to ask around once on a bus station. The route number 198 covers Port-Louis to Mahébourg via the airport and costs 80 MUR (some 1.60 EUR).

Leaving Port-Louis at peak hour around 06:30, I arrived to Mahébourg around 08:45. I got dropped off at Mahébourg waterfront, where a blue bus with sea turtles painted on it serves as a shuttle through Blue Bay. My patience was tested as the bus showed no signs of operating for a good half an hour. Meanwhile, I observed village weavers flying back and forth some palm trees where their distinctive nests hung. Hopefully, at some point a driver showed up and I got to Pointe Jerome (for 10 MUR or 0.20 EUR, I believe).

Pointe Jerome is the place where the visitors center for Île-aux-Aigrettes sits. I was afraid as I thought I might need a prebooked spot on the boats visiting the island reserve, and I knew for a fact that the shuttle bus arrived later than the last morning visit slot. However, once on the spot I realized things were quite flexible. Me and several other tourists arriving last minute paid for our entrance fee (22 EUR, card accepted) and got transferred to a speedboat.

The speedboat ride takes place over the clearest waters I had ever seen, where ‘islands’ of coral reef full of colorful fish could be seen from the surface. Île-aux-Aigrettes is a flat island quite close to the shore. Soon enough we are dropped in a small harbor, and the first two birds to show up in the trees around the boat were a brilliant couple Mauritius fody, one of the three stars of the island. The visit consists on a guided tour through different points of the island where Mauritian Wildlife Foundation takes action, and introducing us tourists to some of the main plant species still present on Île-aux-Aigrettes.

A great tour stop was the visit to the tortoise nursery, where Aldabra giant tortoises clutches are cared for and raised. These tortoises have been introduced to the island to mimic the ecological niche that extinct giant tortoises in Mauritius covered, which seemed to be fundamental for the configuration of the dry coastal forest ecosystem. As the extinction of giant tortoises might have been a big reason causing the eventual disappearance of this forest in the main island, the presence of these giant tortoises at Île-aux-Aigrettes aims at preserving the remnants of this ancient ecosystem with reduced further human intervention. On a side note, I believe Aldabra giant tortoises are the highlight for the general tourist!

We also visited the plant nursery, where numerous seedlings of endemic species were being cared for before being planted across the island. There are several rare ebony trees chopped off for fine wood characterizing the vegetation of this forest, including a species now only restricted to the island, Diospyros egrettarum. Other shown plants include the endemic and critically endangered bottle palm Hyophorbe lageunicaulis widely used in gardens but here in the wild, the Mascarene-endemic Coptosperma borbonicum whose juvenile (heteroblastic) leaves show a spotted pattern as an adaptation against tortoise herbivory, the beautiful orchid Oeoniella polystachus found here and somehow also in Madagascar and Seychelles. Throughout the island but most especially in the nursery, numerous Mauritius blue ornate day geckos were seen, although not necessarily associated to the endemic Pandanus vandermeeschii.

Another stop in the middle of the forest featured real-size sculptures of all the extinct species of Mauritius. A sad story of our impact as humans on extremely sensitive island ecosystems. Besides the giant tortoises, Mauritius has seen the extinction of tens of once widespread species. Only among birds on the main island 11 species were lost, including a wood-pigeon, a blue-pigeon, a turtle-dove, a duck, a shelduck, a night-heron, an owl, a gray parrot, the broad-billed parrot, the red rail, and the charismatic dodo. Ironically (and perhaps even more sad), the dodo has now become a symbol, some sort of unofficial mascot widely used not only in Mauritius, but also in Réunion — as I could see on my visit some years ago despite never being present there.

There is a bird feeding station in the middle of the island. Besides several beautiful Mauritius fodies (beware that red fody is present and abundant on the island!), a pink pigeon came into view. Hearing about how close the species had been to meet the fate of the dodo, one gets goosebumps when seeing these large pale forest pigeons. Birds are quite used to the presence of people on the area and several pink pigeons obliged throughout our walk around the feeding station, allowing close-up views.

Another early start for the last morning in Mauritius. I left Labourdonnais at 06:00 towards the city to explore an urban park quickly before breakfast. Although I never felt unsafe in Mauritius, the only time in which I felt slightly uncomfortable during the trip was entering the park at this time of the day as drug addicts were the only people around. I backed up for breakfast and went back to the area past 07:30, once the city was vibrant again.