Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve, Blue Bay Beach, La Vanille Park & Gris Gris | La Vacanza Travel

Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve, Blue Bay Beach, La Vanille Park & Gris Gris

Duration: 8 hours
Destination: Mauritius, Flacq District, Trou d'Eau Douce
from
133.94

Check Availability

  • 8 hours
  • Trou d'Eau Douce
  • E-Voucher
  • Lowest Price
  • Not-Cancellable

Overview

Note: This is a private tour, except for the Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve portion. 

Discover the natural beauty, flora and fauna of Mauritius through this full day tour, with the highlight being the Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve. You will be treated to a guided 1.5 to 2 hour easy hike around the island where you will be able to discover the unique flora and fauna endemic to Mauritius. You will then have the chance to visit the white sandy beach, and have a dip in the beautiful lagoon, of Blue Bay. After, you'll visit La Vanille Nature Park where you'll see a variety of animals, and be able to explore an insectarium, fossil museum and interactive farm. Finish the day at Gris Gris and La Roche qui Pleure, where you can admire the rugged scenery of the south of Mauritius, the most wild part of the island.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve, Mahebourg Bay lagoon Mahebourg, Mauritius 50815

Your first stop will be at Pointe Jérome, where you will embark on a small boat that will take you across the turquoise waters to Ile aux Aigrettes, a small coralline limestone island situated in the South East of Mauritius. Declared a nature reserve in 1965, this island is home to unique flora and fauna, that was once considered on the verge of extinction. When you arrive on the island, you will meet one of the trained and knowledgeable rangers who will accompany you on a guided 1.5 to 2 hour hike around the island. As a result of the successful conservation efforts by scientists on the island, you will have the opportunity to view unique species such as the Mauritian Fody, Pink Pigeon, giant Aldabra Tortoise, and the Ornate Day Gecko in a safe and protected environment. You will also discover the original trees and vegetation that, before the arrival of man, covered Mauritius and its surrounding islands.

Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Blue Bay Beach, Pointe d'Esny, Mauritius

You will then head to Blue Bay for a few hours of relaxation on one of the most beautiful beaches of Mauritius. Aptly named Blue Bay, this beach stuns visitors and locals alike with its various shades of blue. You will be able to spend some time strolling along the white sandy beach, taking a dip in the lagoon, and trying out some of the delicious street food from the various beach vendors.

Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: La Vanille Nature Park, Senneville, Riviere des Anguilles, Riviere des Anguilles, Mauritius

Stroll through La Vanille Réserve des Mascareignes and its 3.5 hectares of lush greenery. Discover its beautiful palm and banana trees, giant bamboos, its impressive animals, including 2,000 Nile Crocodiles and 1,000 giant tortoises. You will also visit their insectarium which boasts one of the best private collections in the world with 23,000 species.

Duration: 3 hours

Stop At: Gris Gris Beach, South Coast, Souillac, Mauritius

Admire the rugged scenery of big, powerful waves crashing on the cliffs at Gris Gris. A few metres away, you will see La Roche qui pleure, a natural rock formation that resembles a person crying when the waves hit it.

Duration: 1 hour

Inclusions
  • Services of a fully licensed, qualified driver
  • Air-conditioned and insured taxi, minibus or coach
  • Private transfer for your group to and from your hotel
  • Boat transfer for your group to and from Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve
  • Waiting time
  • Parking Fees
  • Entry/Admission - Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve

Exclusions
  • Lunch or snacks
  • Entrance fees to La Vanille are Rs. 975 (19.5 Euros) per person
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • This tour lasts up to eight hours, and you will be able to choose how long you spend at each attraction. Depending on your group’s speed you may not have time to see all the listed attractions. You will be able to stop for lunch but the price of the lunch is not included.
  • Not recommended for pregnant travelers
  • Most travelers can participate
  • Please note that the Mahebourg Museum and many of the shops in Mahebourg are closed on Sundays
  • This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 8 travelers
  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Departure Point

Traveler pickup is offered
We pick up at all hotels, B&Bs, apartments on the island. Please let us know which hotel, B&B or apartment you're staying at. Note that the schedule of the boat to Ile aux Aigrettes changes daily, but the boat typically departs between 9am and 10am. Your pickup time will depend on where you are staying, but will typically be between 8am and 10am. We will let you know your exact pickup time upon booking.


Departure Time

10:00 AM

Voucher info

You can present either a paper or an electronic voucher for this activity.

Duration

8 hours


User's Reviews

suelJ6128NJ

21 Jun, 2023

Brilliant knowledgeable guide on the reserve. I would definitely recommend a visit here. We had a taxi who's driver said we had to be back at hotel by 6.30pm. The driver was rude, drove recklessly throughout the day. He took us to the dock to catch the boat to the reserve. Top tip hire your own car and do this side of the island. We asked to go to Blue Bay told 10 minutes we said no. We want to go there and go on glass bottom boat He say he would sort it. We got food the driver rushed us to his friend pascal who said we need to pay 4000 rupees equalling about £80 for an hour boat trip. I declined, told him I would sort. We ate street food ( although the driver wanted to take us to go to a restaurant) . We loved blue Bay like swimming in an aquarium so many fish, barracuda and turtles. We asked the driver to take us back to our hotel and could we go the coastal route as we did not want yo see crocodiles or go to gris gris. He agreed. But his driving was reckless all over the place. He answered a call from pascal saying we were stubborn!! We arrived at the hotel. The driver demanded 800 rupees. Bearing in mind we were back 2 hours before his 6.30pm end of driving. I would recommend visiting Blue Bay and Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve. Just don't use this taxi firm

Oliver_K

17 Jun, 2023

First of all, I only use La Vacanza Travel. It simply is the most trusted and best tour operator you will find! Any problems and La Vacanza Travel will resolve them for you at ease and without issue. As for the tour itself, it was possibly our best experience whilst visiting the Mauritius, mostly due to our driver/tour operator who could not do enough for us, he provided a lot of information and history about the various places we visited and about Mauritian culture which all helped to make the tour a very memorable experience. I would not hesitate to recommend this tour and if you’re lucky you might have the same driver who we cannot speak highly enough as he really was such a gentleman… he took us to extra places not on the tour as we had engaged with him and expressed an interest in learning more about the island and creole culture. We really felt blessed to have such a fantastic tour which was mostly down to the driver as he went above and beyond what is expected. The tour itself covered so much, the nature reserve was a tad slow however our driver more then made up for this after sensing that we felt a bit bored during the nature reserve visit which over ran as there were aging tourists taking part who lacked basic fitness but that cannot be helped.

95lana

13 Jun, 2023

If I could give less stars I would. Where do I start. Dangerous driving, a car that STANK and a horrendous attitude. Not to mention the driver tried to SCAM us and got verbal with us on drop off after demanding more money for a trip we'd already paid for. Avoid at all costs. We were picked up on time and briefly greeted, all seemed well. The trip we bought was advertised as a visit to Il aux augrittes (2 hour), blue bay (2 hour), la vanille park (3 hour) and gris gris (1 hour). Upon approach to the boat embarkation point the driver instructs us he will visit blue bay for photos for 10 minutes. I confirm that we will go back after to snorkel and he states 'oh you want to stay there, we should go after then' and that he'd organise a boat (read on for that saga...). I then ask if we can have a shorter stay at la vanille to give us more time at gris gris, he states 'we have no time for gris gris, I'm only paid 8 hours (but that's the tour we paid for!). We start to consider missing la vanille to get to gris gris and see the cascades. We arrive at the boat embarkation and wait 30 minutes before being greeted by the LOVELIEST of MWF staff, the setup they have is fabulous as are the guides for the NGO , if you want to visit il aux augrittes hire a car and do it yourself (we certainly wish we had). We get back and onwards to blue bay, we ask about if we can stop for lunch and get a very non committal answer of maybe a restaurant later , bearing in mind it's now midday. We arrive at blue bay to meet the drivers 'friend' who quotes us 4500 for 3 people for an hour in the bay and tries to shuffle us on the boat with our hastily bought noodles (by our own request/doggong our heels in!). SCAM ALERT , we asked the driver leave us to discuss and made our own enquiries with others as this seemed obscenely high, we were then quoted 2000 immediately without a haggle from another operator the driver shooed away initially. We told the driver he'd see us in an hour and he looked sheepish to say the least after asking us the price we'd agreed! We arrive back from am AMAZING SNORKEL, again, the marine park is stellar, get a car or hire a taxi from your hotel and do it yourself AVOID THIS TOUR OPERATOR. As the driver has stated we don't have enough time for gris gris and at this point we just want to go home we ask if he will drive us up the east coast if we skip the already paid for the other parts of the tour seen as we have paid for his time. He agrees and off we set. What a stunning coastline but scary driving isn't in it. Middle of the road, swerving all over the place and several near misses later we arrive at the hotel. We go to leave and he starts demanding more money stating we said we'd pay him (which after the day we'd had we certainly did not!). We were very grateful our hotel security were there stood close by. The days events away from the driver were amazing, with him... Just shy of traumatic. Do it yourself or with someone else, the locations are well worth the visit.

cansu73848

09 May, 2022

A very overpriced tour that barely meets the expectations. The only good part of it was the tour in Île aux Aigrettes. The guide was really good at explaining all the details. Other than that the tour is just a few sightseeing spots in Mahebourg and beach time at Blue Bay. In the morning we were picked up much later than we agreed. Our tour to the island started much later than it was supposed to. Overall I am not impressed at all I recommend you to rent a driver and do all these activities on your own. It will definitely be much cheaper and more informative than this tour.

Charlotte F

14 Mar, 2022

We had such a lovely day learning about the endemic animals and plants of Mauritius on such a beautiful and well kept island. The care of the flora and fauna is top priority which is fantastic. Our driver was wonderful and couldn’t do enough for us. He took us round the markets in Mahebourg and bought us food to try, never short on recommendations. If there was anything we wanted to see or try, he fit it in for us which was excellent. Most importantly, as two young girls travelling, he made us feel very safe and really looked out for us. Thank you very much.

User's Picture Gallery

Image

Sites brilliant

Image

SCAM avoid at all costs. What an awful way to end our holiday

Image

Lovely visit for plant and bird lovers

Image

Ile aux aigrettes

ImageImageImageImage

Similar Packages