The hook
The green, mountainous heart of Mauritius, where volcanic soil forms a hillside of surreal rainbow-striped dunes, a high waterfall drops into a gorge, and the island's last native forest shelters birds saved from the brink.
01Why it's worth it
Beyond the beaches, the interior of Mauritius rises into a cooler, greener world of volcanic peaks, forests, and tea and sugar country, and the area around Chamarel is its showcase. The Seven Coloured Earths are the famous oddity: a small expanse of bare, dune-like ground where the volcanic soil has weathered into distinct bands of red, brown, violet, and blue that never seem to mix, a strange, photogenic natural curiosity, with a tall waterfall and a rum distillery nearby. Above it stretches the Black River Gorges National Park, the island's largest tract of remaining native forest, laced with hiking trails and viewpoints over deep green gorges, and home to endemic species like the pink pigeon and the Mauritius kestrel, both famously rescued from near-extinction in one of conservation's great success stories. This is also, of course, the island where the dodo lived and was driven extinct, a cautionary tale woven through its natural history. The interior offers a cool, scenic, and meaningful contrast to the coast.
02How to experience it
Head inland to the Seven Coloured Earths, the Chamarel waterfall, and a rum distillery, then hike or drive the Black River Gorges for forest trails and viewpoints, watching for the rescued endemic birds. It is an easy day trip from the coast, greener and cooler; pair it with the beaches for a full picture of the island.