Mauritius - Moka

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This district is part of a plateau of scrub, sugarcane and, in the midlands area, tea. It caters for the educational overspill of Port Louis, with the University of Mauritius and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, and also contains the president’s official residence at Le Réduit.

Coffee was planted here when it was introduced from Al Makha in Yemen, hence the name ‘Moka’. Its boundary runs along the mountains ringing the south of Port Louis to Pieter Both, then skirts below La Nicolière Reservoir, across Nouvelle Découverte Plateau – embracing the agricultural centre of the island – to the outskirts of Curepipe and Rose Hill.

The approach to Moka is by the two-lane motorway that links Port Louis with the residential plateau towns. After crossing the St Louis Stream, the road passes through Pailles, a suburban community with a church, temple and mosque overshadowed by Pailles Hill (225m) and the peaks of the Moka mountain range.

Pailles has become widely known since the opening of Domaine Les Pailles, an extraordinary creation by a Mauritian who has converted previously unutilised land into a kind of educational theme park. A whole day can be spent there discovering the old ways of living via a series of exhibits that recreate old traditions. There are four upmarket restaurants on the estate (see below), a riding stables and a casino.

Further south along the motorway, a road branches off to the left beneath Junction Peak to the residential sprawl of Moka, St Pierre and Circonstance. The motorway continues, skirting around the university and leaving the Moka district at the Cascade Bridge. The range of hills between Moka, St Pierre and Port Louis consists of the bush-covered Guiby, Berthelot, Junction and Mount Ory peaks, rising to 500m.

Off to the right, just after the road to Moka crosses the rubbish-clogged Moka River, is a lane leading to Eureka, a colonial house open to the public and where accommodation is available. Although it has a French colonial appearance with its 109 doors and windows and encircling veranda, it was built by an Englishman, with the help of a French carpenter, at the beginning of English colonisation. It gained its name when Eugène Leclézio, a wealthy lawyer and planter, cried ‘Eureka’ as his bid to buy the house at auction in 1856 was accepted.

Although many Mauritians aspire to studying at an overseas university, they do have an option locally. The University of Mauritius at Le Réduit was created in 1965 with the help of a £3 million grant from the British Government. Together with a large school of agriculture, the university has faculties of engineering, science, law and management, as well as social studies and humanites. The Mahatma Gandhi Institute, for the study of Indian and African cultures, is within walking distance of the Le Réduit campus. The institute contains the Museum of Indian Immigration

In 1748, the French governor built a small wooden fort, surrounded by a ditch and stone walls, on a 290m-high bluff between two rivers. It was to serve as a redoubt (réduit) for women, children and valuables of the French East India Company if ever the island was invaded. It became the official residence of the French, and then the British, governors of the island and was extended several times to create a rather grand house. The gardens are equally impressive, filled with a mixture of native and exotic plants.

Today, Le Réduit is the president’s official residence and is therefore only open to the public two days a year. Apparently the president is not keen on tourists strolling around his backyard, scrutinising his flowerbeds.

The eastern part of the Moka district is sparsely populated, with Quartier Militaire on the main road (A7) the only settlement of any size. It was once a military post offering protection to travellers against attacks by runaway slaves. After passing through Quartier Militaire the road continues to Centre de Flacq and the east coast.

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Mauritius - Moka

Mauritius - Moka

Central Mauritius

Mauritius - Moka