Driving into the Hills to Ganga Talao, Mauritius

A drive into the green interior of Mauritius led me to Ganga Talao, where enormous Hindu statues and a sacred lake revealed a completely different side of the island.

By this point in my Mauritius trip, I had already seen busy Port Louis, the coast and the colourful landscape around Chamarel. Then I drove inland. The scenery gradually became greener and hillier, and eventually I reached one of the places that surprised me most during the trip: Grand Bassin, also known as Ganga Talao.

The first thing you notice is the scale

Before I even started thinking about the temple itself, the enormous Hindu statues caught my attention. They are difficult to miss. Seeing something of that scale surrounded by the green Mauritian landscape was unexpected. It didn't feel like the Mauritius I had been seeing along the coast. Grand Bassin is one of the country's important Hindu pilgrimage destinations and remains one of Mauritius's major visitor sites.

Around the sacred lake

The temple complex sits around Ganga Talao, a crater lake in the mountainous interior. I walked around the area and spent some time near the temples. It felt considerably quieter than Port Louis and different again from Chamarel. That contrast was becoming one of my favourite things about Mauritius. Within a relatively short drive I could go from a busy market to the coast, from coloured earth and waterfalls to a Hindu pilgrimage site surrounded by hills.

A side of Mauritius I wasn't expecting

As someone familiar with Indian culture, there was also something strangely familiar about seeing the Hindu temples and statues here. But the setting was completely different. I was on a small island in the Indian Ocean, surrounded by green hills. That combination stayed with me. When I think of Mauritius now, I don't think only about beaches. I remember driving.

I remember Port Louis. I remember the giant tortoises at Chamarel. And I remember arriving in the hills and suddenly seeing those enormous statues at Ganga Talao. That variety is what made Mauritius interesting to me.