Tamarin Mountain

Tamarin mountain located on the west coast of Mauritius, offers some good views over Black River and the lagoon spanning from Le Morne to Tamarin. The hike is quite stiff however, due to the overgrown and unclear nature of the path, made worse by the rocky ground and large thorns found on the ground and on many of the trees growing there. You should only attempt this hike if you are very motivated. A long blade knife and good footwear are also highly recommended.

Also of note, is that development is due to take place on the lower parts of the mountain where part of the track begins, and while access to the path was possible at the time of writing, this may not be the case in the future, and you may need to find an alternative route up the mountain.

Location

Since the location of the start of the path is not entirely clear, the GPS route log starts from the main road by the salt pans.

Route Description

• Make your way to the clearing by the junction as described above.
• Follow the grassy track eastwards, and as this track heads up and back towards your starting point, look towards the mountain, you will see remains of a metal fence which seems to have been destroyed by fire. The track follows the remnants of this fence up into the mountain.
• Follow the traces of the fence. Although the fence has been destroyed by fire at the lower parts of the mountain, as you move up the mountain, the fence is still intact.
• The path is slightly clearer on the left (east) side of the fence. If you choose to stay on the left side, you will eventually need to cross onto the right side to continue. Keep an eye out for a pole holding the fence which has been removed from the ground, where you will need to pass under to move onto the right of the fence.
• Follow what you can of the track, and the path will sometimes move away and back nearer the fence.
• If you are on the eastern side of the fence, The fence will eventually head eastwards, and there is a point where a pole has been damaged and you will need to lift this pole and cross under the fence onto the western side. If you find yourself in thick undergrowth where the fence suddenly takes an easterly direction, you will need to trace back your path and pass under the fence onto the eastern side.
• The track will become increasingly overgrown, and will be near impossible to make out in places, but can be overcome by making your way through the shrubs and thorns carefully.
• The path will emerge under a large tree surrounded by large stones, where someone has placed a stone in the branches near the trunk as a placemark.
• At this point, there is little or no path to be seen, and you should make your way carefully through the low growing shrubs in a South Westerly direction.
• Follow the track log carefully, and you will pass along some loose soil on a steep scramble, then emerge on a visible path which goes around summit.
• You can follow this path around the summit towards the South West for some views to the lagoon towards Le Morne and Black River.
• Alternatively, follow the path to the East/South East, and this will take you to the summit after passing through some rocks. Note: The path to the summit from this point is not of the GPS track log, so tread carefully.

Satellite Imagery

• View this track in Google Earth.

Images

• Photos tagged with Tamarin Mountain

Attachments:

TamarinMountain.gpx	[GPX Track log for Tamarin Mountain]	39 Kb
TamarinMountain.kml	[Google Earth KML file]	7 Kb