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An afternoon mountain bike ride with your family in Midlands Dam, Mauritius

A few words about this little-known corner of Mauritius and yet to be discovered…

Enjoy an afternoon mountain bike ride with your family in Midlands Dam, Mauritius. Let’s start by saying a few words about this little-known corner of Mauritius and yet to be discovered.

The Midlands Dam is a reservoir that is supplied by rainwater as well as by the rivers and streams that flow into it, as is the case for the other reservoirs in Mauritius.  It was built in 2003 in the central part of the island, one of the wettest, to provide water to the districts of northern Mauritius.
Its particularity lies in the fact that the entire top of the dam is paved, and this makes it easy to walk or cycle around.

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We were keen to explain to the children the importance of not wasting water which flows from our taps.  It was equally important for them to understand how all this works. 

Currently our dams are well below what they should contain at this time of year as the Mauritian winter was particularly dry. Hopefully the summer rainfalls will be abundant, but we don’t want a flood, as it is often the case in our tropical island of Mauritius.

mari nissa” would say my boys in Mauritian slang. In English it means “super nice“.

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A sporting adventure for the whole family, an unusual discovery of our Mauritius Island 

The weather was frankly not very fine this afternoon but that didn’t spoil our family mountain bike trip. When we talk about Mauritius, it is obviously the beaches that come to mind, but for us who live there, we like to diversify our experiences from time to time. It was still a surprise for the boys when we announced that this time we were going to visit the Midlands Dam

I cheated a little bit by choosing an electric bike but I don’t have the physical abilities of my men. So Laurent was on a fat bike and the children on a mountain bike. I wanted to get ahead of them and take pictures of them in this extraordinary landscape of our Mauritius Island. 

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The excursion is accessible to all as each individual can make it at his own pace.  The landscapes are very different from what we are used to seeing. We have the feeling that we are at the other side of the world. I really invite you to have this outing on your agenda.

The start of the celebrations was around 2:00 pm.  We took a small trail at the one end of the basin which brought us to a beautiful undergrowth, very clean and where the temperature is pleasant. The trail is well traced and hikers who use them frequently keep the path clearly visible. 

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As we proceeded with our excursion we regularly crossed small wooden bridges whose poor condition was a sign of their age. So we had to be very careful as, obviously, their solidity did not match our expectations. No prolonged break on these bridges or else we take the risk of ending up with all four irons in the air in the river. 

After a short break to admire the nature we resumed our walk, this time along the Midlands Dam basin. Our meetings with the fishermen who came to pick up their evening meal were very pleasant.

A success with this choice of family excursion

This choice of family excursion has proved to be a complete success. 

Mauritius Island is not very big, but it offers a lot of spots where to stroll with the family.  However I would rather not recommend this walk if your children cannot pedal or walk without getting too tired. Furthermore, I would advise you to walk with a group or with your family rather than on your own, it is safer. 

The Midlands Dam walk will not necessarily be recommended to you by the general public, as unknown to most of them, but it certainly deserves to be known. It is a place to discover, or to rediscover for regular strollers. We all enjoyed this journey between gentle and flat slopes, surrounded by ferns and wild plants of all kinds. 

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To know:

Mauritius has now several mountain bike races organised regularly in order to introduce young and old to the taste of effort, to discover hidden places and to have a true communion with nature. Everything is in place to combine sporting achievement and exploration of Mauritius’ nature. Mountain biking has a growing number of enthusiasts in Mauritius. The ROAG website allows you to know the different races offered throughout the year. Feel free to contact the organizers if you are interested in any of them.

If you are more interested in the island’s “gentle discovery” excursions, alone or with your family, then turn to Electro-Bike Discovery, also known as Explore nou zil, which will offer you a wide range of guided tours throughout Mauritius by electric bicycle. In addition, you will find mountain bikes, fat bikes and electric bikes for rent, thus enabling you to go by your own.

 

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