Plant a tree, leave a legacy in Mauritius

Play a part in conservation by planting a tree in Mauritius’s Ebony Forest. The half-day experience starts with a drive to Chamarel on the south-west of the island, where we stop to see the famous Coloured Earth, sand dunes in seven different shades created by basalt lava and minerals. There’s also time to visit a nearby waterfall which crashes 100 metres into Black River Gorge, before arriving at the Ebony Forest.

Once destroyed by logging, the Ebony Forest is now a protected area where a conservation team works to reintroduce our native plants and animals, as well as remove non-native species. We’ll meet a conservationist guide at the information centre and depending on your preference, either walk or take a jeep ride through the forest for about an hour and a half. Along the way, we’ll stop to see beautiful animals like the Mauritius kestrel, black bulbul, fruit bat, echo parakeet and Aldabra giant tortoise.

You’ll learn about the forest’s black ebony trees, which can live for thousands of years, as well as other endemic species like the Mauritian tree coral and our national flower, the trochetia. The guide will discuss what’s being done to preserve the forest while we wander along raised walkways surrounded by incredible scenery. A highlight is Sublime Point, which gives you views to UNESCO site Le Morne.

At the end, the guide will take us to the plant nursery where you can pick out your tree and then plant it in a restoration site. Guests love the experience and often ask me for updates on how their ebony tree is doing. I recommend this tour because it helps to fund vital conservation work and also offsets your carbon emissions. Less than two percent of native forest remains in Mauritius, so this is really important work.