Let me introduce you to something amazing, wonderful, something unique in the world, in my island of Mauritius ,which is the 7 coloured earth.It is  found at Chamarel,a village in the south-west district of BlackRiver which is well known for its coffee,produced by Societe de la fleche.Let's discover also, the vicinity of Chamarel leading to the '7 coloured earth', which I am sure you will appreciate.

A walk which is a must is the one that starts at Curepipe on the central plateau,showing the green area around Bassin,the lake sacred to the Hindu inhabitants in Mauritius.Every year about 300,000 Hindus dressed in white make a pilgrimage to the sacred lake,water from the lake is poured over the head of the god,who according to Hindu tradition,voluntarilly swallowed a fish destined to destroy humanity.An interesting place indeed!. After leaving Bassin, you then go to Plaine Champagne,it is a dream world for anyone wanting to find primitive vegetation,the kind that once covered the whole island from the mountains down to the shore,before colonization took placeThe forests of Machabee and Gorges de la Riviere Noire can be reached from Plaine Champagne,and there one can find twining liane, as well as old tropical trees with strange names;bois de natte, terebinth,tambalocoque.Naturally there are also eucalyptus trees,ebonies and camphors and Trochetia,the national flower.

The Gorges here are the last resort for certain bird species which are becoming extinct,birds such as Kestrels or 'chicken eaters',which in reality only feeds on lizards, pond pigeons,large green cateau ouzel chefs,ideal spots for bird lovers.If you want more information,the forest keepers are only willing to help anyone wanting more scientific explanations.Talking about fauna,two legendry birds have to be mentioned ,the dronte or dodo and the solitaire,it's a kinds of large wingless pigeons that lived on Mauritius respectively,man caused their extinction.The dodo used to lay one large egg on a pile of grass on the ground.Due to the vulnerability of its nest and the slow way it walked,the dodo was soon a victim of the early visitors to the island,who ate them in spite of the fact that the meat was tough and not particularly tasty.You can see a perfect reconstruction of the dodo in Port-louis museum.

Now to reach the Chamarel Fall from The Gorges, there's a pathway which leads to a place where you can get a wonderful view of the Chamarel Falls ,the water falls into a huge basin surrounded by lush greenery,it takes about 30 to 45 minutes,there and back,along the path to the falls.Taking the road from the village of case noyale which twists and winds up the mountains slopes like a serpentine trail, among deep forest, you can see the fascinating natural phenomenon,the coloured dunes of chamarel. The view which is offered to you is impressive and breathtaking. The place looks like a bare oval shape with very regular borders.Those with fertile imagination would probably think of a meteorite which had fallen to this place.

As Mauritius is of volcanic origin,over the millennia, the rocks were crushed into sands, which have formed an amazing property whereby they settle into 7 distinct layers.In fact if you took a small handful of each of the 7 colours and mix them together, they would eventually separate back into their original formation of layers- amazing isn't? each grain of sand moving back to its own colour!Another incredible thing is that the natural coloured earth never erodes in spite of torrential downpours and adverse climatic conditions- This has never been explained till now.

The colours of the dunes are red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple and yellow, purple and red are predominant, anyone wishing to see this amazing sight should go early in the morning, preferably when the wheather is good.Morever, specimens may be collected before the powder is dispersed by the wind. However small bottles are on sale,in which these brightly coloured powders have been arranged in attractive patterns.

So, if you happen to visit Mauritius, don't miss out this wonderful places which will linger into your memory for a long long time.