Family Days Out On GRSE's Lagoon
Four Family Activities That Actually Work With Kids
Grand River South East (GRSE), on Mauritius’s sheltered east coast, has a genuine advantage for families over the island’s rougher west coast: the lagoon here is shallow, calm and reef-protected, which opens up activities that work for toddlers and teenagers in the same afternoon.
Speedboat excursion to the GRSE waterfall A ride from the GRSE jetty or Trou d’Eau Douce through calm lagoon water into the mouth of the river, where the wide ocean view narrows into a jungle-walled canyon. Kids get two things out of this that adults might undersell: spotting wild macaques leaping between riverbank trees, and giant fruit bats roosting overhead. It’s a genuine wildlife encounter that happens to also be a boat ride.
A day on the sand at Île aux Cerfs A short water taxi or shuttle boat across the lagoon lands you on the sand spit of Île aux Cerfs, where knee-deep, warm, crystalline water is about as forgiving as swimming conditions get for young or nervous swimmers. Beachside restaurants and picnic lawns mean nobody has to plan lunch logistics in advance.
Camp life at Otentic Eco Tent Families staying, or day-visiting, the Otentic Eco Tent Experience in Deux Frères get elevated glamping tents, a freshwater pool overlooking the river, self-paddled double kayaks, and rounds of carrom, a traditional Mauritian board game, in the evening. It’s the rare family activity that doubles as downtime for the adults too.
Glass-bottom boat tours For kids too young or too nervous to snorkel, a glass-bottom boat over the eastern lagoon’s coral gardens covers the same striped sergeant majors and starfish without anyone getting wet. It’s a genuinely good bridge activity for a family with a wide age range.
The verdict: if the group includes non-swimmers or very young kids, lead with Île aux Cerfs and the glass-bottom boat; save the waterfall speedboat trip for when everyone in the group is comfortable on open water, since the canyon run is more exciting than a toddler necessarily wants.
One concrete tip: book the waterfall speedboat run for the morning. Wildlife along the gorge, the macaques and fruit bats both, is more active earlier in the day, so kids get a better show for the same boat ticket.
For the wildlife-spotting side of this trip in more depth, see animal activities at Grand River South East .