No City Streets Here, Just River Trails
There’s No Walking Tour Here, But There Is A Trail
Grand River South East (GRSE) is a rural river-mouth hamlet on Mauritius’s east coast, not a town with a historic core or a guided pedestrian circuit. There’s no municipal walking tour company here, and there shouldn’t be; there isn’t a downtown to walk. What genuinely exists is better described as self-guided nature walking, and it’s worth doing anyway.
The GRSE riverbank and waterfall trail An unpaved local trail along the southern ridge above the gorge, running through bamboo and mango groves, with views down onto the cascading waterfall and basalt canyon from above. It’s 45 to 60 minutes round trip, short enough to do before breakfast, but the trail turns slick after rain, so wear shoes with actual grip, not sandals.
A stroll through Deux Frères A quiet, self-guided walk through this Creole fishing hamlet: artisanal wooden pirogues pulled up on the bank, fishermen repairing nets, backyard papaya, breadfruit and banana trees. Nothing here is staged for visitors, which is exactly the appeal; you’re walking through a working village, not a recreation of one.
Île aux Cerfs, away from the boat landing Most day-trippers never leave the commercial landing on Île aux Cerfs. Walk south along the uninhabited beaches and sandbars instead, past casuarina trees and shallow tidal flats, and the same island turns into a genuinely peaceful coastal walk.
Lion Mountain, for real hikers Fifteen kilometers south, Montagne Lion is a proper 3- to 4-hour guided hike up a basalt ridge shaped, from the right angle, like a crouching lion, ending in a 360-degree panorama over the entire eastern reef barrier and Grand Port bay. This is the one item on this list that isn’t a stroll, and it’s worth booking a guide for.
The verdict: come here expecting a nature trail and a village stroll, not a guided city walk, and GRSE delivers. Come expecting the latter and you’ll leave thinking there’s nothing to walk to, which misses what’s actually here.
One concrete tip: do the riverbank trail early morning or late afternoon. Midday heat on an unpaved, unshaded ridge trail is genuinely unpleasant, and the light for photographing the waterfall from above is better at both ends of the day anyway.
For what’s actually cruising past the trail on the water below, see adventure sports at Grand River South East .