carrotmadman6's photoblog

RCPL

2012-02-12T21:02:00.001+04:00

The Royal College Port Louis, circa 2005-2006.

This a follow-up to the post on my blog. The main reason is because the related photos have been lost to the servers of Flickr with its 200-photo limit on free accounts. Most of the following photos are the original ones taken by my first camera - the much-maligned HP 635 - while I was in my final year at RCPL.

Ah RCPL... I spent 7 years of my life here, so that's a lot of incredible memories and some awful ones. On the very first day at RCPL, I got bullied. It was very unpleasant experience but I learnt an important lesson - never to bully anyone.

The room in the middle, the one just above Royal College - that was my class in Form I. Form I East, that was it. No, that was just a name, they weren’t really segmenting students according to regions.

Just next to the mural, there is a tiny store room. But back in Form I, that was where we used to learn music. & those stairs on the side. I still remember that the 2nd or 3rd step was broken for several years before they repaired it. The drains were also constructed much later. Before that if ever there was heavy rain, the entire floor would be inundated.

Over the years, we moved from one room to another & most of the time our class got the middle rooms. The worst thing about those classes, apart from the smell of the pigeon droppings on the ledges, was the heat. Can you imagine a room in Port Louis packed with 40 students with no fan! We survived that for 6 years - it wasn't until 2006 that we got fans.

& this is how my classroom looked like in 2005 while I was in Lower VI. By then RCPL had been converted into a Form VI college, so most the classes had fewer students and the college was much less populated.

Those are Elfish symbols. I was very much into TLOTR at that time. ;-)

Just some dogs in class. Born in RCPL. The school authorities have tried various ways to chase away the handful of dogs living in the yard, but every time they were unsuccessful. Living in RCPL made them so intelligent that they could outwit every dog trap thrown at them.

Looking out from my classroom, that’s the library with tons of novels, the comic books, the magazines, the newspapers, the photocopy service, the dial-up Internet and the laser printer. Not to forget the attendant, Mr. Luchmun (alias crapo).

It wasn't particularly big but this is where I read my first Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings book. If you wanted a book like the heavily-sought Harry Potter ones, but you couldn't take it because you already borrowed books, that meant hiding the book somewhere in other bookcases so you can borrow it later. This hiding of books got worse every time there were new arrivals. Often I "borrowed" more than 2 books, such was my love of reading. :D

The volleyball pitch. One P.E. teacher re-introduced volleyball in RCPL. It was a mild success as during recess we witnessed some pretty terrific matches between students & teachers.

Those classrooms at the ground-level are literally some of the worst kept classrooms in RCPL - always littered with broken chairs & tables.

Montagne Signaux. I've always wondered how the view will be from up top. & I still haven't gone there.

Looking out on the football ground & the cemetery from the Physics classroom.

The swinging pendulum experiment. One little anecdote - whenever I did this experiment, I had some kind of mental block of about when to exactly start counting. I mean I would wait with my stopwatch for the exact precise moment to start counting but I kept missing that moment. Until a teacher showed how to start timing by reverse-counting! Start from 3...2...1...0... start stopwatch!

Some ceremony in the RCPL Hall. The Hall is the do-it-all building of RCPL. Classes, ceremonies, fairs, playing badminton, football, volleyball, rock concerts, film projections, exams - everything you can imagine has been done there. :)

The Wall of Fame with the first laureate in 1953, from La School, which was then located at Edith Cavell street.

The history of the Royal Colleges (Port Louis/Curepipe) dates back to the French colonial period. The school was originally located in Port Louis. L’Ecole Centrale was inaugurated in 23 September 1800 in a building known as Vaux Hall where Jeetoo Hospital stands today. Later known as Lycée Colonial, it was a boarding school which provided primary and secondary education to children of the white population. After the British triumphed over Mauritius, it was reopened as Collège Colonial in 1811. It became known as The Royal College in 1817 as it was taken under the protection of the Prince of Wales.

In 1832, it was opened to coloured children and in 1839 the school has its first English Rector who reorganised the school into the British model of education with English as the medium of instruction. It was in 1868 that the Royal College was affiliated with the Cambridge University Syndicate to conduct the college examinations.

In 1892, the school was razed to ground by a cyclone and had to be transferred to the Line Barracks. The foundation stone for a new building was laid during the same year but had to be abandoned due to the plague breaking out in Port Louis in 1899. The new building became the Civil Hospital and the Royal College of Mauritius transferred to Curepipe.

In 1912, the foundation for the present-day Royal College Curepipe was laid and in 1914, it opened. Due to the long distance the students had to travel in trains to Curepipe, the people voiced their demands for re-establishing the Royal College in Port Louis. The authorities were pressurised and they decided to start construction of a building at Edith Cavell Street.

On 18 January 1929, the Royal College School opened as an extension of the Royal College in Curepipe. Informally known as La School, it catered for only up to the School Certificate. HSC students had to migrate to Curepipe to compete. It was in only in 1951 that the first HSC classes were held in Port Louis.

In 1952, form I to III students were transferred to a section of Trinity College, Cathedral Square. With a growing school population, it was apparent that a new modern building was needed to accommodate the Royal College.

On Saturday 29th September 1956, Princess Margaret laid the foundation stone for the school at Cassis. It was also as from 1956, to differentiate between the two institutions, Royal College Curepipe and Royal College Port Louis were born. As from 1958, part of the lower forms students were admitted into new building under construction and it was only in 1962 that the whole of RCPL moved to Cassis.

You can read a brief version of RCPL’s history on Wikipedia or download the Word doc here. Photo credits: the RCPL Facebook page.

The Design department. That's how it usually looked like in the final days of project submissions. Cupboards, exerciser & a dog house...

The machinery used for all our works. Working wood, I learnt it here.

Outside the DT department. This is where all the heavy work was done - cutting planks & spray-painting.

At the back of the Design department. The field unfortunately looks abandoned.

The pié lacolle! (Cordia dichotoma) A tree with small berries that contained a glue-like goo. As you might have guessed, this eventually led to the glue-wars - students pelting the fruits at each other.

& that is what used to be the Art room when I was in Form I. I admit I totally sucked in arts. Painting, freehand drawing & all that. Well, I don't have an artistic mind.

The ruins of the astronomical observatory. It was built much before the school and then abandoned.

The football pitch. When I joined in Form I, at recess, every single area of the school was packed with students playing football. Literally, every single cm2 of playable grass (& asphalt) of RCPL was a football pitch. It was an amazing sight, every class had their designated "pitch" and often fights broke out when there were pitch invasions. & if by mistake your ball went into another pitch with students of higher classes, the ball was belted far away from your pitch. There was usually someone in each team, the one with the biggest shot, who would take care of that.

Most of the lower classes brought their own ball (the ball belonged to the class & the ball-carrier, the one who would keep the ball home, was usually rotated). But sometimes, students would usually come to "borrow" the balls. So if ever you saw a group of suspicious students approaching, the only thing to do was run away. Because they usually "attacked" in group, that meant passing the ball around in rugby-style to the fastest runner in our class.

Playing football? I am not particularly good at any sports & neither was I at football, so I usually played as defender or goal-keeper. But I did once finish as top-scorer in the "league." & I scored a hat-trick only once. :D

This is where the 'gangs' were located.…

The corridor leading to the art room. The store with shutters is where some of the older DT projects were stored.

The landscaping works including the pathways and the always-empty pond started in 2005 if I'm not mistaken.

Previously, there were just stone benches.

The basketball ground. Some of the most exciting football matches were played here. Basketball? Only a handful of students played.

Even the locals used the pitch by climbing the college walls. Those high walls could be climbed using the electrical poles with steps. Sometimes if some suspicious-looking individuals roamed the grounds, groups of students used to chase them off the pitch using poles and wooden sticks as weapons.

Back to the corridor, the building at the end is what used to be a disused amphitheatre until it was renovated. I’ll be honest, that the was one room I didn’t discover until several years later.

The canteens. Rouben and his specials - dipain tokyo, pané, fouyang, abdel. Utterly delicious. Hey, I wasn't yet a vegetarian back then. :)

The man with the tri-cycle selling his tasty fruits. Zorro, the dholl puri seller… Mamou and his chilled drinks. I still remember the emotional outpour the day he left us.

The assembly ground, the volleyball field & the hall. It was only when the rector changed that we started having daily assemblies & school prayers (that was a relief as I could come to school a little later!). Otherwise, this is where our laureate celebrations took place. :)

The mural painted by some fellow students. On the opposite end is the foundation stone placed by Princess Margaret, which I unfortunately didn’t shoot.

The courtyard where the flag raising ceremony usually took place on 11th March until it was moved to the inner assembly point.

On other days, this is where the school buses are parked. In my early years, most of the buses were the old UBS TATA buses which required accelerating the engine on idle to reach a certain operating temperature before it could move. Not to mention that there was nearly 100 students packed in a 40-seater bus.

In all those 7 years of bus travelling, only once did I encounter a breakdown. & then the one time when the glass pane fell off the bus while doing the roundabout. & that bus conductor on the 127 line who would always take Rs 1 more than the usual fare from students. That eventually came to an end when free transport was introduced in 2005. :D

Far away, the gates of RCPL with its gatekeeper, Tropic. The great thing about this man was that he couldn’t read, so you could write anything on an official-looking piece of paper and make him believe that you got permission to be let off early. :D

Here ends my exploration of RCPL as I lived it. My only regret - not having taken enough photos. The labs, P.E, the hall, the computer room, the library... But more than that I miss the camaraderie of students, the atmosphere, the inspiring teachers, the proud moments of obtaining laureates (7 in 2002!), the stress of exams, the competition in class & the thrills of doing forbidden things (like stealing ingredients from the Chemistry lab! No, I really didn't do that, a friend did. Worst thing done is playing cards in class). The best years of my life. I miss everything. :(

That’s a map of RCPL as it stood until a few years ago when construction of new school buildings started. In my time, there football pitch didn’t have any fencing.

Related:

Wikipedia – Royal College Port Louis
Facebook – Royal College Port Louis
Mauritius Illustrated by Allister McMillan - The Royal College
RCPL Official Website
RCPL Gallery

RGSC

2012-01-27T20:37:00.001+04:00

A short visit to the Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre. There are various exhibits there that are great to experience, even though they might be a bit dated.

This imposing energy ball at the entrance is a recently-acquired exhibit.

The central exhibit is the ‘energy ball’ of the size of 9 ft x 9 ft and 18 ft in height which depicts the vivid transformation of energy in various ways.

‘Energetic’ balls roll along a maze of circuitous paths performing like an acrobat in a circus, turning wheels, hitting gongs and bells, creating music and sometimes falling from a height to bounce back for another round of performance.

It is really amazing!

Moving on, there are numerous physics displays that explain some of the most interesting things we might have come across. Like this moiré pattern.

A scale model of a sugar factory.

A relief map of Mauritius.

A lava tunnel!

Our dead friend, Raphus cucullatus, i.e. the Dodo.

Old paintings of Port Louis.

Old & new.

I do apologise for having taken not enough photos because I was too busy during the SET week. But, believe me, the place is really interesting.
So do check out @avinashmeetoo flickr set for more. :)

Related:

Gov.mu – RGSC
Gov.mu - New Exhibits at the Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre
NouLakaz - The Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre in Mauritius
Flickr - Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre
LeMauricien.com - RGSC : 13 nouveaux instruments scientifiques exposés
LeMauricien.com - AU RAJIV GANDHI SCIENCE CENTRE: Des nouveaux outils scientifiques pour la science
LeMauricien.com - RGSC: Poursuivre sa découverte du monde de manière ludique et scientifique
LeMauricien.com - RGSC: Une Semaine d’activités sur la science et la technologie

Kung Shee Fat Choy

2012-01-23T06:32:00.001+04:00

Happy Chinese New Year.

Dragons! :)

Random Flowers V

2012-01-19T21:22:00.001+04:00

The sequel to Random Flowers II.

The garden previously shot has now been updated with some interesting new additions… Excluding Lego man obviously.

A pink flower.

Marigolds.

The purple trochetias.

Another pink flower.

& its dried cousins.

A bell-end-shaped flower.

Some kind of palm with thorns.

Wildlings.

& here ends this filler post with a leaf-boat.

Caudan Waterfront at night

2012-01-17T23:24:00.001+04:00

To be more precise, stranded in Caudan Waterfront at night…

Let’s start from the beginning; on certain days, my classes at UOM end at 19:00. On those days, I usually leave early at 18:30 to catch the last Triolet bus, which leaves Immigration Centre officially at 19:00 & unofficially at 19:30.

Today, I left a little later, at 18:40, thinking I’d catch either the 18:50 or the 19:00 Réduit to Port Louis bus. Instead, the bus came at the bus-stop at 19:10, which meant it was going to be a race against time to catch that last bus.

During the entire Réduit to Port Louis journey, I was confused as to what shall I do next? Get down at Victoria station & run to Immigration or get down at Venus (Bell Village) & catch an Immigration bus from there. I eventually decided to do the latter & almost immediately I caught a TBS bus. As it turned out, that was the last Pointe aux Sables to Immigration bus. Very lucky indeed. The time was 19:21. Enough time to reach the bus station before the 19:30 bus left.

19:26. As the TBS bus finally reached Immigration station, I got down & started running toward the other end of the station. As I approached, I saw one TBS leaving the station. Nothing to panic, there was still that last bus…

There wasn’t. Not a single bus was waiting at Immigration Centre. Apart from the street-sellers, I was the only person there. This is a situation I’ve mentally rehearsed quite a few times, so I knew exactly what I had to do. Except that when it really happens, it’s still a shock. After walking in circles for while (waiting for ANY kind of bus), I knew I would get mugged if I waited any longer at Immigration, so I walked to the safest place in Port Louis at night, i.e. Caudan Waterfront.

So here I was, waiting at Caudan Waterfront. I had already phoned home & arranged for transport. So to while away the time, I did the only logical thing I could do… taking photos of Port Louis at night!

My first trials obviously were very bad!

Compact cameras really struggle at night. Too much noise, over-exposed, blown-up lights, motion blur. That meant I had to use the most unlikely preset I had on my camera – Fireworks mode.

& the results were just awesome!

The problem with Fireworks mode is its long exposure time of 4s requires a tripod. Since I had no tripod, I had to make use of my environment.

In this case here, the stone pillars.

I saw quite a handful of people lurking with laptops. Definitely wifi thieves!

Barkly Wharf.

The bridge.

Towards the casino.

The junction at Place d’Armes.

& this was my last good photo as my transport reached Caudan. Do I regret missing my bus? Never. :)

Pointe aux Caves (Albion) Lighthouse

2012-01-15T15:11:00.001+04:00

The Cave Point lighthouse, near Albion. A visit to one of the most iconic landmarks of Mauritius.

The above photo was taken by one of my favourite Mauritian photographers, stuckinparadise. In my mind, this is what I expected to find on my very first trip to Pointe aux Caves.

Instead, I got this! :|

The Albion lighthouse is a place that has always fascinated me ever since I saw this stamp... & when I read the Famous Five…

... & when Pointe aux Caves featured in the film Baazigar (& some other films as well as some scenes!)

I'll come back to the lighthouse later, but the first thing thing we wanted to do is visit the Pointe aux Caves cliffs, which are famous for having many caves that have been carved out by the sea. It’s indeed a popular spot for rock climbing.

Just under cliffs near the lighthouse, some fishermen were hard at work trying to lure out the tired fishes. Well, if you ask me, that was very dangerous. Already, the sea was rough & the waves were crashing spectacularly against the rocks!

Boat!

The lighthouse, the fishermen & a boat - what a fantastic composition that would have been on any other day.

Looking away from the lighthouse, towards Port Louis, there were more cliffs.

& where the sea had carved out two natural bridges/portals.

Please don't try this at home!

The white foam caused by the waves crashing against the rocks. You could spend the entire day watching it.

Well, if it wasn't for the smell.

& I'm not talking about the rotting carcass of this cow (because it’s not a whale), but rather of the nearby farm which I believe it has escaped from. There is a huge cattle farm nearby from which emanates an absolutely nauseous smell.

No matter where you go, there's always a fly in the ointment.

Nothing to see here. Just someone proposing...

Leaving the lighthouse, we followed the path to the North, looking for a way to get down to the seaside.

Eventually, we got to a point where the cliffs sort of disappeared.

That's Port Louis up there. I mean, it should appear behind those cliffs.

Among the litter-infested rocky shore, we saw fishes, sponges & these tentacular plantanimals that grow engorged when disturbed.

Lava flow frozen in time.

Jumping from rock to rock, we moved towards the cliffs.

In every other sea cliffs in the world, you have legions of seabirds nesting. In Mauritius, however, you have pigeons…

At last, we saw one of the much-talked about caves! Alright, that's hardly a cave, more like a small grotto.

The two rednecks in our group ventured forward & as I had predicted had to double back because the way was blocked by the portals.

Fortunately we didn't have to go all the way back as there was a path to climb through the cliff. That was the view on the caves.

Time to go back to the lighthouse.

The Pointe aux Caves lighthouse is more than century old as it was built in 1910.

At the bottom of the lighthouse, there was a grotto of La Vierge du Rocher.

On the side facing the sea was a recent addition, a SMF radar. (It wasn't here in 2010 as you can see from the first photo).

While I do understand that having a nearby electricity supply is a valid point, there is no excuse for ruining the picture perfect scenery of the lighthouse. The radar tower is nothing short of an abomination!

Behind the lighthouse & we have a view on the village of Albion where there were much bigger caves, which we'll definitely visit on a better day.

Looking up at the lighthouse from the South.

West side.

North side.

The century old door of the lighthouse.

Inside, in an annexed room, we found an old generator which is used to charge batteries.

On the ground level, there were various posters related to the lighthouse. This one detailing the naval history of Mauritius as La clé de la mer des Indes.

Newspaper cuttings from Le Cernéen.

Sir Charles Cavendish Boyle, the governor under which the lighthouse was built.

The two other non-operational lighthouses of Mauritius, namely at Pointe aux Canonniers (owned by Club Med) & Ile aux Fouquets (abandoned).

The still operational lighthouses – Cave Point lighthouse & Flat Island lighthouse.

Technical data for Cave Point Lighthouse:

Also known as: Belle Vue Lighthouse
Nearest Village: Albion
Tower Height: 97 feet (30 m)
Height of Focal Plane: 152 feet (46.3 m)
Date of construction: 1910
Characteristics: Two white flashes every 10 seconds, visible within 29 nautical miles (53.7 km).

& that is an antique radio transmitter/receiver.

Just under the extremely narrow stairs!

On the first level, we had a poster explaining the various levels.

A short history of Pointe aux Caves lighthouse.

Initially, kerosene was used to power the lighthouse, fed via a pump operated hydraulic system. The lens clockwork assembly was rotated using a system of counterweights (which spanned across the height of the tower). The counterweights sounded a gong every 4 hours which signalled the lighthouse keeper to rewind the counterweights system.
In 1952, batteries replaced kerosene & a 500W lamp was used. In 1973, the lighthouse was connected to the CEB grid. The current lamp is rated 1500W.

The aforementioned control panel.

Looking out of the windows.

On the 2nd level, we have the subsidiary light which is used to guide the ships to port. By aligning themselves with the red-filtered light, the ships could navigate to the entry of the port.

Kerosene tanks.

On the 3rd level, an old cupboard used to store spare parts.

More windows & the stairs.

On the 4th level, more kerosene tanks.

Another cupboard & the beam used for the counterweights system.

The stairs giving access to the lantern room.

In the lantern room, we finally discover the rotating Fresnel lenses assembly which is used to amplify the light. While the lamp always remains on, the rotation of the lenses create a flashing effect.

The two 1500W lamps, one of them looks burnt.

The rotating gearing assembly & motors.

The lenses are draped in a white sheet to protect them from the sun.

The door to the outside & the inscription on it.

Chance Brothers and Co Limited
Lighthouse Engineers and Constructors
near Birmingham

& finally… the view outside.

Looking towards Port Louis.

The village of Albion & the cliffs.

The SMF radar.

The dome on the lantern room alternates between rhombus-shaped glass & metal sheet.

I’ll be honest. If you are afraid of heights, please don’t go there. The small ledge & the high winds will utterly terrorise you!

With no sunset to watch, there was nothing more we could do. & for once I did not shoot any panoramas because the light level was too low. But before leaving, there was one more thing…

The video.

So that was the Pointe aux Caves lighthouse. It was nearly 18:00 when we left the lighthouse, but what a walk through history we’ve had! Built more than 100 years ago & still working. A priceless part of Mauritian history that should be conserved, but is instead being neglected & disfigured by building radar towers next to it. It’s a pity they don’t build such lighthouses anymore.

My only regret? The damn stupid weather that followed us from Corps de Garde! Our camera sensors were really struggling to capture all those photons! Well, at least it didn’t rain. Until the next time I come back here on a sunny day, just content yourselves with those wonderful photos I’ve linked to.

Related:

Wikipedia – Lighthouse
Gov.mu - Les Phares à Maurice
Lighthouses of Mauritius
SOS Patrimoine en Péril – Le Phare D’Albion
Allister McMillan – Mauritius Illustrated - Petite Rivière Lighthouse
Phare de la Pointe aux Caves (Petite Rivière)
Denis Lacour - île Maurice, Albion's LightHouse
PAPM blog - PAPM at Albion
Maurice, Pascal et Moi - 70 km, 5 heures chrono.
Maurice, Pascal et Moi - Albion-Pointe aux sables A-R
mauritius22 - Pointe aux Caves Lighthouse – post 1 & post 2.
Lovvy - Mauritius Safari
Albamians in Mauritius – Rose Hill and the Lighthouse
yashvin’s photoblog - Ruling over the sky
Enbalao - Le phare d'Albion
Pharotéliste - Maurice / Île aux Fouquets, Pointe aux Caves & Île Plate
WINGSSAIL IMAGES - Grand Port Cruise
L’Express - Des radars pour traquer les fugitifs, Une bande organisée agresserait des couples à Albion, Balade romantique fatale à Albion

Photos:

Flickr - stuckinparadise - Centenary Albion Lighthouse & Albion Lighthouse
Flickr - Martini DK - Albion lighthouse & The Lighthouse
Flickr – ThomasRooney - Lighthouse sunset
Flickr – Dyaus81 - Albion Lighthouse (HDRI attempt)
Flickr - Peter Kuchar – Mauritius Panorama & Rocks and the Ocean
Flickr - daniel.maurice - Pointes Aux Caves Light House-Mauritius 1 & 2
Flickr - Mukhina Ekaterina - Lighthouse romance
Flickr - Whl Mauritius - albion_lighthouse_mauritius
Flickr – kitten007mauritius - Albion Lighthouse
Flickr - newpn2000 – The Lantern 1, 2, 3, the lighthouse keeper & radio.
Flickr - Rima Optix - Lighthouse
Flickr - Hans Khoodoo - Lighthouse before the storm
Flickr - IamSly  - Phare d'Albion
Flickr - christine.guieu – Phare d’Albion
Flickr - Youpee Photography – The Lighthouse
Flickr - Loutron Glouton - Albion lighthouse & Albion lighthouse
Flickr – Blobatina – Albion & Beauty in the Detail
Flickr – rubared – Pointe aux Caves
Flickr – indeepdark – Pointe aux Caves
Flickr – Nawshad – Albion
Flickr - Ashwin CM - Lighthouse albion 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Flickr - Cute Kitten - 06-The Albion Lighthouse & 07-The Coastline
Flickr - Mr Bernard – Lighthouse
Flickr - ..::Steph::.. – Albion & Pointe aux Caves
Flickr - ramrajmeetun - The light house at Albion
Flickr – Pixelinthebox - Honeymoon in Mauritius - At Albion lighthouse
Flickr – Mauritiuspics - Albion Phare / Lighthouse
Flickr – Mauritius100 - traditional lighthouse
Flickr – ManuelOnTour - lighthouse albion
Le phare d'Albion, Côte ouest de l'Ile Maurice & LE PHARE D'ALBION.
Fotolibra - BELLE VUE LIGHTHOUSE MAURITIUS
BetterPhoto.com - Albion Lighthouse, Mauritius
TrekEarth.com - Albion Lighthouse
Panoramio – Albion
Jean Guichard - Lighthouse of la Pointe aux Caves 1 & 2
FineArtAmerica - Lighthouse at Pointe aux Caves

Videos:

YouTube - Le phare d'Albion
YouTube - light house (mauritius)
YouTube – Vertigo

Corps de Garde

2012-01-09T23:55:00.001+04:00

Towering above the towns of Rose Hill & Quatre Bornes is Corps de Garde, which at 720m, is the 5th highest mountain in Mauritius. After conquering Le Pouce, Lion Mountain & the Black River Peak, I was looking forward to my last hike of 2011 on a mountain with a very comfortable slope & a nearly flat summit.

How hard can it be?

Hence last year, I mean 2 weeks ago, the 3 worst explorers of all time plus one more met in Rose Hill. That reminds me, I’ve never described our team members before, so here goes:
1. The camera owner, IT support, map reader & model carrier.
2. The trekker, Swiss knife specialist & spotter.
3. The driver, backup camera owner & tripod carrier.
4. The village idiot.

From Rose Hill, we travelled to Camp Levieux, a suburb at the foot of Corps de Garde.

Where we were in for a shock.

Goats!

Cows!

We were in a clearly lawless region that looked more like a farm than a town. (Yes, people have been murdered here!)

The start of trail is found after the bridge, at the very end of the suitably named Avenue Cretin. Edit: Because you have to be an idiot to litter the river! See this post - Offense canal.

You can walk further along the road until after the crematorium where you reach a trail that ascends with the slope.
Or take the shortcut that starts near the electric posts.

Which is what we did. Or rather what we did on the return journey because we couldn't find the path at first.

So we started climbing in the general direction of the mountain, guided by the herd of goats grazing on the flank. The trail up to the rock is a popular one for afternoon walks, but beyond that it's mountain-climbing territory.

As we neared the herd, they moved away, led by the formidable Goat King of the Mountain Rock.

& this was the view of Rose Hill as seen a few metres from the foot. So far, the weather had been great. Cloudy with some sunshine.

The path turned into a gully as where we had to climb on rocks. You do not simply walk into a shortcut, eh?

Plane!
Just about every plane that comes from the North flies over Corps de Garde. If you're lucky, you can see several planes in an hour. Unfortunately, on the day we were climbing, they decided not to fly. In total, we saw or heard only 4 of them.
& for the first time ever, we didn't see any helicopter flying below us. :(

As we climbed higher, the terrain became steeper & the views got better.

With every step we made, new landmarks started to appear (through my friend’s superzoom camera).

Bagatelle.

The Albion lighthouse at Pointe aux Caves.

Temple on hill. The Mont Roches Murugan Malaye Kovil Sangham.

I've never ever seen so many buildings in my life!

A few more metres...

& then we were on top of the slope giving us an impressive view of the other side of the mountain.

If we had taken the longer route, we would have reached this rock further down below.

La Ferme reservoir, it didn't look that dry.

& that's not landfill as initially thought, but La Chaumière Compost Plant.

We rested for a while & then resumed the ascent.

The sun had already disappeared & menacing clouds were appearing...

So far, the trail had been totally exposed to the weather & it's only here that we found ourselves under trees.

Trees with very colourful leaves!

Once past the trees, we found that we had reached the gigantic perched rock.

Just under its shadow was the rocky ledge dropping sharply to the ground.

We rested for 15 mins…

… taking various photos of our surroundings.

Bee hovering on a plant. That’s what happens when your camera takes a photo 1s after you press the shutter!

Candos hill.

The rock had small openings that served as nests for birds. Not some exotic birds, just your common pigeons.

A better view of La Ferme reservoir.

On the other side of the rock, we finally got a decent view of Corps de Garde. Look at those trees on the mountain side!

Stunning!

A few metres from the rock, there was a massive gully. I dropped a stone & couldn't hear it hit anything.

Because I was making too many stops for taking photos (& rest), the others decided to stick to our unspoken brotherhood code & promptly left me behind.

That gave me the opportunity for a world first - a video of how climbing Corps de Garde feels like.

& that was by far the easiest part of the mountain.

From here on it's all rock'n'climb.

I had to hurry because the grey clouds were coming at an incredible speed. There’s nothing worse than being caught in the rain while still climbing. Not that I’ve ever experienced it…

I think you might have realised it by now, but Corps de Garde is a lot more basalt that roots & mud.

It felt vastly different compared to the other mountains I had climbed.

Rock climbing is very hard if you are short, which fortunately I'm not. Still, working those rocks looking for handholds & footholds is very tiring.

The summit wasn't very far off as I could see one of the others.

A shade of rest…

… while I admired the fauna.

It was a good thing that the weather was cloudy, the lack of trees meant there were no spots to hide from the sun.

As I pushed myself for the final climb, just 20m from the summit, disaster struck.

Oh, my bag! BROKEN!!! It has survived only 5 mountains!

The man with the one-shouldered bag finally reached the summit where the laughing hyenas were waiting for me.

Still, could be... Wow!
I certainly wasn't expecting that. If you at look at Corps de Garde fom the East, you'd think it looks flat at the top. As you can see, it isn't.

It took me 2 hours & 30 mins to reach here. & all I got was this lousy weather. Here’s what it looks like on a perfect day.

Despite the dark clouds, we had no immediate threat as we were above them.

Trois Mamelles, Montagne Rempart, Tourelle du Tamarin & Le Morne.
The clouds dashed all our hopes of taking great photos of the scenery. This would be the first time that I would have no postcard-worthy photo. :(

The video of the summit.

From above, we saw many things apart from La Ferme...

Ebene Cyber Towers.

The MCB’s new HQ. Verdun-Trianon link road in the background.

Flats.

Cascavelle.

& under Montagne St Pierre, La Ferme Power Station.

Corps de Garde, like Le Pouce, is renowned for having several unique species. Among them, this tree caught my eye, especially the very peculiar leaves.

Ruins of probably a geodetic marker.

Photoshoot...

Oh yes, we would have loved to go to very end as no one with GPS tracks had ever gone beyond the summit. There was certainly a trail behind the hand of rock as you can see in the photos in this album.

However, we had to postpone that for next time, the risk of bad weather being too great to explore uncharted territory & given that there was a 2nd part to our journey...

The descent – I had to do a makeshift knot for my bag & pray for it not to break.

We were fortunate it hadn't rained.

Yes, Captain Slow was abandoned once again!

As I ploughed my way downwards, the clouds started clearing out.

& I had a good view of Port Louis. Can you see Coin de Mire? Well, neither can I.

The gigantic rock appeared something totally different from here.

Obviously, it's only when we were descending that the weather gets better...

Doesn't it look like a face? Someone with a massive chin/lips & a mohawk... The flag is a recent addition as you can see from these two photos from 1977 & 2007.

As we went into the forest of many colours, we found something very unique!

A gecko! The Mauritius Ornate Day Gecko. You don't see these nowadays outside of Casela. & apparently it has a detachable tail. (See this amazing NatGeo pic!)

Another one!

By the time we were out of the gecko-infested area, we met a group of tourists on their way to climbing Corps de Garde.

We could only curse our fate that while we natives had to deal with the cloudy weather, the tourists would be enjoying sunshine! :(

By this time, we were very tired & preferred to take the shortcut instead of the long way via the doorway to heaven.

That was the last panorama I shot…

... as I had to prevent myself from slipping on the sand-like gravel!

Finally... Having spent the whole day on rocks, I welcomed the sweet smell, the crunchiness & the softness of grass.

The goats! How much can they eat in a day?

At last, the road! What a journey that had been!

Corps de Garde had been a worthy adversary. To be honest, it wasn't very hard, compared to previous climbs. What I took away from this climb was that for the first time, I felt that I had climbed an alien environment. The basaltic rocks looked like frozen lava, hardly tainted by time. The lack of trees exposed us to the elements. However, what I was most disappointed with was the cloudy weather. That ruined our photos, but it gives us the incentive that there will be a next time, where we will go to the very end.

In hindsight, the cloudy weather had saved us. Because, the next day after the trip, my arms felt like it had thousands of invisible scratches. After consulting with my friends who had the same symptoms, we came to the conclusion, that we had in fact been... sunburnt!
So as it has been the case with every mountain we had climbed in 2011, here as well, we learnt a very valuable lesson - if you are going trekking in the summer, please do bring some sun-screen!

The 2nd part of the journey? I’ll let you guess as it appears in one of the photos. It's Albion, the Pointe aux Caves Lighthouse. ;)

Related:

Fitsy - Corps de Garde Mountain, GPS route
Wikiloc - Corps de Garde - 10 Sep 2010
Wikiloc - Corps de Garde mountain
Picasa - Walks in Mauritius: Corps de Garde – Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3
The Corps De Garden Mauritius [sic] illustration
Le Dimanche - Meurtre Au Pied De La Montagne Corps-De-Garde
Mauritius Photography Blog - Siva subramanya temple on Corps de Garde mountain
Mauritius Philatelic Blog – Mountains of Mauritius stamps
Mauritius Philatelic Blog - 60th Anniversary of Petrusmok
Philatelie.myfeed.fr - 60 ans de Petrusmok à Maurice – enveloppe commémorative
Martian Spoken Here - Offense canal & Furcraeaic Led Zeppelin & Crématoire

Photos:

Picasa - Corps de Garde (2007) by REy
Picasa - Corps de Garde (2005)
Flickr - Corps de Garde by Rubared
Flickr - Corps de Garde by Ashwin CM
DigitalPhotographer.co.uk - Corps De Garde Mountain
Aerial photo - Corps de Garde (720m) Moka Range, Mauritius
Life in a Click! - Corps de garde Mountain

Videos:

YouTube - Corps de Garde ascension 1 by sarv3sh
YouTube - Corps de Garde ascension 2
YouTube - Corps de Garde ascension 3
YouTube - Corps de Garde ascension 4
YouTube - Corps de Garde ascension 5
YouTube - ile maurice - corps de garde by mimiemiel

Hatchlings

2011-12-27T22:26:00.001+04:00

Day 1.

On the 4th of December 2011, a clump of straws appeared in a plant next to my window. From past experience, I knew that this was in fact a nest being built.
The last time this happened on my Christmas tree, the birds laid their eggs but then abandoned the nest. This time, I was determined to not let this happen & so all the neighbour’s cats were chased off & no tampering was done with the nest!

Day 2.

Day 3.
December seems to be the nesting season of the birds.

Day 4.

Day 5.

Day 6.

Day 7.
Slow builders, aren’t they?

Day 8.
The nest is nearly complete.

Day 10.
& then on the day I was getting bored of this… something appeared in the nest!

An egg!

Day 12.
Two days later…

3 eggs! The 2nd egg must have been laid on day 11!

Day 13.

No more eggs appeared & the birds started incubating their eggs.

Day 15.
Attempts to shoot them while in the nest failed as they flew away on approach.

Day 16.
& so I decided to use my tripod so that I could shoot them remotely. :)

Unfortunately, that didn’t work. The birds hated my tripod & all I managed to shoot was the above photo.
My camera doesn’t have any remote shutter option, so I was using my N9, triggering the camera via VNC.

Day 19.
So I decided to shoot them from far using my camera at its maximum focal length.

That didn’t went well…

"Eggs take 12 days to hatch." – Wikipedia

Day 20.

Day 21.
Gotcha!

Day 22.
Christmas day.

Day 24.
& this morning….

Holy mother of…

Hatchlings! Wow, they are so tiny!

Oh, they don’t tweet yet… I mean the real tweet, not the 140-character one. :)
& that means that the day counter must now be reset. It’ll be a long wait before these hatchlings turn into one of these…

Sorry, that’s my best shot of a zozo condé! It’s one of the parents.

This. The Red-whiskered Bulbul. Images stolen from Wikipedia. You can find out more about them birds there.

Update:

Day 25.
This morning, when I woke up & checked the nest, it looked as if a storm had ravaged the plants…

Upon closer inspection, I found that the hatchlings were gone, totally disappeared. The forensic evidence all seems to suggest that they’ve been eaten by ~~a very agile cat or~~ more likely a bigger bird, the Myna. :(

So this post is dedicated to the three hatchlings who lived for only a day, who didn’t tweet, but still became famous on the Internet…

PS. First there was the slashed cat which eventually died. Remember the new-born kittens? Those 3 also died after their mother abandoned them. Now these new-born birds have also died. I’m starting to think that my blog might perhaps be some kind of Death Note…

Christmas

2011-12-24T19:55:00.001+04:00

Merry Christmas!

No pié sapin this time because it’s currently occupied (yes, again!).

Cocktail de fruits (explosif!)

2011-12-20T19:54:00.001+04:00

This is not a Photoshop, but a juice box which I found, second/minutes/days away from exploding!

I do not know how the juice got pregnant to this point whether it’s due to the heat, wrong ~~preservatives~~ chemicals, excess gas or all the three combined. The expiry date was 4 June 2012.

The next time you’re drinking juice, remember this. You don’t really know what kind of chemicals is inside, do you? That said, it’ll take a long time before I’ll be tempted to drink non-natural juice…