Full Day North Tour: UNESCO Apravasi Ghat, Caudan, Sugar World & Red Roof Church

The Aapravasi Ghat World Heritage Site, located in Port Louis, remains of an Immigration Depot built in 1849, where the modern indentured labour diaspora began. The Aapravasi Ghat site stands as a major historic testimony of indenture in the 19th century. The Aapravasi Ghat was inscribed on 16 July 2006 on the World Heritage List of the Convention concerning the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Aapravasi Ghat is among the oldest surviving immigration depots and depicts the story of more than 462,000 indentured labourers coming mainly from India (97.5%) but also from China, the Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique and South East Asia. They were recruited to work on Mauritius’s sugar plantations for a period of five years. Two-thirds of these indentured labourers remained permanently in Mauritius. The other one third returned to their homeland or migrated to other lands. Approximately 70% of modern Mauritians are descendants of these indentured labourers.

Port Louis, the capital and largest city of Mauritius, is home to several attractions from its market to the Aapravasi Ghat.

What awaits you is a superb and interactive tour! L'Aventure du Sucre or the Sugar Adventure, the name of the place says it all. This place, where there are large piles of sugar, tells us about the journey of the sugar cane and how it became a pillar that helped the Mauritian economy take off. Here, you can have an idea of the whole process before sugar takes its form as we take it in our tea.. You may also understand how sugar cane was harvested, how it was transported and crushed and the means by which this is all done. During the period of colonization, Mauritius had been recognized as advantageous in view of the large quantity of sugar cane it produced. The island then became a profitable area, and it was exploited. Many sugar factories were being built, as sugar cane gave the island a product that could be exported. Being an old sugar factory, L’Aventure du Sucre is today a museum that attempts to recreate history for the new generation and to remind our elders of good memories.

Notre Dame Auxiliatrice Chapel, also known as Cap Malheureux Red Church, a Roman Catholic Church, is one of the most renowned churches in Mauritius. The Notre Dame Auxiliatrice Church is famous for its lovely red roof, which attracts many curious passers-by and offers a picturesque background for worthy snapshots. This simple chapel was founded in 1938 and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is situated ideally at the very northern point of Mauritius, offering breath-taking views of the five northern islets, including Coin de Mire (Gunner’s Quoin). It is also a historical point that marks the landing of the British onto the island in 1810, to attack the French. The French who occupied the island then, from 1710 to 1810, named it the Cape of Misfortune after the British surprised them by attacking the north of the island instead of the island’s harbour in Mahébourg and took possession of the island.