Hiking with zip lines

When in Mauritius, we took a break from diving one day and visited Casela Nature and Leisure Park which is a 14 hectares big park facing the West Coast of Mauritius. The park was originally created as a bird park and it  hosts 1,500 birds. However, it now hosts other animals as well such as lions, tigers, zebras, the Mauritian Macaque, giant tortoises and many other wild creatures. The environment is just beautiful as there is an endemic forest with various types of plants and trees such as old trees like the black ebony.

We are against zoos and strongly believe that animals belong in their natural environment and not in cages. The concept of Casela is not based on a zoo but on an open air green environment for all the family with several fun activities visitors can do. Segway, Canoeing, quads bikes, buggy’s, hiking are only some of the activities.

We chose not to visit the animals and decided, as usual(!), to be adventurous and go on a hiking tour which consisted of several journeys on zip lines. They have the longest zip line circuit in the Indian Ocean and I must admit it was scary at first! It was funny as John was still recovering from knee surgery but despite this, he was willing to do this even with a bandage on his knee! He was a real trooper that day!

We used single and double ziplines, passed over a canyon where people were canoeing below us. Also we crossed a Nepalese bridge, a suspension bridge, which was bloodcurdling but the MOST frightening of all was the 400m zip line were you are on a “free flight” for 22 seconds. As usual, when I went up I just started being a cry baby and saying I won’t do this and I want to go down but then of course could not resist from trying it! It really makes your adrenaline sky-rocket!

Tips/recommendations

•   http://www.caselayemen.mu/index-eng.php
•   There are several packages with various prices you can choose from
•   There is a restaurant that offers Mauritian, European and Indian food in the park
•   There is a photographer for most activities who sells the photos on a usb, a disc or printed if you wish
•   Proper hiking shoes if you go hiking and don’t take with you many things
•   They are very cautious with safety and their equipment are all in good condition