MARINE FAUNA AND FLORA - MAURITIUS

Because Mauritius combines both reef and lagoon fish populations, there is quite a diversity! On the inner reef, sheltered from the wild Indian Ocean, it's mainly a small reef fish habitat: swarms of demoiselles, sergeant major and clown fish will parade around you, like a life-size aquarium. These pristine waters harbour a few moray eels too, some of them is pretty big! You'll obviously find the Giant moray, which can grow up to 3 meters and 25 years of age, but also the leopard moray, the yellow-margin moray, the yellow-mouth moray, the black-spotted, the banded or the yellow-head moray. Some dive centres have made the discovery and interaction with morays the highlight of their dives!

On the outer reef, along the drop-offs, big pelagics encounters are quite frequent: tunas, marlins and, yes, sharks. The sites where the sharks are most seen are 'L'Ile Plate' or Flat Island, 'Corsaire Wall' or Pirates Wall, 'Le Banc Rouge' or the Red School and 'Coin de Mire' or Vantage Point. A lot of different species of sharks can be spotted: silver tip and longimanus, bull, thresher, silky, tiger, hammerheads and even the majestic whalesharks!! Although the sharks are here all the time, you still have to be quite lucky to see them...

Mauritius specialized on whale-watching tours on the outer reef. During the Winter months a lot of whales and marine mammals swim by the island: bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphins, pilot whales and sometimes sperm whales! Moments you will never forget!