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On the last day of my stay in Mauritius I packed up all my gear and headed out to the SSR Botanical Gardens and later the sugar museum (L’Aventure de Sucre), as I left Grand Baie.  The sugar museum was especially interesting: it was more like a history museum for the island than about sugar (even though it was about sugar as well).  Driving throughout the island past all the cane fields, it made sense, but I didn’t realise how intrinsically linked it was with Mauritius’ history.  After this, I found myself with a couple of hours to spare so I dipped into Mont Choisy beach for one last swim, before heading south towards the airport.

As I was heading towards the airport, I passed a real sugar estate that looked more or less open but at the same time eerily quiet.  It was the Britannia Sugar Estate and I drove past the unmanned security gate to have a look around.  There was no one around but a huge pond out front where I took a photo and not wanting to trespass any longer after I saw a truck go past, I got back in my car and left.  Driving around the corner I then saw a team of workers gathering sugar cane in the field.  Le vrai aventure de sucre!  I park my car by the road and grab my camera bag and run through the sugar fields to talk to them about their work.

It was almost like a small procession.  There was the truck driver first who was towing a large trailer for the sugar cane.  After this, there was a crane that was responsible for picking up the cane from the field.  In the field, there were a couple of workers who tidied up the piles of sugar cane to make sure it was all being picked up.  Finally, the supervisor was there to ensure that all the work was being done.

I went up to each one of them and said the customary “bonjour” and asked them a little about their work.  It was a Saturday but they didn’t seem too fussed about working – “It’s just work,” said one of them quite simply.  They were rather interested as to why I was so interested in their work though.  I told them that I was a tourist from Australia and that I just wanted to find out more about how the sugar harvest, so the let me stay for about 30 minutes to take photos and mingle with them.

The boss was the least approachable of all of them.  I suppose he had to maintain his position as the leader.  As I shook his name, I had a real Sherlock Holmes moment: his hands were so smooth and soft compared to the others.  It was clear that he was THE boss.  As for the others, as I shook hands with them and got to know them a little better, you could tell that this was hard work.  Their hands were calloused, their skin tellingly wrinkled from the sun.  But, amazingly to me, they were in such high spirits.  They were committed to their work and even with me around, they stayed focused on the task at hand.

The others were really interested in why I was here. “Where do you come from?” “Are you a tourist?” “A photographer?” “Why are you so interested?”  I explained in the morning how I had seen the sugar museum and decided to try and find a real sugar plant.

“Oh…” was their mystified reply.  I don’t think they had ever considered their work to be interesting to a tourist, but here was one.

Their trailer loaded, the workers started to disperse to the next field to continue their work. I said my goodbye and as I ambled back to the car, a flock of birds took flight.  This was one great holiday: I felt so satisfied that I connected with at least some locals in these last few days.  It struck me that everyone has a story to tell and actually, most of them want to tell it.

I left Mauritius and having met people that I never imagined possible before I came here and knowing their stories widened my horizons just that little bit more.  Sometimes, venturing a little bit outside the straight line does pay off.