Alexandra Falls in Mauritius and the short walk to its viewpoint

How to reach Alexandra Falls in Mauritius

Alexandra Falls is signposted from the Plaine Champagne road (B103) between Chamarel and Grand Bassin, and a path of about 240 m with stone steps leads from its car park to a wooden viewing platform in about three minutes. The car park lies about 7 km east of Chamarel village in a straight line, and further by the winding road. For satellite navigation, the car park is at about 20.4322° S, 57.4564° E.

Entry is free, as it is across the Black River Gorges National Park. The car park is large, with toilets beside it and often refreshment sellers. A viewpoint beside a public road has no opening hours, so daylight is the practical limit.

Beyond the platform, a much harder path continues downhill, a loop of 2.75 km that takes about 1 hour 10 minutes. The path becomes very steep, narrow and strewn with large rocks, the last 30 m have handrails, and a fall there would be fatal. That loop is for experienced walkers in dry weather, not part of a normal visit.

What you see from the platform

From the Alexandra Falls platform you look down on the falls from above, with a wide view over the forest towards the south-east coast and across to the cloud forest of Mount Cocotte, 771 m high. The water comes down as twin falls, pretty rather than spectacular, and how much of it there is depends on the season, so in the dry months the view counts for more than the water.

Alexandra Falls is a view, not a swim. No public path leads from the platform down to a pool, and the steep path beyond it reaches the top of a fall rather than its foot. For a permitted waterfall swim, the waterfalls page lists the few places where that is possible.

How high is Alexandra Falls?

Alexandra Falls has no measured height on record. The falls seen from the platform are given as 40 m and as nearly 50 m, and a figure of about 150 m is attached to the fall at the end of the steep loop from the same car park.

That larger figure matches another fall. The 500 Pieds waterfall, whose name means 500 feet, or about 150 m, is reached by a path of about 30 minutes from the Alexandra Falls viewpoint, so the two are easily confused, and no record settles which fall the 150 m figure measures. Either way, Chamarel Waterfall, a single drop of about 83 to 100 m, is roughly twice the height of the falls seen from the Alexandra platform.

The base of the 500 Pieds fall is on private land owned by Agrïa, formerly the Bel Ombre Sugar Company. Walkers need the company’s authorisation to reach it, the place is dangerous in rain, and it is not a walk to attempt without a local guide.

Monkeys, refreshment sellers and wild guava

Long-tailed macaques live around the Alexandra Falls car park and steal from visitors, and signs at the car park ask people not to feed them. Keep food in closed bags or in the car, carry nothing loose in your hands on the path and keep small children close.

Refreshment sellers set up in the car park, and the Gorges viewpoint on the same road has souvenir and refreshment stalls, but sellers are not guaranteed on any given day, so bring water.

Chinese guava, the small wild fruit Mauritians call goyave de Chine, grows around the site and ripens in the southern autumn. It is an invasive plant in the national park’s forests, and in the picking season, from about mid-April to mid-May, people park along the Plaine Champagne road to gather it, so drive slowly.

Fog, cloud and the time of day

Cloud builds over the Plaine Champagne plateau as the day warms and can hide Alexandra Falls completely, so a morning stop gives the best chance of a clear view.

The Mauritius Meteorological Services record about 6 hours of bright sunshine a day over high ground in summer, against 7.5 to more than 8 hours on the coast, and cloud bases over the road summit sit between 450 and 950 m, the height band of the viewpoint. Mist rises up the gorges like slow water and the view comes and goes within minutes, so if the platform is in cloud, wait a few minutes at the rail before giving up.

The plateau is markedly cooler than the coast, so bring a layer. The falls carry most water from December to April, after the summer rains, and least from September to November, when they can look thin.

What else is on the plateau road

Alexandra Falls is one of several stops on the Plaine Champagne road, which runs east from Chamarel past the Black River Peak trailhead, the Black River Gorges viewpoint and the Alexandra Falls turn towards Le Pétrin and Grand Bassin.

The Gorges viewpoint has two free paved car parks, a gentle slope of about 200 m to the rail, free toilets, souvenir and refreshment stalls, and macaques that raid bags. The trail to Black River Peak, at 828 m the highest point of Mauritius, starts beside the road at about 682 m and is a walk of about 6.25 km there and back that is often muddy even in dry weather. Grand Bassin, the sacred crater lake of Ganga Talao, is about 16.8 km and 16 minutes by road from Chamarel.

Alexandra Falls or Chamarel Waterfall?

Chamarel Waterfall is the bigger sight, a single drop of about 83 to 100 m seen across a gorge from railed platforms inside the Chamarel Seven Coloured Earth Geopark, while Alexandra Falls is smaller, free and seen from above, with a wider view of forest and coast. One drive across the plateau strings them together with the Black River Gorges viewpoint, and if time allows only one, choose Chamarel for the fall and Alexandra Falls for the view.