Ferney Valley, between mountain and lagoon

Between mountain and lagoon, Ferney Valley occupies a stretch of south-east Mauritius, north of Mahébourg. It is a private estate of 3,100 hectares, bordered by the Bambous Mountains, which shelters two hundred hectares of native forest, one of the last endemic forests on the island. People come here to walk, to watch birds, and to see at close quarters what conservation does to a valley.

Visitors are welcomed in a Creole house near the entrance to the estate, on the road leading to the old sugar mill.

The routes are waymarked and graded. The first is five kilometres long, one hour to an hour and a half, with seventy-five metres of ascent: easy, but exposed to the sun, so protection is essential. The second is eight kilometres, two hours forty-five minutes, a hundred and seventy-eight metres of ascent, on gentle slopes, with a viewpoint along the way. The third, of moderate difficulty, is thirteen kilometres, three and a half to four hours, five hundred and thirty metres of ascent, with scenery all the way. The fourth is eighteen kilometres, five to six hours, nine hundred and seventy metres of ascent: a technical and difficult route, with views that stop walkers in their tracks.

Each trail has its own latest start time: 2pm for the first, 12.30pm for the second, 11.30am for the third, 10.30am for the fourth. Activities run from 8.30am to 2pm, seven days a week, and reception stays open until 5pm. Access is restricted on certain days between June and September, and during private events: booking is advisable. Pets are not allowed, and cyclists bring their own bikes. In the bag: sun cream, mosquito repellent, water, trainers, a hat, a jumper and a change of clothes.

Along the way you pass the endemic plant nursery and the tortoise reserve, and come across deer, wild pigs and, with a little luck, the kestrel.

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The conservation park and its guides

The guided tour of the conservation park lasts two hours, over about three kilometres, with a difficulty rating of three out of five. It leaves at 9am or 1.30pm, booking required, with a minimum of two participants. The guides lead the way towards the Mauritius kestrel, the pink pigeon and the echo parakeet, through ebony, bois clou and takamaka. They have one piece of advice that alone is worth the visit: be at the wildlife sanctuary around midday, when the kestrel may come to feed.

The kestrel is at home here. In 1974, only four birds of the species were known. The Bambous Mountains now hold one of its two populations, the eastern one, the other living in and around Black River Gorges. Populations of pink pigeons and parakeets have also been established here. Close by, between Ferney Valley and Kestrel Valley, near Anse Jonchée, the humid forest of the Vallée de l’Est has been under restoration since 2004; twenty young parakeets were prepared there for release in the 2024-2025 season.

The estate can also be discovered at twilight. A four-wheel-drive safari, led by a driver-guide, leaves at 5pm in summer and 4.30pm in winter, for about two hours. At the edge of a clearing you watch without being seen: bats wheel across the sky, nocturnal animals emerge from the tall grass before vanishing into the forest, and an aperitif with the flavours of the region is served in the heart of the valley. Booking is required, preferably seventy-two hours ahead, and the outing is not recommended for pregnant women or for people with back problems.

For lunch, the Ferney Falaise Rouge restaurant, a few minutes from the trails, looks over the valley and serves local cooking based on seasonal fruit and vegetables, most of them from the estate’s own farms and gardens.

Ferney belongs to CIEL Properties, which since 2023 has been developing an agricultural neighbourhood project there, the Tropical Agrihood, combining housing, farms and nature. The plan includes reforestation over 45 hectares, a conservation programme covering 200 hectares in the valley, and green corridors linking the ridges to the reef. Each year the estate also hosts the CIEL Ferney Trail, which brings together more than 4,500 participants; its longest race, thirty-five kilometres, climbs a total of 1,500 metres.

Ferney Valley thus keeps two promises at once: a walk in one of the last native forests of the south-east, and a place where you can see, on the scale of a valley, what the return of species demands, and what it gives back.