In the western part of Rodrigues Island there are interesting caves to see. In the morning I took a bus to La Ferme (24 MUR) and changed there to the next one to Caverne Patate (18 MUR). La Ferme is a little village with a white church but is quite famous because John Paul II was here in 1989 and celebrated the mass on the local sportground. They say that 97% of the people on Rodrigues are catholics… Tropical flowers around…
From the bus stop it is 400 m walk to the cave. Entry fee is 75 MUR but they provide helmets and torches. Patete Cave is more then 1 km long but the underground trail will take you throu some 600 m. Wih a nice stalactites and stalagmites it is worth the price…
Some 2 kms away by path shortcut (or 6 kms around by car) you will find Francis Lagouat Nature Reserve. You can see there another 500-long cave. It is also nice and much better maintained with an electric lighting. But they charge here 265 MUR for the visit. A little museum will show you the history of the island and the turtles eaten in the past by sailors. Now they try to recover the population of the giant land turtles – you will see 300 ot tem in the little canyon. Many photo opportunities – the biggest male weigth 240 kgs!
