In February I joined the Kinetic Events Africa team for a scouting trip to the small island of Rodrigues. Rodrigues is a paradise island off the coast of Mauritius, just 600 km east further in the Indian Ocean. What makes this island so special is the lack of commercial transportation, massive hotels and hordes of tourists. This island is surrounded by a large reef which expands up to the length of 8 km. The reef also has a number of smaller islands which can be traveled between.
‘Discovery Rodrigues’, the local tourism board, invited us to host an expedition length adventure race on this tiny 19 km long island. You would think we would run out of land to walk and explore on. In truth, there is still plenty of islands to be seen.
We would set out before high tide (seen below) to go snorkeling and experience one of the many smaller islands that surround Rodrigues. As the tide came in we realised we could still see the bottom of the reef, so we decided that given our slow pace on the local boat we asked if we could trek through a section of reef back to the main island for a change of scenery.
What a special moment this became, with the warm temperatures and crystal clear waters, we were experiencing similar adventures to those first explorers that discovered this beautiful island and all it has to offer!
Photography by: Terence Vrugtman
