Moving to Mauritius

It depends if you consider yourself SA or Mauritian. Both areas have their pros and cons..

Tamarin is best suited for family life. It is somewhat more peaceful, clean, with all the amenities nearby and a decent landscape around.

Flic-en-Flac can be divided in 3 parts, Coastal Road opposite the sea, where you will find  restaurants, pubs, nightclubs, crowded beach, beach parties etc (too noisy).

Moving a little inward, you will find apartments/villas/bungalows to let that locals and tourists often rent during weekend for parties. It can be troublesome for people living around due to the noise.

Further inward, you will find residential areas far from the noise but all you might get to see around is concrete buildings.

You can live at Tamarin and still go to the beach over weekends anywhere on the island even Flic-En-Flac. Tamarin itself has a beach.

I'm curious to what you have heard about FeF. In what way have you heard bad things about it?

Hello,

I would say that Tamarin is more peaceful and pleasant to live in.  It is more secure than Flic en Flac (I lived in both and I really preferred Tamarin, but this is my personal opinion).

I am South Africa, and would like to interact and socialize with expects and locals. Is there a large number of residents in Flic end Flac or mainly tourists? I would also like a neighborhood where my children can make friends with and play with other children.

Thank you Anou, this helps 

Hi Neil

Like Anou mentioned in terms of noise etc. I also heard that crime rate might be slightly higher in Flic en Flac

That ideal world you are dreaming of does not exist in Mauritius. You will realise that after few years. Expats and locals hardly mix unless in same school through parents. Again once you have lived here for few years you will know.Expats mostly send their kids to a public school as they cater for the community and speak English. Locals mostly choose local school as it is driven by competition rather than just money.Whicever area you choose crime is still there and mostly is unreported. Do you hear of the rapes and violent crime in Perrybere in Media. No.Do you hear of a burglary in Flic en Flac by local drug addicts in Media.No. Why? Because it is all hush hush and only locals know what actually goes here. I have few good SA friends who live here in flic en flac and some in Tamarin and they all are aware what Mauritius is like.

After you read my post I am sure someone here will jump with a gun saying that all I am saying is untrue.Best to witness with own eyes rather from me. All the best.

@maisonmaurice
Why so much negativity, all of your posts are inclined towards a little negativity. Everyone knows no place on earth is paradise, everywhere there are some bad things and some good things.

@Tutor for all

With all due respect I believe in reality rather than negativity.Telling actual truth will not hide real facts will they?

I am all for Mauritius as I understand there is no perfect place in the world. Problem is too many people move here believing it to be the perfect place as the media would like you to believe.

Ask this to the Irish whose wife got raped & murdered in Grand Gaube by locals,despite it being the last place you would expect something like this to happen. Strange the media pressed this news, however when an Indian raped her step daughter recently this was showcased extensively in Media. Do you see where I am coming from. ..

I am also very surprised that expats wants to move to areas like Perrybere which is the worst place to get assaulted if you are fair skinned by local police. Ask locals and tgey will tell you tales which will send shivers down your spine.Expats need to know that it is not the worst place and definitely not the best as potrayed in Media. Rest can be decided by actual bodies when they move here. Please do not shoot the messenger.

Hi. I am a journalist here. There is no perfect place. It will all depend on your revenue and what you are ready to accept or not. There is also the connectivity issue. If you want to be close to the expats I'd say Grand Baie, Flic en Flac and Tamarin. Some may say why come to Mauritius if you want to stay with expats. Sometimes you need that to be able to adapt to a new country. Been there...
There are really a lot of things to take into consideration though for the house... How long are you willing to drive to go to work? Find an english medium school...

Hello everyone,

The OP is hesitating between Flic-en-Flac and Tamarin and has asked for pros and cons of these 2 villages.

Lots of schools in the vicinity of Tamarin (West Coast secondary, Telfair, Paul et Virginie and so on)

@maisonmaurice please stop your constant and systematic Mauritius bashing, it's getting really annoying for everyone here. We'll end up closing your account as you're not here to help but to spread your negativity.

When was the last time you came to Mauritius ? 2010 ?

@ maisonmauric, I am very sorry about your experiences.  I have not for one moment thought that I am moving to a “perfect world” I merely asked for pro’s and con’s, to help with our decision.
Thank you for pointing out all the cons. Have a lovely day.

@ Keepitburnin we have found schools and distances to work have already been worked out. Flic en Flac and Tamarin are the closest to the schools we’ve chosen. PS we definitely plan on making friends with locals and expats. We aren’t moving to Mauritius to only socialize and live amongst expats 

@ Anou86 thank you, that is exactly what I’m asking.

I'm sure. all I'm saying it is normal at the beginning to find your marks. if your family can afford Black River or Tamarin this is the way to go. You'll have a peaceful life. I hope you and your family all the best. It's my country so I can be biased. But I never regretted leaving Paris to come back here. Less stressful and the people are warm.
if you want to really blend in, try to learn french... creole will come naturally after

Julien with all due respect I do not take threats like this nicely. I expected the host of this website to take a neutral stance and It was the least expected from you.

What part of Mauritius bashing you are referring to?Facts can be intepretted as being biased or negative. Nothing wrong with that. I clearly know the type of people who will get upset with my comments.

As for blocking me you may try. It would be refreshing to put my old skills to use just fun maybe. How is the traffic lately on expat.

Last time in Mauritius was 2 weeks ago and back in another 2 weeks time.

I will let the others comment as clearly you changed the path of this discussion to another spectrum, and I do not think that is fair on the original poster.

All the best.

@MaisonMaurice,

The crime you mentioned was heavily covered in the media, and others. Nobody could have missed that. News are mainly in french though. It was not only covered here but internationally as well. Locals are not after expats and they don't target expats either! Criminals can be found anywhere, of different nationalities and it so happened!

The Initial poster didn't at any moment refer to Pereybere or Grand Gaube! That was completely off-topic. Furthermore, the picture you portrayed of Grand Gaube/Pereybere is a surprising one and is far from being accurate! If Grand Gaube was such an unsafe place, locals and expats would know about it!

I don't know what people have been telling you, but you seem to be very much misled and misleading others on a few matters here....though some, i must admit are on point.

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I've been to Mauritius many times now, so don't worry, everything is very OK ,  and the locals are very friendly, so most of the talk here is out of the question.
we still have to be friendly ... times are tough, even without the problems we create ourselves, out of nowhere

You are speaking about the Michaela Harte case? I covered this case everyday when i was working at the daily lemauricien and i was the correspondent for UTV Ireland and The Herald. You should get your facts straight because the Mauritian judicial system is respected in every international report you'll see

"Ask this to the Irish whose wife got raped & murdered in Grand Gaube by locals", This family has already suffered enough maybe you should get your facts right first She was not raped. Her death was horrific enough without adding to it.

Yes she has not been raped. There was no proof whatsoever against the 2 accused. They were proved not guilty. I have my opinion on the matter but it is not the topic here.

We live in flic en flac and LOVE it here. Close to everything you need, great big beach, quiet. Tamarin is not worth the extra money and most beaches there are hard to get to because of private walls. I've seen everywhere in Mauritius and this is by far the best place for many reasons.