Mauritius Aquarium Review

There is a fairly new Aquarium in Mauritius situated at Pointe aux Piments on the North West of the island. I thought it would be a nice family day out, so decided to go. It was a little hard finding it as there is poor signage to get to Pointe aux Piments. I found the best way to get there was to follow signs for Balaclava beach. When we arrived, it was a little late, just past 1pm and we found a lady just opposite the aquarium place selling Mauritian food so we decided to eat first. This was partly because we thought we would spend at at least an hour in the aquarium.

There is an entrance fee Rs195 for Mauritian residents and a little more for non-residents (Rs295). The first room has a few fish tanks housing different fish including the clown fish (nemo fish) and then you move onto another room with fish tanks filled with other species such as the stone fish etc. There are some nice fish to see and some interesting coral life in the tanks. There are around three rooms of fish tanks before you get to the large tank that house sharks, giant turtles, other fish species and moray eels.

Aquarium Gallery

I expected to see a lot more to be honest; there were no jellyfish, starfish or even stingray. For a place that is new, it looks very run down. The giant outdoor tank is a sight but how long can you stand there and stare at them. There is supposed to be a touch pool for children so you can touch the fish as per a map we saw at the entrance but we found no such thing.

In all, we found that it took us less than half an hour to walk round this so called aquarium and it was really a waste of time. Most things that you see there can be seen if you take a glass bottom trip on the beach. It was nice to see giant turtles and sharks all together in the same tank but that was it.

Glass bottom boat trip is much cheaper and you can combine it with a nice relaxing day at the beach. The aquarium is a rip off and waste of time, we spent more time in the car than we did at the aquarium. There are also no baby changing facilities which is a shame as there were a few people with young children. They do a small selection of hot and cold food for lunch which looks okay when it comes to prices but I wouldn't give them any more money when the entrance fee is extortionate.