In the south of the island, not far from Vieux Grand Port you'll find the "Domaine Ylang-Ylang". This is a must see destination for lovers of plants, trees and essential oils.
This is the oldest place in Mauritius known for the production of essences for the perfume industry.
You can start with the visit of the essential oils distillery, where the guide will explain how they are produced. The day we visited, they were distilling lemongrass.
After we were explained the production of these oils, our guide took us in the garden where we admired different kinds of flowers, plants and trees which are used in the distillery.
The picture above is the "traveller's tree". It has been given this name because its leaves can store and retrieve rainwater. If you find yourself in the forest, without anything to drink, you can try and collect water from it (we haven't tried!).
The guide was great and explained everything to us in details. My father who is passionate about aromatherapy, oils and plants, asked a lot of questions and our guide was happy to see someone taking so much interest in the place.
He was so impressed that he didn't want us to pay for the visit (it's normally 100 Rupees / 3 Euros per person). We had to insist to give him a tip, and he finally agreed.
After the distillery you can climb up to the "Domaine du chasseur", a natural reserve where you can walk, cycle or even use a quad on its 30 kms of nature trail. There is also shop where you can buy essential oils.
My only recommendation? Cover yourself as you will encounter quite a few mosquitoes!
