Home / Experience Mauritius / Unveiling the Paradise / Chamarel Seven Coloured Earth
A small field of bare, undulating dunes striped in seven natural shades of volcanic soil — the centrepiece of the Chamarel Geopark, and one of the most recognisable sights in Mauritius.
The dunes sit at the far end of the Chamarel 7 Coloured Earth Geopark, about 3 km along the park road from the entrance booth. From a raised walkway you look across a small, treeless bowl of rippled earth banded in red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple and yellow — a formation covering only around 7,500 square metres, ringed by rainforest on every side.
The colours come from basalt. Lava that cooled at uneven rates weathered under heat and heavy rainfall into clay, then into ferralitic soil, with the soluble minerals washed out and oxides of iron and aluminium left behind — iron giving the reds and browns, aluminium the blues and violets. The strangest part is that the grains sort themselves: mix the different sands together and they separate back into distinct bands. The phenomenon was first documented in 1879 by the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences of Mauritius, and the site opened to visitors in the late 1960s. The same ticket covers the Chamarel Waterfall viewpoints on the way in, the Aldabra giant tortoise park and the endemic plant garden, so most visitors set aside two to three hours for the Geopark as a whole. Bright, direct light brings out the contrast between the bands; overcast days flatten them.
Daily from 8:30 AM
October–May until 5:30 PM (last tickets 5:00 PM)
June–September until 5:00 PM
Sun hat, water and a camera — the dunes are fully exposed. Comfortable shoes if you plan to walk the park road rather than drive it.
You can drive to the dune car park and the viewing walkway is level. Climbing on the dunes is not allowed, and picnics and pets are not permitted inside the Geopark.
Included on the same ticket — two viewpoints onto Mauritius’ tallest single-drop waterfall, 1.5 km inside the Geopark gate.
A few minutes down the road, cane juice is pressed and distilled on site. Tour the estate distillery and finish with a guided rum tasting.
Stop on the road down from the village for an open view across the coastal plain to Le Morne Brabant and the lagoon beyond.
Chamarel 7 Coloured Earth Geopark,
7 Coloured Earth Road, Chamarel,
Rivière Noire District, Mauritius
Around 1 hr–1 hr 15 min from Port Louis
Approximately 45 minutes’ drive from Flic-en-Flac
Around 25–30 minutes from Le Morne
Follow the signed road through Chamarel village to the Geopark’s drive-through ticket booth. From the gate it is about 3 km by car to the dunes, passing the waterfall viewpoints at 1.5 km, with parking at both.
Basalt lava that cooled at different rates weathered into clay and then into ferralitic soil. Soluble minerals washed away, leaving oxides of iron and aluminium behind — iron produces the reds, browns and yellows, aluminium the blues, violets and purples.
One Geopark ticket covers the coloured dunes, the Chamarel Waterfall viewpoints and the giant tortoise park. Non-resident rates are around Rs 800 for adults and Rs 400 for children aged 5–11, with lower resident rates. Prices are revised from time to time, so check before you go.
No. The dunes are fenced and viewed from a raised walkway to protect the surface, which erodes easily and would lose the banding that makes the site remarkable.
Around 30 minutes at the dunes themselves, or two to three hours for the whole Geopark including the waterfall viewpoints, the tortoise park and the coffee plantation.
Late morning to early afternoon, when direct sunlight brings out the contrast between the bands. Arrive at opening for the quietest conditions, before the coach groups.