Bel Ombre is a village in

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

located in

Savanne District Savanne () or Savannah is a Districts of Mauritius, district of Mauritius, situated in the south of the island. The district has an area of . , the estimated population was 68,585. Places The Savanne District include different regions. Some reg ...

. The village is administered by the Bel-Ombre Village Council under the aegis of the Savanne District Council. According to the 2011 census by

Statistics Mauritius Statistics Mauritius, formerly known as the Central Statistics Office (CSO) until 2000, is the national statistical agency of Mauritius. It operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and is responsible for all ...

, the population was 2,417.

Bel Ombre Nature Reserve

The Bel Ombre Nature Reserve, (formerly known as Heritage Nature Reserve, changed in 2022) is a nature reserve in Bel Ombre. It is the largest nature reserve in Mauritius, being 1,300 ha. It fairly looks like the African savannah.

''La Resèrve'' Golf links

''La Resèrve'' Golf Links is a golf course connected to Bel Ombre Nature Reserve and was opened on December 2023. It includes 2 lakes; ''Digue Rouillard'' and A.Dennis Taylor Dam.

Frédérica Nature Reserve

The Frédérica Nature Reserve is a reserve that forms part of Bel Ombre Nature Reserve. It includes the Frèdèrica Lodge, a lodge used for hunters, and the Frédérica Old Sugar Mill, used from 1855-1874. It includes 2

biomes A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community (ecology), community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Art ...

, the endemic forests and grasslands. There are 3 viewpoints; the ''Frédérica Viewpoint'', the ''Dalsing Viewpoint'' and the ''Viewpoint des Cipayes''. There are two waterfalls; ''Cascade Frédérica'', where you can have a picnic and swim, and ''Cascade l'Exemple'', also where you can swim.

Wildlife

Flora

The endemic flora of the Bel Ombre Nature Reserve includes the Bois de natte (''

Labourdonnaisia glauca ''Labourdonnaisia'' is a genus of plants in the family Sapotaceae, which was described as a genus in 1841. It is native to the islands of Madagascar, Mauritius, and Réunion in the western Indian Ocean. The genus is named for Bertrand-François ...

''), Vacoas ('' Pandanus barklyi''), Black Ebony ('' Diospyros tesselaria''), Bois d’olive (''

Cassine orientalis ''Cassine orientalis'', known locally as bois d'olive, is a tall canopy tree endemic to the Mascarene islands of Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeast ...

''), Palms ('' Dictyosperma album''), Barleria (''

Barleria observatrix ''Barleria observatrix'' is a species of plant in the family Acanthaceae. It is endemic to Mauritius. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, comm ...

''), Colophane bâtard and Colophane ('' Protium obtusifolium'' and '' Canarium paniculatum''), Bois bouquet banane ('' Ochna mauritiana''), Fandia ('' Alsophila borbonica var. sevathiana''), Bois banane (''

Gaertnera psychotrioides ''Gaertnera'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. There are at least 85 species distributed across the Old World tropics from Africa to Asia.

''), Bois tambour (''

Tambourissa peltata ''Tambourissa'' is a genus of plant in family Monimiaceae. Its range includes Madagascar, the Comoro Islands, Réunion, and Mauritius. It contains the following accepted species, according to ThePlantList.org: * '' Tambourissa alaticarpa'' Lorenc ...

'') and orchids ('' Jumellea recta''). The exotic ''

Albizia ''Albizia'' is a genus of more than 160 species of mostly fast-growing subtropical and tropical trees and shrubs in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. The genus is pantropical, occurring in Asia, Africa, Madagascar, America and A ...

'' are commonly found.

Birds

The endemic and indigenous birds found in Bel Ombre Nature Reserve include the Mauritius Kestrel ('' Falco punctatus''), Mauritius Bulbul (''

Hypsipetes olivaceus The Mauritius bulbul (''Hypsipetes olivaceus''), is a songbird belonging to the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is endemic to Mauritius. Taxonomy and systematics The Mauritius bulbul was the type species of the obsolete genus ''Ixocincla'', whic ...

''), Paille-en-queue (''

Phaethon lepturus The white-tailed tropicbird (''Phaethon lepturus'') or yellow-billed tropicbird is a tropicbird. It is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. It is found in the tro ...

''), Pic-pic (''

Zosterops mauritianus The Mauritius grey white-eye (''Zosterops mauritianus'') is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is one of two white-eye species endemic to the island of Mauritius, the other being the rare and localized Mauritius olive white-eye. It ...

''), Echo Parakeet (''

Psittacula eques The echo parakeet (''Psittacula eques'') is a species of parrot endemic to the Mascarene Islands of Mauritius and formerly Réunion. It is the only living native parrot of the Mascarene Islands; all others have become extinct due to human activit ...

''), Coq des bois ('' Terpsiphone bourbonnensis desolata''), Mauritius fody (''

Foudia rubra The Mauritius fody (''Foudia rubra'') is a rare species of bird in the weaver family. It is endemic to the island of Mauritius. It is classified by BirdLife International as being endangered. It is also on the United States' Endangered Species L ...

'') and the Pink pigeon (''

Nesoenas mayeri The pink pigeon (''Nesoenas mayeri'') is a species of pigeon in the family Columbidae endemic to Mauritius. The pink pigeon nearly became extinct in the 1970s and the 1990s and is still very rare. It is the only Mascarene pigeon that has not beco ...

'').

Mammals

The mammals of the Bel Ombre Nature Reserve include the endemic Mauritius Fruit Bats (''

Pteropus niger ''Pteropus'' (suborder Yinpterochiroptera) is a genus of megabats which are among the largest bats in the world. They are commonly known as fruit bats or flying foxes, among other colloquial names. They live in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Austr ...

''), Wild boar (''

Sus scrofa The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is n ...

''), Macaques (''

Macaca fascicularis The crab-eating macaque (''Macaca fascicularis''), also known as the long-tailed macaque or cynomolgus macaque, is a Cercopithecinae, cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. As a Synanthrope, synanthropic species, the crab-eating macaqu ...

'') and the very common Java deer (''

Rusa timorensis The Javan rusa or Sunda sambar (''Rusa timorensis'') is a large deer species native to Indonesia and East Timor. Introduced populations exist in a wide variety of locations in the Southern Hemisphere. ''Rusa'' is the Malay word for "deer" in g ...

'').

Coordinates

References

{{reflist

External links

The official website for Bel Ombre i
belombre.com
Populated places in Mauritius Savanne District