Black River Gorges Hikes: Four Guided Options from €53 to €192.19, and Only One Has More Than Three Reviews

Four guided hikes go into Black River Gorges National Park. They cost €53, €65.35, €100 and €187.35 per person, and the price tells you more about where you are collected than about what you will see. Only one of the four has more than three reviews.

For most people: the Black River Gorges 3-hour hike at €53 — 4.8 stars from 110 reviews, the Bats Valley and Plateau Remousse viewpoints, and an optional swim in the river at the end. With no car and wanting hotel pickup: the guided hike with hotel pickup at €192.19, rated 3.6 from three reviews. The €67.04 and €100 hikes come with three reviews and one, so their stars are a first impression, not a rating.

The four, side by side

Against the €53 hike, the €65.35 one costs €12.35 more, the €100 day tour €47 more and hotel pickup €134.35 more.

The €53 hike: you meet at a shopping centre, not at the park

The operator, Yanature, is explicit about the start. You meet your guide at the Riverview Commercial Centre in Black River, and the page says plainly that this is not the starting point of the hike. Once everyone has arrived you follow the guide, in your own vehicle, to the lower entrance car park about 5 km further on. Arriving by taxi, you tell the driver about the brief stop. Transport to the meeting point and the start is not included unless arranged in advance. The guide wears a green Yanature T-shirt, and a WhatsApp number is shared the day before.

The route runs through primary forest to the Bats Valley and Plateau Remousse viewpoints, with a river swim at the end that the page marks as optional. The itinerary shows the finish at the Black River Visitors Centre but also says itineraries are for reference only, so ask how you get back to your car. The page says you might see giant bats, macaque monkeys and ebony trees; sightings are common but cannot be guaranteed.

The effort is stated honestly. The listing says 3 hours, while “know before you go” talks of walking for around 3 to 3.5 hours, with a steeper uphill section of roughly 45 minutes and uneven ground, rocks and tree roots. The provider lists ten groups as not suitable: low fitness, children under 10, people over 65, respiratory issues, mobility impairments, heart problems, pregnancy, recent surgeries, a pre-existing medical condition and wheelchair users. That is the operator’s list for its own trip, not a rule about the park. Two participants are the minimum; below that, the operator may offer another date or cancel. Guests praise the guide in nearly every review shown, often by first name. Tours run in English and French (per the booking page).

Hotel pickup: €134.35 more, a thinner rating

Destination Soleil lists hotel pickup and drop-off among its inclusions; you give your hotel name and address when booking. It takes five hours, of which the page puts the hiking at three to four, at medium difficulty, with a river swim before the end. Minimum age is 10, medium fitness is required, and the not-suitable list is short: children under 10, pregnant women, people with mobility impairments. It lists no age ceiling. The page says the condition of the hike depends on the weather (per the booking page).

Three reviews average 3.6, and the page does not say what is behind that. If you are driving, the extra money is pure cost; without a car, get a taxi quote to a meeting point 5 km short of the trailhead before you decide.

See availability and prices for the guided hike with hotel pickup

The €65.35 hike sells quiet and has the longest exclusion list

Horazis goes into what it calls the upper Gorges, “far from the touristic crowds”, for 3 to 4 hours on the page. It names no viewpoints and mentions no swim; the description is about ebony trees, orchids, the Black Bulbul and the Pink Pigeon. Cereal bars and photos and videos are listed. Transport and meals sit on the same list, so ask what is covered. Two meeting points exist depending on the option you pick, and the page does not name them.

Sixteen groups are listed as not suitable, among them people over 60, with back problems, vertigo, fear of heights, altitude sickness, high blood pressure or low fitness, wheelchair users, and visually or hearing-impaired people. Headphones, making noise, smoking, bare feet and large bags are not allowed. Three reviews at 5.0 are too few to set against the €53 hike’s 110.

See availability and prices for the Black River Gorges guided hike

The €100 day tour is the only one with a distance

Eco Explorers gives numbers the others do not: 15 kilometres and a 790-metre ascent over six hours, hidden waterfalls, the Alexandra Falls, and views towards La Tourelle, Île aux Bénitiers and Le Morne. The page recommends some fitness and hiking experience because of terrain, humidity and possible mud. Only people with mobility impairments are listed as unsuitable. No river swim is mentioned.

Clear one thing up before paying: the meeting point is the park’s entrance gate, yet the inclusions list hotel pickup and drop-off. Ask which applies. It has one review, a 5.0.

See availability and prices for the eco adventure day tour

Shoes, water, swimming and weather

Shoes. Three pages list hiking shoes, the fourth comfortable shoes. The three with a not-allowed list ban sandals and flip-flops; the €53 page adds open-toed shoes.

Water. All four put water on the bring-list, so do not expect it to be handed to you.

Swimming. Only the €53 and €187.35 pages mention a river swim and list swimwear and a towel.

Weather. The €53 page says the route may be modified for safety; the €187.35 page says the hike depends on the weather; the €65.35 page says it can be rescheduled in adverse weather. Whether the effort suits your heart, knees or medication is a question for your doctor, not a booking page.

Against Tamarind Falls and Le Morne: which single hike

The Tamarind Falls highlights hike costs €50, with 4.9 stars from 613 reviews, and its provider lists three groups as unsuitable. The Le Morne sunrise climb costs €67.04, with 5.0 from 987 reviews, and its operator turns away anyone over 60. The Gorges hike has the smallest review base of the three, though 4.8 is a good score.

If you will do only one guided hike, make it the Tamarind Falls highlights hike. The numbers say so: more reviews, a higher score, €3 less, and seven fewer groups on its exclusion list than the €53 hike, for the same three hours and a swim. Pick Le Morne instead if you are fit, under 60 and want the view from the mountain. Pick the Gorges when forest and endemic wildlife are the point; these pages are the ones that name the birds, bats and ebony trees.

Going without a guide

It is a real option. Our other articles describe the park as free, with no ticket office and nothing to book, around 60 kilometres of trail over 6,574 hectares, routes of roughly 3 km to 14 km return, signposted rather than guided, and no infrastructure built around getting you there.

What neither these pages nor our articles give is the trail itself: which path reaches Bats Valley or Plateau Remousse, how long it takes unguided, the entrance hours. We will not guess; check with the park’s own information. Getting there is the real cost. ASIRT singles out the 20.2-kilometre park road between Chamarel and Chamouny as narrow and winding, shaded so that oncoming traffic is hidden, and poorly lit. If that suits you, hire a car for the day and read the south-west drive, which fits the gorges into a day with Chamarel and Le Morne; do you need a car in Mauritius covers the rest. If you would rather not drive, or want someone to explain what you are looking at, that is what the €53 pays for.

Which one to book

For most people: the Black River Gorges 3-hour hike at €53 — 4.8 stars from 110 reviews, two named viewpoints, an optional river swim, and the only one of the four with a real review base. Not for children under 10, people over 65, or anyone not comfortable walking about three hours with a 45-minute climb in the middle.

Without a car: the €192.19 hike with pickup, knowing it has three reviews at 3.6. For a long day on foot: the €100 day tour, once you know how you reach the start. For a quiet upper-gorge walk: the €65.35 hike, if nobody in your party is on its exclusion list.

More walks are on the nature and hiking pages.