Well, after having climbed Corps de Garde and Le Pouce Mountain respectively, and maintaining our fortnightly mountain-climbing activity, this weekend our target was Lion Mountain. Found in the district of Grand Port, this mountain is quite famous by its appearance, taking the shape of a sitting Lion. And it was time to pay a visit to this Lion.
A week back, while preparing the climb through internet researches, I came across this website which offered the GPS tracks to the mountain, and after having completed the ascent at the time of writing I can confirm that without a guide or this GPS map it would have been very difficult to find the way up there, and Thank You for those who have thought about creating this GPS track.
Climbing Lion Mountain – Through the Cane Fields
We arrived at Ferney (next to the Police Station) and started the track through sugar cane fields at around 2pm and even though the weather at first didn’t look quite promising we still maintained the hike. As usual, there were the three of us colleagues, plus this time my good friend Idriss also joined in, and one of my colleague’s son as well. We were five wanderers attempting to climb the famous Lion Mountain.
After some 15 minutes through the cane fields we arrived at the ascending point and the real climb started through forests, offering both a pleasant feel (freshness) and nature trekking. Nothing difficult to worry about.
Soon after, the first view point revealed the whole bay of Grand Port with the village of Mahebourg and Riviere des Creoles and we made a small pause to admire the view and refresh as well.
Climbing Lion Mountain-The View Over Grand Port Bay
Climbing Lion Mountain – The Fearless (Idriss)
After a while, we arrived at a point where the path seemed to end, and confused we went back and forth a few steps to check if we haven’t missed any clue. Well, that’s the part where some serious climbing was required and it was no longer a normal stroll. We had to climb some cliffs/rocks, which wasn’t difficult as such but required a little more effort.
One of my colleague, the cowboy guy, was stuck in between two rocks and had to remove his backpack to make it to the other side, funny indeed. We were already at 90% of the track and within a few more efforts we were already at the top of the mountain, offering a view on the North side of the mountain.
We were now at the head of the mountain and the initial track lead us to a mid point where turning left lead to the head and turning right lead to the tail of the ‘Lion’. After some rest we went back on track on the opposite direction to check out the other part as well which revealed more on the sea side of the mountain.
Climbing Lion Mountain – View over the North
Climbing Lion Mountain – The Ferney Mill
Climbing Lion Mountain – Way Back
Another 20-30 minutes and we were already there and we spent some more time here to refresh, eat something and admire the view. Before reaching this point somehow we noticed another track which seemed to lead down the mountain and instead of making the whole way back we decided we’d venture to see if we could get down through it a bit later. Time to rest. After some time the sun started to show up for a brief time, enhancing the landscape before setting.
We took the new track with the hope to reach the foot and after some 30 minutes we realised that we were kind of lost, in the sense that we could no longer spot the continuation of the path. We were roughly some 10 minutes to the ground and could see the cane fields close enough, but not being able to find good safe way we realised that we had to make out way back through the initial track… and it was already nearly dark.
Climbing Lion Mountain – Lost
Dark it already was (so no more pictures…) and we had to climb up everything we did, and it felt like climbing the mountain for a second time. Slowly we followed our way back through the initial path and reached safely our destination some 2 hours later… it was already 8pm when we started driving back.
We still enjoyed the adventure inspite of this little mishap and it concluded to a great climb.
Overall, I would rate this mountain quite similar to Corps de Garde, with a medium difficulty level.
Our next target: Piton de la Petite Riviere Noire!
