Challenges of driving a car in Mauritius

• 23.7.2023

As for driving a car in Mauritius, it kind of fell on me. So even though Barča's basic condition was met - an automatic transmission, because Barča simply doesn't drive with a manual, the catch this time was steering on the left. When Barča first started navigating me here, I understood why. She switched sides not only while driving the car, but suddenly, for some reason unknown to me, the left side became the right side for her and vice versa. So getting to the destination of the first trip was really challenging. Soon we preferred to use your side/my side instead of left/right and then it was fine.

Anyway, driving on the left is quite fine for me, I wouldn't see it as a major problem, it's just a matter of habit. The matter of habit and further it is about avoiding stressful situations, or at least that is how it works for me. For me, it was enough to pick up the girls at the bus stop in a terrible rainstorm and turn around and go back again after picking them up. Of course, after the turning maneuver, I automatically and intuitively steered into the right lane, and very soon I saw an oncoming van with an angry driver tapping his forehead.

Another challenge, at least from Barča's point of view, are cars standing motionless along the road, sometimes on the right, sometimes on the left, mostly in both directions on a double solid line, which can slightly complicate smooth traffic. However, it is enough to adopt the customs of the locals and when you are "on the move" and there is a car in front of you, you just step on the gas, flash the oncoming vehicles as a warning to the fact that you have courage and nothing will stop you, and just drive. So I don't see this as a major problem either.

You also need to prepare for a large number of motorcycles and scooters. Even in this case, expect that motorbikes will overtake you from the right and left, and in heavy traffic, they will zigzag between cars in various ways, so you need to be particularly careful and check your side mirrors and in general everything that is happening around you.

However, the biggest challenge for me was driving in the dark, particularly when locals are walking along the road without any reflective elements. In addition to the omnipresent pedestrians in cities and by the beaches, we also had to watch out for unlit cyclists in the middle of the road and in the dark for oncoming cars that don't always shine. On the other hand, a possible problem could easily have been my deteriorating eyesight, which is worse every year and the fact that in the dark on the road everything kind of blends together lately for me. Well, when we go back to driving on the right side at home, I would rather leave the night drives to Barča😂.