Aapravasi Ghat is right in the center of Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. The site is signposted from all over town, displaying its WH status proudly.

From the outside the complex looks like the remains of a fortress: not unlike those in Ghana, or even the Defense Line of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. It’s now located just a few meters from the water line in the harbour.

Entrance to the site is free, as is the guided tour. The first thing that I noticed is that it all looks very recently restored. I had heard bad reports about its status in the past, but right now the Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund is taking things seriously. Even a whole new interpretative center is under construction at the moment. That would be a good addition I think, as the remains of the site are small and it’s hard to imagine what happened here from some crumbling stone walls. Archaeological digs are still underway too, in the hope of recovering more. Only about a third of the site is left now, the rest has been paved over during the construction of the main road through Port Louis.

The best-preserved parts are the lavatories & baths for the immigrants and the small hospital. I went around with a guide once and after that did another round on my own. I knew beforehand that there isn’t much to see, and I already was glad to see that the caretakers are making an effort to preserve and improve it. There were a couple of other tourists around, it’s presented as an important feature of Port Louis nowadays. My 2001 Lonely Planet for Mauritius didn’t even mention it. Despite all this, it will be hard to spend more than half an hour here.