MAURITIUS ORIENTEERING

2023 ACTIVITY REPORT AND 2024 GREAT NEWS (read until the end!)

One year after the very first international competition, 3 Days Mauritius Orienteering, held in cooperation with Park World Tour and with the support of IOF and the Orienteering Ministry of Sport, many things happened in this beautiful country.

The local organisers held several activities to spread orienteering:
In May, for the World Orienteering Day, 4 different activities took place:

On 10th May, a training on Orienteering was organized for CAIE PE students at Q. Militaire SSS. Cluster of 4 Girls schools with over 50 participants


A race in Palmar Public beach on 13th May 2023


Activities were organised at MIE – Mauritius Institute of Education on 18th May 2023


On 19th May 2023 a Training on Orienteering for CAIE PE students of Zone 2 cluster is organised by PE Section for Boys n Girls (G10 n G11) at SIG SSS, Q. Militaire. 70 students in attendance. 21 Girls n 49 boys.


Mauritius orienteerign news

The biggest success so far occurred on 1st June during an Orienteering activity in Palmar beach: over 160 participants were on the starting list!


Local organisers worked very hard during this year to test and develop the orienteering skills of people of Mauritius but also the skills to organise orienteering events at different levels.

The interest of this sport is increasing and therefore the local Federation is planning to enlarge the orienteering family of the country by organizing another webinar starting in the month of January 2024, wishing that many more new people and energies will gather to get help.

The big goal is set for the end of 2024, and get ready for it… 3 Days Orienteering Mauritius will be back!
From 21st to 24th November 2024
, with a brand new competition area on the south of the island mapped by the locals!

3 events, of which 2 will return to the spectacular areas of Pamplemousses Botanical Garden for a very interesting sprint race and to Domain de Lagrave for a challenging middle race!

So… book your flights, let’s het ready for a new orienteering adventure!

Last weekend in ASOM – Antwerp

Last week we were present in Antwper, Belgium for the great races of ASOM, organised by Antwerp Orienteers.

On our desk all the participants could see or buy the PWT 25 years book, you can still buy it here!

Or get info about Mauritius 3 days Orienteering event of the next November…

And also get info about the book “Memories of the winners” – and leaf through and extract of it!


The WRE race of Sunday was spectacular, and we awarded the winners Megan Carter-Davies and Matthias Kyburz with a voucher to Mauritius 3 days Orienteering!

But don’t worry too much, there’s still a chance to win the last 2 vouchers for Mauritius Orienteering at the sprint race of WOC Denmark 2022!

Keep following us and stay updated about where you can meet us next and where to pick up the book without shipping costs.

Mapping in progress – Mauritius

The mapping continued in Mauritius with the arrival of Petr Hranicka, international mapper.
Together with Roman, and with the unshakable help of John Domah of Orienteering M, the map works continued to Domain de Lagrave, fully supported by Mr Gilbert, the owner.

This is such an interesting area for orienteering. Are you ready to compete here? We are finalizing the preliminary info of Mauritius 3 days, next year in November 😎
Stay tuned!

from left: Mr Gilbert, Roman, Petr, John

Mauritius – map making training

Roman Horky held a training on map making, while at Palmar beach. It consisted in one practical part in the forest and then a “question time” part.

All the interested people were already given the basic information about map making during the webinar from April to June, with the precious help of Andreas Kyburz, project manager of OCAD.

Mauritius – starting with the maps

From 15th October 2021 Mr Roman Horky, a professional map maker, was in Mauritius to start to draw the first orienteering maps following the international standards.

He started from Palmar beach area, on the East side of the country.

Roman with John of Orienteering M at Palmar beach

The field day

11/10 was a field day, which started with a visit to Land and Housing – Cartography dept., looking for basic map of the interesting areas for orienteering maps.


After that, Jaroslav Kacmarcik – IOF GDC and Giulia Zenere – PWT Academy, together with Mr John Domah, Mr Vishal Luchmun, Mr  Khaiysaar Ahmad Soopun and Mrs Hima Seeboruth of the Mauritius Orienteering Federation, visited the offices of the Ministry of Education.

Dr Reetoo Neeshti Director Health &Wellness, Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology and Liu Yuk Pat-Agathe Mary-Joyce, Ag. Senior PE Organiser, Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology agreed on the idea of introducing orienteering in the schools, and proposed to standardize its teaching system, following what Mr John Domah already started in his zone.

Third from right Dr. Neeshti, second from right Mrs Mary-Joyce

The third essential meeting of the day was scheduled with Mr. Hon Jean Christophe Stephan Toussaint, Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Recreation.

Mr Toussaint fully approved the idea of implementing orienteering sport in Mauritius, both at a school level but also at a community level; supporting the goal to create community clubs as recreational activity all around the country and for all ages, pointing that it is a sport that also suits to families.

The Minister sustained the projects of Orienteering M for Mauritians and also for tourists, and embrace the plan of an international event next year.  

Second from left Mrs Munien, second from right Mr Touissant

A meeting was also held with Mrs Vyrum Pillay Munien, Officer at The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, a project by the Ministry of Youth which has a component like adventurous journey. The Officer was interested in enriching the Award with Orienteering to develop skills such as map reading and compass work, necessary to achieve the Silver Award which requires 42km walk in 2 nights and 3 days.

A final meeting in the Sport Ministry offices was with Mr Nagalingum Pillay Samoo, Director of Sport, who welcomed the delegation and assured to be ready for the proposed projects.


The delegation then continued to Moulin de la Poudre Forest to check the existing map to be implemented. The area looks interesting, flat, with clear forest.


Being in the north of the Island, a visit to Pamplemousses Botanical Garden was to be done. It is a popular tourist attraction in Pamplemousses, near Port Louis, and the oldest botanical garden in the Southern Hemisphere.  It is populated with more than 650 varieties of plants among which are the famous Baobabs, the Palmier Bouteille, the ineluctable Giant Water Lilies, dozens of medicinal plants, a large spice garden and many more.

The venue is suitable for a sprint race and for some leisure time among its beauty.

The very long day ended with a meeting with Orienteering M in the evening, to discuss the short and medium term projects, the way to constitute officially the local Federation so to apply as temporary member of IOF, to implement orienteering both in schools and at a community level, and to support the organisation of an international 3-days event in november 2022. Are you ready?

Looking for suitable places for an international event

On 10/10 a practical test for Cambridge International Examination was held in Bras d’Eau National Park for about 20 Educators.

Once again the PE were tested with Sport Ident System with the help of Mr Jaroslav Kacmarcik, on a course prepared by local course setters. After this experience, a short visit to the nearby beach was due.


In the afternoon, Jaroslav Kacmarcik – IOF GDC and Giulia Zenere – PWT Academy together with Orienteering M delegates visited Chasée La Rivière du Post, guided by the owner Mr Anaida Bhugeloo. The private area is a hunting ground with interesting open areas, tracks and forest.


Later on, enjoying the pleasant sunshine, the international delegates strolled in Palmar forest beach, an appealing area for a very fast sprint race, checking the tracks and the possibilities for an international race, as well as an area for school orienteering activities.

Workshop on Teaching Orienteering in schools

Saturday 09/10 Mr Jaroslav Kacmarcik – IOF GDC and Giulia Zenere – PWT Academy, conducted a workshop on Teaching Orienteering in Schools at MIE – Mauritius Institute of Education for more than 80 Educators of Physical Education and HEP Educators. 

Some of the Educators already followed the online webinar of April-June 2021, some introduced Orienteering in their schools and also participated with their school activities in the World Orienteering Week this year. Indeed, it was the very first participation of Mauritius in the WOD: a great success! 

Some other Educators participated for the first time to the workshop on Orienteering.

The workshop consisted in a theorical part in the morning, and a practical part in the afternoon.

The Educators were tested on a simple course using for their very first time the Sport Ident system.

All the participants received a certificate of participation, Mr Gilbert Quéland of Domain de Lagrave was also present to the certificates delivery.

A complete set of Sport Ident System, together with orienteering flags and stands were presented to the local Federation by Park World Tour Academy for their future use.

Orienteering M awarded Mr Jaroslav Kacmarcik and Ms Giulia Zenere with a trophy for the unflinching support for the development of orienteering in Mauritius.