Soon, Mauritius will have the Indian Ocean’s biggest oceanarium. According to lexpress.mu, the news website that revealed this, the infrastructure will be built by the Eclosia group and be located in Caudan, a seafront which hosts Port Louis’ Marina. 

Construction of the project which is valued at 500 million Mauritian rupees (about $15 million), will begin in January 2018 and is expected to end at the beginning of 2020.

Named Odysséo, Caudan’s oceanarium main structure will occupy a 5,000m² area while the whole project will cover 1.5ha. It will comprise about 50 basins, the largest having the following dimensions: a length of 25m for 16m of width.

The Odysseo will contain two million litres of water, and about 10,000 species of sea animals. These include sharks, and other big fishes like rays and groupers which will be observed from below in an 18m-long tunnel. 

To realize the project, the Eclosia group partnered with Clear Reef, headed by French Philippe de Lacaze. The latter has 25 years of experience in the industry, having constructed about fifty aquatic parks, oceanariums and aquariums worldwide.

According to Eclosia’s Managing Director, Cédric de Spéville, the oceanarium will be a “major asset to help boost tourism in Mauritius”.

Founded by Michel de Spéville, the Eclosia group (formerly Food & Allied Group until 2016) operates in various sectors, knowingly agribusiness, hospitality, logistics, finance, education and ICT.

Based in Mauritius, the group is also present in Madagascar, Reunion, South Africa, Seychelles and Kenya. In 2016, it recorded a turnover of close to 15 billion Mauritian rupees (about $447 million) and employs around 4,000 people.