Mauritius is a piece of paradise – especially when it’s been on your bucket list forever and you’re a guest of Heritage Resorts & Golf in the island’s beautiful south
Words Libby Norman
Mauritius has been on my travel bucket list since I was in my teens and read a glowing article about a paradise isle nestled in the Indian Ocean without even a single poisonous snake. While the travel writer possibly suffered from ophidiophobia, I don’t. Nonetheless, that fascinating fact, plus the photos of tree-lined beaches and turquoise waters, stuck. I put Mauritius right at the top of my ‘must see’ list. Decades on I’m finally going – and in grand style with a stay at Heritage Resorts & Golf.
Mauritius lies some 1,000 nautical miles from the East African coast in that sweetspot around the Tropic of Capricorn where distinct flora and fauna blossomed. Fact checking before I go, I find that the travel writer was spot on. The island has no deadly vipers, not even a single poisonous scorpion or spider. Sadly, its unique and iconic dodo lives on only in sketches and souvenirs, but the rich natural environment offers many treasures for travellers.
Heritage Resorts offer an irresistible base, with prime beachfront locations in Bel Ombre, an enclave of wild beauty on the south coast. Two very different five-star resorts – Heritage Awali and Heritage Le Telfair – sit side by side facing a beach where the water is an impossibly pure turquoise. Le Telfair, a resort with a French plantation flavour, is named after Charles Telfair, the 19th-century Northern Irish doctor whose estate this once was. He is remembered fondly locally for building a hospital and school (where his wife Annabella taught) and for his significant contributions to botany and species preservation.
“The Timono Kids Club has a full programme of entertainment – kids get to play with friends, and parents get quality time for golf, water sports or spa”
We are staying next door in Heritage Awali (a Swahili name referencing beginnings), designed to reflect Mauritian and African cultures. Our Deluxe Garden View Room has a large terrace facing lush green lawns. Arriving after dark, we can hear the waves. We don’t realise until coffee on the terrace next morning just how close the ocean is. We can stroll straight out of our room along the beach in either direction. We prefer the Heritage Le Telfair direction, where there are shady loungers by a beach shack where they crack fresh coconuts for anyone in need of a drink. One of Le Telfair’s poolside bars is handily close should something stronger be required.
Families with children are in clover here. The Timono Kids Club, tucked away in the wooded grounds, has a full programme of entertainment for babies to teens. There’s everything from swimming to cookery and golf lessons to cinema, star gazing and disco evenings. It’s well-used by grateful families – kids get to play with friends, and parents get quality time for golf, water sports or relaxation in the lovely on-site spa.
Our suite can accommodate two adults and two children with ease, and it’s simple but luxurious – all soft textures and dark wood. There’s a capacious bathroom featuring twin sinks, shower and bath, plus acres of clothes storage. It is very comfortable indeed and we appreciate the blackout blinds that guarantee sweet dreams and long lie ins.
We are a few steps from the family pool. Here, adults can float lazily while kids frolic in the safe shallow end sloped like a beach. There’s room to lounge – whether you prefer sun or shade – with a beach bar alongside for refreshment and sunset watching. A short walk away is the pool for more serious laps but, be warned, if you start your exercise any time from mid-afternoon the aroma of the crêpes they cook to order next door in Zenzi Bar will prove irresistible.
“There are shady loungers by a beach shack where they crack fresh coconuts for anyone in need of a drink”
This is one of many culinary nods to the French influence in Mauritius – pastries and the plethora of continental cheeses in Savana are a real treat every breakfast. Indeed, there is everything to love about the food here, and with a multitude of restaurants to savour a culinary tradition blending African, Indian and European flavours. Of course, they have great ingredients in the local seafood, fruit and vegetables. We love our inventive salad lunches in Infinity Blue and savour the rich Indian spicing of Zafarani. The concierges can extend the culinary pleasure, booking you in at Le Telfair’s restaurants, including the exceptional pan-Asian Gin’ja or healthy all-day eating spot at C Beach Club.
With too many memorable meals to count, our standout dinner has to be at Le Château de bel Ombre. The former home of the Telfairs was modelled on a French country house. Now part of Heritage Resorts, it can be experienced by diners (you can even stay for a night). Our evening begins with an atmospheric golf buggy ride from Awali down a wooded path. First site of the Château is spectacular – a slice of France surrounded by formal gardens and overlooking the two championship golf courses that draw golfers from around the world.
We begin our evening with a private wine tasting hosted by our personal sommelier (the wine collection here is world-class). Then we drink sundowners on the balcony, watching fruit bats swooping home to their treetops. After that, a perfectly balanced and flavourful haute cuisine meal, Mauritian style.
While it’s tempting to stay on resort, we want to explore so the concierge team put together an itinerary. We visit World of Seashells, the largest shell collection in all Africa. I’m impressed as much by the hallowed collectors’ names (Linnaeus et al) as the beauty of the shells. We journey into hill country for lunch with a view at Le Chamarel, a Creole restaurant 260-metres above sea level. It feels like we’re on top of the world. At Chamarel 7 Colored Earth Geopark we view a rainbow of sands, while the scientists at the Heritage Marine Centre by C Beach Club tell us about their good work to restore island waterways and preserve precious marine environments.
Most thrilling is our 4×4 safari around Bel Ombre Nature Reserve. Our guide talks us through the challenges of conserving Mauritius’ flora and fauna. While we see some interlopers, including the receding tail of a cheeky macaque, we get up close to treasures such as Mauritius’ unique black ebony trees. Midway through the tour, our guide suddenly pulls up. We’ve struck gold with a Mauritius Kestrel, the national bird. Close to extinction in the 1970s, this is considered among the great bird restoration successes, although it remains on the UN endangered list. There has been a sharp shower and our fabulous falcon sits resplendent on a post fluffing its wings to dry them.
Enjoying aperitifs on our last night at Heritage Awali, I realise that the problem with travel bucket lists comes when you discover that one trip is not enough. We have to return to explore more of this captivating island. So, for now, Mauritius is still right up there on my list.
Heritage Awali, from £327 per night for 2 in Deluxe Garden View room, all-inclusive heritageresorts.mu
Further reading: Go wild at Cornwall’s Gwel an Mor
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