Signature Luxury Travel & Style
MAD ABOUT MAURITIUS
Famed for sandy beaches, sunshine and rum, it’s easy to see why so many fall in love with this gem of the Indian Ocean.
The water around me glows turquoise. The stalls selling fresh coconuts and souvenirs along the beach are just a background hum. I wade into the shallows, just to experience the unreal, florid hue, feeling like a figure in a postcard. Here, the seas of Mauritius are mine alone.
I am lingering on Ile aux Bénitiers, a tiny speck off the island’s west coast, and an essential stop on a cruise aboard
Aquarelle IV, my private yacht-for-aday. Already today I have snorkelled alongside vivid marine life, feasted on barbecued fish (and bananas), and
been mesmerised as pods of dolphins, entirely unfazed by our presence, glide around the boat in uniform arcs.
The sea is a way of life in Mauritius. The island’s southern coast is a serene stretch of bays where waters lap at bobbing fishing boats and the adventurous skim over waves on airborne kiteboards. Lying halfway between the two extremes is the Outrigger Mauritius Beach Resort at Bel Ombre, an idyllic retreat between volcanic hills and translucent lagoons.
The resort is just a 45-minute drive from the international airport in the island’s south-east, but already it feels a world from the crooked villages and endless fields of sugarcane we passed on the way, each one rendered fascinating by the passionate commentary delivered by our guide from Solis Indian Ocean, Vicky Boodhoo. By the time we have arrived, he has thoroughly briefed us on the turbulent history that has left a flourishing, peaceful society in its wake; the Dutch, French and British have all laid claim to its ports, bringing African slaves and Indian labourers to the onceuninhabited home of the dodo.
Outrigger honours this past with an elegant design reminiscent of a 17thcentury sugarcane plantation perched beside the sea. Stuccoed buildings with thatched roofs house 181 rooms and suites, each one with views of the lagoon and the ocean beyond. Even Mercado, the market-style international restaurant where I can taste the influence of history, is wrought from colonial remains, while the fine dining Plantation Club is an ode to the era’s French elegance, where we feast like imperial masters on steak tartare with quail’s egg and caviar, Spanish lobster, lamb and a pineapple crème brûlée.
My beachside suite is a breezy haven of neutral shades, historic photographs and an enormous bathroom, complete with a double-whirlpool bathtub set into a bay window. My balcony has a view of the ocean, perfect for welcoming the dawn with a steaming cup of Mauritian vanilla tea and a chorus of birdsong.
Markets and designers
We descend into the chaotic, labyrinthine streets of the capital, Port Louis, exchanging aquamarine panoramas for an encounter with the traditional Central Market. Haggling is essential here, and the rows of stalls laden with scarves and textiles, jewellery and trinkets keep prices competitive. At the other end of the spectrum is the Caudan Waterfront, a revitalised area beside the bay brimming with jewellers,
designer labels, leather goods shops and rum merchants, all offering dutyfree wares. After indulging in a new bag (or two), the promise of food is all too tempting, and we leave the city behind to get a taste of colonial Mauritius at the L’Aventure du Sucre museum.
As well as being home to documents explaining the nation’s entangled affair with sugarcane, the museum draws visitors to its garden restaurant, Le Fangourin. I pay my respects to the surrounding saccharine history with a mojito (served as a tumbler filled mostly with rum) and local Creole delicacies.
Of course, I had heard that Mauritian Creole cuisine is palate-tinglingly delicious but I hadn’t expected the blend of delicacy and big flavours. Back at Outrigger, we explore the lingering French connection in Rouben’s Wine Room with a cheese and wine tasting guided by resort sommelier Jean Isabelle, moving from a creamy Coulommiers to a powerful Roquefort paired with Napoleon’s favourite dessert wine, Vin de Constance.
From vines to the sand, dinner is served by the sea at Edgewater Beach Bar & Grill, where bigger is definitely better; our Discovery Menu from Willie’s Rum & Crab Shack features the largest prawns I have ever seen, plump and juicy and fresh from the ocean.
Savouring the nation
Sugarcane is also a way of life in Mauritius – as is its most famous byproduct, rum. I enjoyed a small taste in my heady mojito at Le Fangourin, but I head into the hills for a closer encounter at the Rhumerie de Chamarel. Located in the vicinity of the popular Coloured Earths of Chamarel, this is a relatively new attraction celebrating a relatively new product; unlike traditional methods that use molasses, Chamarel’s rums are made with fresh sugarcane juice. This ‘Rhum Agricole’produces a smoother taste, which is all too obvious as our guide Wenda refills our tasting glasses several times over. After a tour, we enjoy lunch under the bougainvillea at the Rhumerie’s restaurant, L’Alchimiste. Another mojito – when in Mauritius! – accompanies an enormous round of tender rum-braised pork.
After skirting the length and breadth of this (albeit small) island, I take time to discover the Navasana Spa, a tranquil garden haven, and opt for a massage at the expert hands of Reena. Using indulgent Terrake products inspired by earth, air, water and plants, she detects my body’s needs and leaves me floating.
When two of my travelling companions, so entranced with Mauritius, decide to extend their stay the resort’s affable General Manager doesn’t think this at
all strange. After all, he too has been enchanted by the nation and made it his home. He smiles a knowing smile and crosses his hands over his chest. “It is because Mauritians have heart.”
He is right, of course. Outrigger may be Hawaiian by birth but here this knowledgeable, smiling team has created a resort that is truly Mauritian, growing from the hospitality and passion I have seen throughout the country.
It is with a heavy heart but a deep sense of gratitude that I board my Air Mauritius flight back to Perth. The distance is not far – less than eight hours – and it makes an easy and refreshing stopover destination on the way to Europe or Africa. Perhaps a return visit is not so far away after all.