Wrapup warm this winter in Mauritius
WE are sitting in the dining room of Le Chateau de Bel Ombre. The doors are thrown open to the night and a warm breeze carries the whisper of surf. ‘Oh, look — a shooting star!’ our nine-year-old daughter exclaims. It’s like a miniature, tropical Versailles.
The estate has existed for centuries, but until recently it was being put to a more workaday use.
Much has been written about the perils of sugar dependency. The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, on which the enchanting chateau is to be found, knows this well. It is trying to kick a 350-year-old habit.
The Dutch introduced sugar here in the 17th century, and almost all the island’s agricultural land was once under cane. More then half of it still is.
But the Eu’s preferential import agreements are about to end. Mauritius knows that the plant which dominates its human history has had its day. Tourism will have to shoulder a greater economic burden.
So on arrival at the island’s international airport, after an agreeable overnight flight, my wife, two primary school-age daughters and I are confronted with a brand-new terminal which cost a cool $300 million (£192 million).
It’s the largest structure ever built on the former British colony. It is also rather beautiful, having been designed to resemble the traveller’s palm tree.
Passenger numbers are set to double. At least, that is what the Mauritian government hopes.
It’s a long way to travel, but for a young family there’s much to do on the verdant land and reef-protected lagoon, the natives are super-hospitable and child-doting and, as we are told more than once, there’s ‘nothing that will kill you’ on the island.
That promise has drawn an Anglo-French crowd with a smattering of South Africans and, more significantly perhaps, newly rich Chinese on a recently opened direct service from Beijing.
The rugged and relatively undeveloped south-west coast of the island lies an hour’s drive from the spiffy terminal.
Here, the ocean pounds the offshore reef which surrounds the 330km (205m) coastline with a particular intensity. And it’s here, between the Savanne mountains and the sea, that you will find the Domaine de Bel Ombre.
Established by French settlers in 1765, the estate today is some 19 sq ml of hillside, plain and coast. The colonnaded mansion where we dine dates from the 19th century, and for much of its previous existence stood at the heart of a huge cane plantation.
Bel Ombre’s factory closed in 1999 and the Mauritian owners diversified i nto pineapples, potatoes, peanuts and palms. Cane is still grown, but has to be harvested by machete, as the rolling hills are unsuitable for machines. It takes 14 sticks of cane to produce just one cup of brown sugar.
The rest of the land has been turned into a five-star resort which encompasses several hotels, private luxury villas for sale or rent, a championship golf course, a topend health spa, all-day kids’ club and, best of all for me, an exquisite nature reserve.
First, let’s deal with the basics. The white sand beach is dotted with palm trees and swimming pools are posh and plentiful.
We are staying in a five-bedroom villa with an infinity pool which offers a view across open country to the mountains.
Our golf buggy is parked outside, so we can better traverse the vast estate. The girls are thrilled. To our mild embarrassment, we find we also have a butler called Brando, a tremendously efficient lad. We allow him to run us a bubble bath. He also excels himself as the major-domo of a barbecue on our verandah.
The family tries kite-surfing in the shallow lagoon. One memory will be of our eight-year-old daughter being yanked into the air as the wind caught her mini-kite.
On another day we take a motorboat through the gap in the reef and on to the high seas. We cruise westwards towards the dramatic Le Morne peninsula, a Word Heritage Site, watching a pod of dolphins and a school of flying fish.
In the end, the natural world trumps the extravagant luxury. Almost 200 years ago the Irish botanist and humanitarian Charles Telfair was active in Bel Ombre, easing the plight of plantation slaves while recording and shaping the island’s flora.
Most of what lives in Mauritius today — from the people to the trees — was imported from every corner of the empire. Telfair transplanted bananas from China, lending a specimen of the fruit to William Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire. Today the Cavendish banana is the most popular variety in our shops.
My highlight of the trip is a jeep safari through the 1,300-hectare Frederica Nature reserve. It is like a cross between the Devon hills and the forests of Asia.
Pheasants and quail run before us among papaya trees; above us fly mynah birds, fruit bats and giant dragonflies. We come across the chimney and mill wheels of a sugar mill abandoned in 1877.
We swim under a waterfall and spot Javanese deer across a glen, then reach the highest point on the estate and the lush world opens up beneath, the white smile of the reef and the ocean beyond. What a sight.
TRAVEL FACTS
HAYES & Jarvis (01293 735831,
hayesandjarvis.co.uk) offers a family holiday to Mauritius, at the five-star Heritage the Villas for seven nights room-only for £4,995 per family, based on two adults and two children in a threebedroom villa, departing on February 26, 2015. Includes return flights from Gatwick with Emirates.