Go MauritiusThe Indian Ocean island of Mauritius offers everything from pampered sunbathing to exhilarating adventure sports, write Lorraine Courtneyand Joan Scales
ROMANCE IN Mauritius isn't complete without knowing the tale of Paul and Virginie. It is an 18th-century tragic French love story, by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, of a boy and a girl growing up and falling in love in the pastoral bliss of an isolated Mauritian valley. The two are separated when Virginie is sent to be educated in France and shipwrecked on her return, drowning in her Parisian finery within sight of the island. Naturally, Paul succumbs to heartbreak. Napoleon loved the tale so much that he awarded its author a pension for life. Loved-up tourists now flock to this Indian Ocean hideaway in search of sun-kissed luxury.
The island's resorts are good at providing that. On the way from the airport you get to see a bit of real life, too - and it can be a little disorientating. The former British colony, which is just 67km long and 46km wide, is geographically part of South Africa, but its population is predominately Indian and speaks French (or something very similar). Rarely do you see so many cultures and religions mixed together on such a small island. The harmony they live in is even more of a rarity.
Snaking along the winding coastal road in a taxi, we pass endless emerald sugar-cane plantations, steaming sugar mills, tiny stalls selling snacks, women bending over crops and banyan trees festooned with vines. As we near villages, chickens, goats and black pigs amble around. Empty bottles of Phoenix beer litter the outskirts. Lurid Hindu temples covered in writhing psychedelic deities rise out of the sugar cane; around the next corner is likely to be squatting a dour Presbyterian church more suited to northern Europe, and on the corner itself is a Roman Catholic shrine, with a plastic Madonna peering through the vines.
About half an hour later we reach our destination, on the eastern shore of the island. Anahita World Class Sanctuary is the new kid on the block of lavish Mauritian coastal retreats. It is supremely luxurious. Accommodation comprises two- and three-bedroom residences strung along the shore of a lagoon. Interiors are all crisp colours and clean lines, with open-plan living areas, generous windows and plunge pools set into the verandas.
Each residence is attended by a butler trained in the art of pampering. Our butler is all smiles and chatter and is keen to please. He offers services ranging from making tea to companionship, plus every whim in between. He worries that I might be lonely, as my companion golfs, and offers to accompany me to the beach. I'm not convinced I want to play Jeeves and Wooster in the sun. I politely decline.
Slipping into the azure lagoon before each day's sumptuous breakfast spread is irresistible. The sea is a pleasure to swim or just wallow in. I admit that I didn't tire of lying on a lounger, with a book, on the patrolled beach, occasionally girding myself to gesture limply at a waiter. After a while I expected the shine to go off lying down, but it never happened.
The resort centres on a dynamic shopping-and-restaurant precinct called La Place Belgath. The precinct's flagship eatery, Origine, serves exquisite food: the freshest of ingredients served in eclectic combinations that reflect Mauritius's French, Creole, Chinese and Indian heritage. African drums beat here in the balmy evenings, and erotic sega dancers sway in calypso rhythm on the waterfront. Sega is a dance that's full of imagery and poignantly symbolic of former slaves' plight. The throbbing rhythm of drums and voices tugs at your hips and heels and evokes the pulse of the island as nothing else can.
For those who might want to rip themselves from their sunloungers, Anahita offers more active possibilities. A water-sports station has everything from diving to kite surfing; you can also fly around the lagoon in a catamaran. Mauritius is increasingly being marketed as an adventure paradise. Nearby L'Étoile offers quad biking and horse riding through 6,000 hectares of forest.
You clearly need to have a bit of spare dosh to rent a residence at Anahita. Rates for a two- bedroom residence start at €1,105 per night for bed and breakfast. But exceptional facilities, friendly service, exquisite food and attention to detail ensure this operation is world class. Besides, renting at Anahita makes sound financial sense for small groups, for those who want the freedom and choice that it allows - the loved-up can retire from the world and have a private chef cook for them - and for anyone else wanting to retreat from reality. Mauritius itself offers a full, exhilarating holiday for the energetic and profound oblivion in the sun for the languid.
Mark Twain once proposed that heaven was modelled on Mauritius. My butler is eager to find out if I can provide him with any contacts who might secure him a more lucrative life in a Dublin restaurant. It seems these pearly gates don't fulfil everyone. But I'm convinced. For weddings or honeymoons, Mauritius is not just another insipid playground: it is isolated splendour. And you don't need the excuse of marital bliss to visit this model for heaven.
LC
• Lorraine Courtney was a guest of Air Mauritius, hosted by Anahita World Class Sanctuary (00-230-2022200, www.anahita.mu)
• Air Mauritius (www.air mauritius.com) flies from London Heathrow to Mauritius. Aer Lingus (www. aerlingus.com) and BMI (www.flybmi.ie) fly from Dublin, Cork and Belfast to Heathrow. Air France (www.airfrance.ie) flies from Dublin to Mauritius via Paris.
'We ride two to a scooter on a guided tour of the coral'
THERE IS MORE to Mauritius than lying on a beach getting to know your new spouse better or getting fat in the sun.
Blue Safari, a local company, has invented undersea scooters that you can use to explore the island's coral reefs. What's unusual about them is that you can use them without a breathing tank. Oxygen is pumped under a hood on the scooter, so you can breathe normally.
On our trip, wearing swimsuits and wetsuit jackets, we ride two to a scooter, about three metres below the surface, guided by divers who bring us on a half-hour tour of the coral.
I have the thrill of steering our scooter. I keep pressing the accelerator to go faster. Our movement through the water is imperceptible: there is no sound and no feeling of motion, but we are moving - not quite the James Bond experience I was expecting. (Blue Safari also has two piloted submarines that you can descend in to explore the reefs without getting wet.)
Mauritius is a volcanic island, and the mountains in the distance are black, jagged peaks above the rainforest and sugar-cane fields. A great way to explore the terrain is on quad bikes. The Domaine de l'Étoile ranch is beside the l'Étoile and Ferney reserve, featuring 3,500 hectares of hills, ponds, rivers, woods and cane fields, and is perfect for exploring on all-terrain vehicles.
After a test run on the quad bikes, we set off in twos across the river though muddy sugar-cane fields and begin heading upwards along a rocky track through forest. It is exhilarating taking off though the varying landscape, but even more exhilarating when you emerge at the top of the forest and see the amazing views below.
The Grand Mauritian Hotel is in Balaclava marine park, so next day we set off to see the coast on a cruiser. From the bay the mountains look like the spiny backbone of the island. We explore the bay and its rocky promontories, then anchor in a quiet cove. The brave among us put on snorkels and dive into the water. The fish and coral are even better than what we saw on the scooters: bright tropical fish and multicoloured coral. We spend an hour looking around. Then the water gets a bit choppy. Time to go back.
We had hoped to try kite-surfing, too, but you need more than a few days to learn the essentials. Mauritius has a wide range of activities on both land and water and makes an ideal active holiday.
• Joan Scales was a guest of Grand Mauritian Resort Spa
Where to go for adventure in Mauritius
• The Grand Mauritian Resort Spa (www.thegrand mauritian.com), which opened in July in 10 hectares of grounds, is bordered by reef and Balaclava marine national park. The hotel, whose rates start at €350 a night, can arrange day-trip adventures for guests. It also has a selection of small boats and surfboards and can arrange diving, snorkelling, water-skiing and para-ascending.
• Blue Safari (Route Royale, Grand Baie, 00-230-2633333, www.blue-safari.com) arranges submarine and sub-scooter trips.
• Domaine de l'Étoile (www.bookmauritius.com), about an hour from the Grand Mauritian, in the highlands, offers quad biking, pony trekking, 4x4 trips, hiking, mountain biking, archery and deer and boar hunting.
• Club Mistral (www.club-mistral.com) has a kite-surfing site at Le Morne, a shallow lagoon on the west coast.