So for my 30th birthday (a few years back!), Alex and I decided to pop across to Mauritius for 4 days. It helps when your best friend loves to travel as much as you! We booked an all inclusive package through Gateway Travel – R10,000 and all flights, transfers, food and drinks included. Being only a 4 hour flight from Joburg makes it a quick and easy getaway, and one that South African’s seem to appreciate and take advantage of.
The hotel we stayed in: Silver Beach Hotel – clean, comfy and cold cocktails – what more could you need! All inclusive makes life so much easier as you can just drink and eat all day and not have to worry. We started drinking cocktails in the morning..!
Make sure to check about the beaches and whether you need to invest in swimming shoes due to the stones and coral. This depends on where your hotel lies on the island.
So the one day, we caught a local bus and went to the fruit and veg market. Was fun and lovely to see the non-touristy side of Mauritius. Beautiful different fruit and veg on offer, all sorts of yummy foods and lovely sights and smells. The local bus was also really fun and cheap cheap.
We spent a day driving around the island – Alex is a pro at directions, I am not. So we drove around and did the whole island in a day! We hired the car from the hotel reception desk – so easy peasy – and they gave us a simple map, and off we went. Our ride:
Firstly, we went to the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden, in search of beauty and giant lilly pads! TIP: Take lots of mozzie repellent, the mozzies are huge and hungry! We saw some really special flowers and trees, well worth the visit!
Then we went to the Chamarel, where you see the seven coloured earths – and its totally a natural phenomenon! Magnificent. You get to see these beautiful dunes, with distinctly different colours. Wooden fences keep you off the dunes. There is a coffee shop there for drinks and eats if you are hungry. They also have giant tortoises that you can check out.
Then we headed to these beautiful falls – how stunning? Green and lush vegetation, blue skies – island paradise!
Driving around the island was such a lovely way to see all the beauty it has to offer. Look at these views! It did get quite hair raising in the dark as there were no street lights and we were literally driving along these tiny narrow roads with the sea on the one side but was really cool to explore at our own pace.
And them on our last day, we did a lovely day trip to Île aux Cerfs Island. Blue water, white sand – just out of this world beautiful! We took a taxi from the hotel to the beach where you can pay a number of different companies to take you on boat trips. The boats leave often so make the most of the day and get there early!
Water was warm and blue blue. You can hire stretchers and have cocktails on the beach, absolutely paradise.
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