A Postcard from Mauritius

After five nights in Dubai my sister and I took another six hour plane ride to Mauritius. Again our flight landed in the evening so even though we didn’t have to cope with the time difference between Dubai and Mauritius we were still shattered after a six hour flight and then an hour and a half drive to our hotel from the airport.

I was shocked when I found that that in June and July it’s winter in Mauritius. I wouldn’t have guessed because the temperatures still reached the high twenties/early thirties, we had no rain while we were there, and we spent more time than not on the beach, but after the intense heat of Dubai the winter heat of Mauritius was a nice change.

Of course like Dubai Mauritius offered a lot more to explore than just what our hotel offered. One of the days we were in Mauritius we hired a car through our travel agency and were taken all over the island. We saw the volcanic crater Mauritius is famous for and went to La Vanille Nature Park to see the giant tortoises and crocodiles. We got to stroke and feed the tortoises, and even made it time to see one of the crocodile feedings (we didn’t get to stroke the crocodiles, but after seeing them feeding I wouldn’t have wanted to get that close). We saw the Seven Coloured Earths, the Black River and Alexandra Falls. It was a long day, but we got to see so much of island in that day.

On our last day we went on a boat trip, and it ended up being my favourite part of the holiday (in Mauritius at least). We stopped off for snorkelling, had barbeque on board for lunch and ended up at Ile aux Cerfs, which is the largest lagoon in Mauritius and the image you will see pretty much on all the postcards. It was gorgeous, and basically a perfect way to end the holiday as well.

Advice (a.k.a. learn from my mistakes)

• Tailor your own excursions…While our travel agency offered a lot of excursions the best way to make the most of the day is to do what me and my sister did and rent a car. Our driver was incredible; he took us all over, showed us everything we wanted to see plus much more, and it was just me and my sister rather than a busload of other tourists along for the ride.
• Research what part of the island you want to stay in…Mauritius doesn’t look like a large island, not if you look on Google maps or if you look at the measurements, but it’s bigger than it seems. If all the attractions you want to visit are in the South then try and find somewhere on that side of Mauritius to stay.

People keep asking me which holiday I preferred; Dubai or Mauritius, but it’s impossible to choose between them. Dubai is a lot more commercial, despite the time me and my sister spent by the pool or on the beach it felt like more of a city break than anything else. Mauritius was much more relaxing, and it’s beauty was more natural. It was the perfect relaxing way to end our trip before flying home.