Mauritius
Magnificent Mauritius
Bonjour
The crystal clear waters, the beautiful palm trees
against the backdrop of a mesmerizing ocean, the calm weather and soft,
hair-whipping winds... Aah, the perfection of an island.
I am obsessed with islands. I absolutely love them!
How can you not relax when the ocean whispers so soothingly into your ears,
calming all those crazy nerves?
For our honeymoon, my husband surprised me with a trip
to Mauritius.
We flew from OR Tambo International, Johannesburg, South
Africa. It was a five hour flight straight to the island.
When we arrived at the hotel, we were met by friendly
staff who offered us refreshing towels and welcome juice.
Hotel: Solana
Beach Resort
Island
rating: 4
Hotel rating:
3.5
Food
(If you’re not a Muslim, you might want to skip this
part as it focuses on halal food)
I was worried about the halal food because apart from
being quite halal conscious, I am a major foodie! Good food excites me.
After our welcome drinks, we were greeted by the manager
of the hotel (I think his name was Ahmed, but I can’t remember so we’ll just call him Ahmed). Ahmed told
us that the island had about a 25% Muslims population and that almost all of
the food was halal because the butchers were Muslim owned. He then gave us the prayer
times and provided us with other important information.
Now I am pretty finicky when it comes to halal food so
I was not completely convinced. That was up until we went to the dining hall
and realised that quite a few of the chefs were Muslim!
The bar was situated away from the kitchen so that was
a good thing. I don’t usually eat at
places where they serve alcohol so I was relieved.
We specifically asked the chefs every night if the
food was halal. However, we opted for fish, just to be safe.
Unfortunately for us, they served pork at the hotel
(like almost all hotels) but when we saw the way they prepared it, we were at
ease. They had completely separate utensils and were careful not to contaminate
the food.
On one evening, as I walked towards the buffet, a
waiter ran up to me and told me to stay away from a particular dish because it
was not halal (even though it was clearly marked, he ensured that I did not
even go near it!)
Every day, we would also ask about the desserts, just
to be extra cautious. They did not include any alcohol in their desserts and
assured us that they were halal.
We ate outside the hotel thrice. On one occasion, we
bought pizza and on another occasion we went to McDonald’s. The McDonald’s actually had a halal certificate which was great! We
also went to a small Muslim-owned takeaway after hunting for a specific
restaurant that a friend had recommended - we couldn’t find it and we were
starving so we found this takeaway.
However, like in any country, you should be mindful of
what you eat. Remember, when in doubt, don’t put it in your mouth!
Room
Our room was on the second floor and it was ocean
facing. The room was floored with wooden flooring and the furniture was wooden
too. Although, I’m not a fan of
wood, the room was quite nice because it felt cozy.
The bed was a large king-size bed with plain white sheets and two pedestals on the side. The entrance of the bathroom did not have a door but the toilet stall did (I will never understand why some bathrooms don't have doors!) The shower was an average size, and there was no bath tub.
The room was poorly lit but many could argue that it complemented the ambiance, giving the room a romantic feel.
We had a beautiful view of the ocean from our balcony.
It was one of those breathtakingly-picture-perfect-am-I-really-here views.
Activities and tours
There are countless water sport activities that you
can do in Mauritius. As we walked along the beach, we were approached with
various water sport options which sounded fun!
We went parasailing and it was super exciting. The way
the para-sail lazily lifted us in the air and as we looked around, we gasped at
the sheer beauty we were surrounded by… However, if you’re afraid of heights, I suggest to steer clear from
this activity.
We did not choose to do all of the activities with the
hotel. Instead, we did most of the activities with those selling tours on the
beach. They’re cheaper and you can custom pick what you want to
do.
We spent a day dolphin watching and touring certain
places. On that day, we went with a tour guide from the beach who organized us
a taxi and took us for a few activities.
Since I’m not a
great swimmer (and an extremely lazy swimmer), I wore a life jacket at all
times. The snorkeling gear took a while to get used to but once we got used to
it, it became so much easier! Although, I had to remember to breathe through
my mouth and not my nose. Also, you need to ensure that the snorkels are
attached firmly to your face, otherwise you will have water seeping into the
goggles and that leads to extreme frustration.
After swimming with the dolphins, we were taken to an
area to snorkel for about an hour or so. By then, I was feeling quite cold
because it was a pretty windy day. Wet clothing coupled with wind is bound
to make anyone shiver!
So while I sat on the boat, my husband spent some time
snorkeling. Apparently there were hundreds of multicolored fish and I really
missed out. Oh well, I was too cold to care at that point.
When we got off the boat, we changed into dry clothes.
The husband had to hold up a towel and conceal me while I (very awkwardly) got
into some dry clothing.
Thereafter, we hopped into a taxi and we were off to
our next stop. We arrived at some kind of park that had a hiking trail. We
walked for a while before I got tired (#thatlazylife) and wanted to head back to the taxi so
that we could be on our way to the next stop.
We then stopped at the dormant volcano. There were
lots of monkeys in this area but they didn’t really bother me. In fact, they
were pretty entertaining.
We stopped at the beautiful waterfall. It was stunning
and peaceful. Here, we walked towards a quiet area and we prayed our
mid-day prayers (Dhuhr salaah). We had packed a bag for the day and this
included our travel prayer mat and a compass (although you can use your
cellphone as a compass).
For our last stop of the day, we made our way to the
coloured sands. This was absolutely beautiful and it really got me thinking.
As my eyes caressed the many different colours of sands, I was in absolute awe.
Each of the different colours of the sand reminded me of the many different skin
tones on this diverse earth (too bad we all can’t live in harmony and in sync
the way these sands do!). It’s truly an
enthralling experience.
One of the other tours we tried was the Catamaran/Ille
Leux Cerfs island. Unfortunately, we only spent about an hour on the Ille
Leux Cerfs island and the rest of the time on the catamaran. The island was
beautiful but our time exploring it was too short.
During our catamaran ride, there was a braai/barbecue.
We did not end up eating any of the food because it was stored too close to the
alcohol. Also, there was only meat and no fish.
On the Friday, we decided to rent a car and drive
around the city (you're allowed to do this with a South African licence so that's a plus). We used the maps on our phones to navigate through the island.
We stopped at a mall and the markets for some shopping.
We found multiple mosques (masjids) along the way but
just before the Friday prayer (Jummah), we met a Muslim couple who we bought a
few things from. They insisted that we join them for lunch but we politely
declined. They then took us to the mosque and gave us directions for a few
restaurants/takeaways that we should try.
Thereafter, we made our way to the botanical gardens
where we spent the rest of the afternoon. We prayed our late afternoon prayers (Asr)
in the beautiful gardens.
On our way back to the hotel, the stunning sunset
caught or eye so we stopped there, prayed, and headed back to the hotel.
Dinner on the beach
As we had the honeymoon package, we also had the
opportunity to have a romantic dinner on the beach (if you do not have the
honeymoon package, you can always pay for this extra service.)
We chose a seafood menu and received a personalized
menu before our meal. It was super cute!
The food was okay, nothing to brag about but the
ambiance was wonderful! Sitting on a quiet beach and having a candlelight
dinner with the stars glistening on cue is something that should be on every
bucket list!
Miscellaneous notes
It should be noted that there are quite a few stray
dogs on the island and a few cats. This was a bit of an inconvenience because I
am extremely allergic to cats. Fortunately, I didn’t see many cats but I did see a lot of dogs. Most of
the locals that sell tours will have a dog with them.
Also, on some parts of the island, the sand is not
that soft because of all the dead coral or broken sea shells. So make sure you
take beach slippers with because it’s not fun to walk on rough beaches!
All in all, our honeymoon was absolutely wonderful! I
wouldn’t change a thing about it. It was fun and relaxing and
oh-so-special!
If you’re planning a honeymoon or even just a romantic
getaway, I would suggest going to Mauritius. You won’t regret it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteShukran for sharing
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading ♥️
DeleteI wish I could go back... I adore Mauritius. How was the beach at the hotel itself?
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot of coral on the beach so it wasn’t a walk on the beach (see what I did there😜). However, it was pretty quiet and once you get past the first few meters of the ocean, the sand starts to get much softer. Also, there were so many wonderful water sports offered on the beach.
DeleteLove this. Looks peaceful and blissful
ReplyDeleteIt definitely is!
DeleteWe also honeymooned in Mauritius and then had the opportunity to visit again last year. It’s truly out-of-this world in its raw beauty. I would go back again and again! Thanks for the great review and for rekindling my own fond memories of my stay :)
ReplyDelete