St Enodoc - Heritage Resorts Mauritius

Transcription

Mauritius_StEnodoc18.12.1411.43Side1
MAURITIUS
Treasured
Island
Marooned
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M
auritius is a beguiling destination that, once
visited, draws you back again and again. Its
allures are many: the beauty of its scenery,
dominated by distinctive, craggy mountain
peaks; bays of glorious white-sand beaches,
fringed by palm trees; the tranquil and shallow turquoise waters
of the lagoons beyond, protected by reefs encircling the island,
and its friendly, always smiling people.
As the Emirates Airbus A380 took off from Heathrow on a
cold, dreary November evening for my fourth visit to Mauritius,
via Dubai, I pondered how much change I would see since I last
visited, almost 20 years ago.
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I remember huge swathes of the tropical island being covered by
sugar cane plantations, and workers out in the fields cutting the cane
plants by hand with machetes to load onto oxcarts. But cheaper
international competitors, plummeting prices and slashed EU
subsidies, have decimated the once-mighty sugar industry. As a result,
many plantations have disappeared. Tourism is now the big cash cow.
CHAMPIONSHIP GOLF. On my last visit, I had passed sprawling
tracts of sugar cane stalks swaying in the sea breeze as I drove
through the 6,000-acre Domaine de Bel Ombre, on the southwest
coast. This time, it would be my base for the week.
In the intervening years, the estate has closed its sugar mill,
dug up much of the sugar cane it had grown for 100 years and
transformed itself into a luxury hospitality company.
Since 2004, it has operated two five-star hotels fronting a
beautiful stretch of beach – the Heritage Le Telfair Golf & Spa
Resort and the adjacent Heritage Awali Golf & Spa Resort – as
well as villas, two spas and the 18-hole Heritage Golf Club
championship course.
One of seven 18-hole courses that now grace Mauritius, it is
set to really put the island on the global golfing map in May, when
it hosts the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, the first-ever trisanctioned pro tour event; a collaboration between the European
Tour, Africa’s Sunshine Tour and the Asian Tour.
The four-day stroke play championship, from 7-10 May, will
feature at least 40 players from each tour’s 2014 Order of Merit,
competing for a purse of £1 million.
PALATIAL VILLA. The Mauritius Open was last held in 2008,
being superseded the following year by the MCB Open, a
European Seniors Tour event that evolved into the MCB Tour
Championship. This remains on the Seniors Tour calendar as the
season’s finale each December. Like the MCB Open and previous
Mauritius Open incarnation, it is held on the Legend Course at
Constance Belle Mare Plage.
Some 600 million households on five continents will be able to
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watch the pros battle it out for the Mauritius Open honours on
live and recorded TV coverage. The result will count towards each
Tour’s Order of Merit, as well as official world golf ranking points.
Having been given a palatial three-bedroom villa, complete
with its own plunge pool plus the use of my own golf buggy to
explore the resort, I felt like a Tour pro. But I was not getting
special treatment; all guests staying in one of the villas enjoy the
same facilities. You can even have a chef cook a meal in your villa
if you don’t want to eat at one of the twin resorts’ 12 restaurants.
ON COURSE. My first pit stop was lunch at the C Beach Club,
which will be the Mauritius Open players’ clubhouse. I met with
Heritage Golf Club’s amiable general manager Ryan Dodds, who
explained that hosting such a high profile event should raise
awareness of Mauritius as a golf destination.
He was preaching to the converted. With its perfect, yearround tropical climate, top-class courses and plenty to do besides
lazing on the beach or lounging by the pool, Mauritius really is a
no-brainer for golfers who want to combine a beach-based holiday
with as much golf as they want to play.
Another two courses are due to open on Mauritius by the end
of 2016. For an island just over three times the size of the Isle of
Man, having 10 18-hole courses to choose from, by designers
including Ernie Els and Bernhard Langer, will please even the
most ardent golf nut.
Like the Heritage course, the Avalon course (opening late next
year in nearby Bois Cheri) is a design by South African Peter
Matkovich. That will give the island’s southwest four courses, the
others being Tamarina and Paradis.
PART OF PARADISE. Paradis and Tamarina make enjoyable
golfing excursions that are not overly exacting. They offer golfers
stunning settings and exquisite views.
Paradis nestles under the towering Le Morne mountain on a
peninsula next to two hotels owned by the island’s largest hotel
company, Beachcomber. It was a welcome return to Le Morne as
I have stayed there twice before, and the Paradis golf manager,
Mario, even remembered me from two decades earlier!
Paradis is an ideal holiday golf course, being neither long nor
particularly difficult. Care is needed, however, to avoid a waterway
that crosses several holes and the beautiful lagoon that edges five
of the back nine holes.
It was my first time playing Tamarina and I was struck by the
mountain views incorporated into the layout by designer Rodney
Wright. The iconic sharp-peaked Mount Rempart, resembling a small
Matterhorn, forms the memorable backdrop to several holes, most
spectacularly on the dogleg par-4 7th and the tricky par-4 15th.
Another favourite was the par-3 6th, with elevated tee boxes requiring
a tee shot over a river to a small, protected green 275 feet below.
STUNNING VIEWS. The east coast comprises the Legends and
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Links courses at the Constance Belle Mare Plage, Langer’s testing
Le Touessrok layout taking up the entire offshore island, Ile aux
Cerfs, and the Ernie Els-designed Four Seasons Anahita course.
This will share the Mauritius Open with the Heritage, hosting it
on alternate years, starting from 2016. The second new course
will be in the north.
Els is kind to wayward drivers, with expansive and forgiving
fairways, if you can avoid the well-placed bunkers on many holes
or the meandering Lazy Burn on the short par-4 9th. Stop off
after the 9th green to see the two giant Aldabra tortoises that live
in a pen just behind it. They are partial to bananas, and lumber
towards you in expectation of a snack.
Accuracy is key for approach shots, with the small and
undulating greens heavily protected by bunkers. Anahita’s par-5
4th, called Ocean Drive, and the par-3 8th, Manta Ray, both
play directly towards the azure Indian Ocean before the last
three holes serve up one of golf’s most drop-dead gorgeous
finishes. Keep your eye on your shots instead of the passing
boats, the inviting sea or Ile aux Cerfs, across the bay, otherwise
your score will suffer.
QUALITY SERVICE. Anahita is managed by the adjacent, luxury
Four Seasons hotel, and the service quality is as high on the course
as it is in the hotel. A waiter even serves cold lemon juice and
cookies at the halfway point.
A five-minute ride in a small ferryboat brings you to Ile aux
Cerfs. Make sure you stock up on golf balls as you will need
plenty. It is a brute of a course, albeit a beautiful one, with narrow
fairways, water hazards galore, mangrove swamps and thick stands
of trees to negotiate. The constant wind off the ocean makes club
selection and deciding where to aim even tougher.
Amazingly, I belied my 23 handicap and mostly kept it on the
short stuff, losing only two balls in the water and getting round
one of the toughest courses I have ever played in a gross 91 and
40 Stableford points. Pretty much every hole has the wow factor,
as well as the “ow” factor when your ball vanishes into a hazard…
NINE HOLE COURSES. There are also four nine-hole courses on
the east coast, among them one designed by golf legend Gary
Player, next to the Saint Gerain hotel.
I played two rounds on the Heritage course, one with
Heritage’s Ryan Dodds the day before he jetted off to the Algarve
to pick up the award of Best Golf Course in the Indian Ocean for
the Heritage Golf Club at the inaugural World Golf Awards – a
testament to its quality.
Resort guests get golf included. With wide fairways and not
too many unfriendly hazards, it is a manageable course for most
golfers. Several holes offer commanding views over parts of the
course and its pitch and putt sibling, as well as to the ocean.
Matkovich also uses tall grasses to mimic sugar cane on some
holes, notably the par-3 8th. Beware the huge volcanic rock just
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GOOD TO KNOW

before the 4th green, get stuck behind it like I was and you are as
dead as the proverbial dodo, with no shot to the green.
TIME TO INDULGE. The Heritage restaurants are all different. I
particularly enjoyed the food, service and beachside views at the
Awali resort’s Infinity Blue and the Heritage Le Telfair’s Asianinspired Gin’Ja, where my duck choice was flambéed at my table
with panache, not to mention dining under the floodlit branches
of a huge ficus tree next to the historic Chateau de Bel Ombre,
the grand plantation house which now specialises in local food
sourced on the Domaine.
I indulged in a very relaxing spa session, choosing from the
Seven Colours Spa Millennium Collection at the Heritage Le
Telfair. The treatments are based on a colour and flower you select.
I chose lavender, said to be very calming, and indeed it was.
NATURE RESERVE. The active can explore the Domaine by 4x4,
quad bike or Segway. I sat behind tour leader Fabrice on a
powerful 700cc two-seater quad bike as he drove me through the
Frederica Nature Reserve. The reserve covers almost half the entire
estate, and we saw a lovely waterfall, wild boar and deer, as well
as an overlook giving a panoramic view of the surrounding
countryside, coastline and ocean.
Pointing out the old sugar mill at the entrance to the sister
hotels, Fabrice explained that Mauritius once had more than 250
sugar cane factories. Today there are just four left; Bel Ombre’s
having closed in 1998.
Sadly, there was no time to visit Belle Mare Plage and play the
Legends or Links courses there. That will have to wait until next time.
However, I did catch a traditional Sega show at the Heritage
Awali on my final night. The Creole rhythms were every bit as
vibrant as I recalled from previous visits, and I was mesmerised
by the colourful dresses of the dancers as they whirled to the
insistent beat by a bonfire on the beach.
I will make sure I don’t leave it another 20 years before I return
to this treasured island.
GGM
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