Mauritius, a trip canceled due to the Pandemic, come true

Hello, I'm back with my blog. Today I want to tell you about the trip I took with my family in April 2022. This trip was planned for April 2020, which we canceled due to the Corona Virus.

Virus free and ready to board

My family and I arrived in Cape Town in July 2019, for my husband's work. In December before Christmas, my husband came with the proposal to visit Mauritius again. We had done it before in 1999. After settling into our new house, as we previously lived in Switzerland, and having visited some places in South Africa like the Garden Route, we were ready for an adventure in South Africa's neighbouring country, Mauritius.

We celebrated Christmas, our first in Cape Town and started 2020 visiting new places in our new country. The date for the Easter holidays was approaching, but the pandemic arrived and with it all our travel dreams vanished. We already know the rest, because we all live the same reality.

Air Mauritius did not return the money for the flight and the two hotels with which we had reserved if they returned the advance payment, although one took a year to pay us.

But in April 2022, the miracle happened and the borders were opened for travellers. Mauritius, here we come! On April 4 we flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg and from there to the wonderful island. Air Mauritius allowed us to use our flights that we had booked. And my husband and I went in Business class, what better way to celebrate!

The Covid test at Hotel Shanti

And we arrived at Hotel Shanti, in the south of the island. At the reception they gave us a Covid test. If someone in my family tested positive, it meant we couldn't stay in this hotel. Fortunately, no one tested positive, or so the hotel employee told us.

The fun started, enjoying the Hotel Shanti. There were few tourists in the hotel: English, French and us, Swiss-Mexicans. We really enjoyed two days off. On the third day we traveled by taxi to the airport to pick up the car we had booked as we wanted to explore the island.

We were very struck by the response of the Mauritians, because even on the beach they wore masks. Very obedient to government rules.

Baie du Cap, Morne Brabant and le Chamarel

We left the hotel to tour the south of the island. Our first stop was to go up to the small mountain of Maconde view point in the town of Baie du Cap. It was wonderful to see this little town from the top. And there were no tourists!

One of the most famous places on the island is the Morne Brabant. And we went there. Mont Brabant Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island.

There we were walked enjoying the turquoise blue water of the Indian Ocean.

The trip would continue by looking for one of the most famous restaurants on the island: La Varangue sur Morne. There we tasted authentic dishes of the island. Like mine with shrimp and a rice.

After this culinary break, we travel to the next attraction which would be Chamarel.

This place is known as the Terre du 7 couleurs. We payed our entrance tickets and arrived at the viewpoint in front of the Cascada de Chamarel.

This place is made up of dunes of 7 colors in the middle of a forest. The giant tortoises of Seychelles are also one of the attractions of this place in addition to the layers of these dunes formed by the erosive activity of the soil and the combination of minerals from the rain. Red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple and yellow are the predominant colors.

I highly recommend this experience, because you get to know more than just the island's beaches. Chamarel has a mythical charm. Mountains close to the beaches and that wonderful waterfall. The tourist should not hesitate to visit this attraction.

Back to the Shanti Hotel. That night a sunset on the beach and a delicious dinner awaited us. The next day would be the last in the hotel, since we would change residence to the north of the island, since we had rented a villa for the next few days of our vacation. I will tell you about this in the next Landing. Thanks for reading me!