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By Lene Bjerk-Bojesen & Peter Bojesen
The Royal & Ancient game in Mauritius continues to boom. There are now seven 18 hole courses and others are under construction or planned. But for first class golf with memorable accommodation, exemplary service and a picture-perfect setting look no further than the luxurious Constance Belle Mare Plage or the ultra sophisticated Constance Le Prince Maurice. Both are part of the Constance Hotels Experience group.
Constance Hotels Experience offers two championship courses, The Legend (top right) and The Links (centre right). The Legend, designed by South African champion Hugh Baiocchi, is exclusively reserved for hotel guests, who play free of charge.
Opened in 1994, it has undergone continuous improvement and in 2004 was closed for five months to facilitate the rebuilding of all 18 greens to USGA specifications and to replace the irrigation system.
It was well worth the wait. The par 72, 6,042 metre championship course has water in play on most holes, each of which is laid in an indigenous forest and all with distinctive characteristics. The jewel is the spectacular 17th, a par-three of 152 metres, where there is nothing between the tee and the enormous green but the crystal clear, dark blue water of the lagoon.
It may sound like masochism but we love to play this tight, very technical and always immaculate lay-out, where course management and accuracy are more important than sheer length of shot. It’s eye-catching, too, and at times distracting. During the round you are likely to meet many Java deer and colourful tropical birds hiding among the flame-red flowers of the ubiquitous Flamboyant trees.
The second course, of 5,942 metres to a par of 71, was designed by Rodney Wright and Peter Alliss and opened in 2002. It is known as The Links but it is in fact a modern, American-style course with wide, rolling fairways and expanses of water in play. It is laid on an undulated landscape of former sugar cane fields a few miles from the white, sandy beaches of the hotels.
Unlike The Legend there are no caddies on The Links where, because of the hilly terrain, golf carts are compulsory. Another difference: The Links welcomes a limited number of visiting green fee players.
IF YOU wish to play The Legend course it is necessary to stay at either the five-star Constance Belle Mare Plage or the smaller but no less sumptuous Constance Le Prince Maurice. This way, too, you may reserve a tee time on The Links, which can be crowded at times. Both courses are complimentary to guests, a sound reason for choosing either of these hotels for your stay on the island but, in truth, there are many more.
We spent most of our non-golfing time at the Le Prince Maurice – it was so nice that we simply didn’t want to go anywhere else… The physical beauty of the place is almost overwhelming, and we agree that there can be few hotels to rival it.
Set on a 60-acre site with three beaches and its own lagoon, the hotel is the only one in Mauritius to have suites built on stilts over the water, although the majority of the 89 suites are on dry land. Each one has dark, polished teak floors, wooden Venetian blinds and a soaring, hessian-lined ceiling. The spacious bathroom is a combination of marble and exotic wood with state-of-the art amenities. From the outside, the buildings blend naturally into the beauty and simplicity of the environment. The use of wood, stone and thatch gives the hotel its unique charm, characterized by an ambience of total tranquility and a refined, understated elegance.
Superlatives become superfluous at this regal hotel with its enormous pool, its shaded beach, the magnificent Guerlain Spa and the fitness centre. Not to mention the romantically magical Barachois restaurant which floats on the lagoon at the end of a narrow wooden bridge.
But it's not just the physical beauty of the place, or its peace and facilities, that make Le Prince Maurice so special. It is the attentiveness of the staff and their infinite attention to detail. Lie on a sun-bed by the pool and an attendant in gleaming whites will bring you not just iced water and a towel but an Evian spray. He will even polish your sun glasses! Find yourself on the sandy beach mid-afternoon, and someone will appear with a cup of home-made mango sorbet. You could get used to this…
Nobody sums it up better than Vincent Bergman, a charming Frenchman who is the hotel’s general manager. “Here it is all about detail and personalized service,” he told us. “That’s why we have such a high number of repeated guests, especially during Christmas and New Year, when we are always fully booked and when more than 90 per cent of the guests are regulars.”
Being travel journalists and having visited golf resorts in more than 50 countries, we have stayed in many five-star hotels. Compared to most of those – and with the risk of creating inflation in the rating system - we give Constance Le Prince Maurice at least seven stars.
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
How to get there: Air Mauritius has five weekly direct flights from Heathrow to Mauritius. It has a modern Airbus fleet the in-flight service is renowned. Return fares from London start at about £700, taxes included. For details and reservations visit www.airmauritius.com
Formalities: UK citizens require only a valid passport. No vaccinations are required or recommended
Currency: £1 = approx. 60 MUR (Mauritius Rupees). Major credit cards accepted almost everywhere.
Climate: In coastal areas, the daytime temperature hovers around 22°C from April to September and up to 34°C during the rest of the year. The Indian Ocean will be between 22 and 28°C, depending upon season. December through February is cyclone season, but most cyclones of the region tend to pass the island at a fairly safe distance.
Culture: Mauritius is a peaceful, multi-cultural society. Apart from the local Creole-language, most people speak French and English.
Prices: Locally produced food and beverages are cheap – imported products less so. Local markets are cheap and tourists may find good quality fashion textiles are very reasonably priced.
Sightseeing: Well worth a visit: Port Louis, the capital, with its daily, colourful open-air market; the Caudan Waterfront with restaurants and shops: the Blue Penny Museum; Pamplemousses Botanical Garden; the Sugar Museum in Beau Plan; Rodrigues Island, which you reach after a 45 minute flight.
Water Sports: Everything from deep sea fishing for blue marlin, swordfish, shark, wahoo, barracuda and tuna, to scuba diving and snorkelling on a coral reef, wind surfing, para-flying and sailing…
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