Mauritius

It’s believed that Mark Twain said that Heaven was copied after Mauritius. And to be honest, the moment you step in Mauritius you can see why he said that. This is my third time visiting Mauritius, and every single time I am happy to be back.
Towards the end of 2021 my husband suggested that we spend our winter holidays in Mauritius. He is born and raised there and we haven’t visited his family since we moved to Japan.

We stayed 20 days there. The decision to spend our holiday there was not easy, since due to Covid there are lot of restrictions in Mauritius itself and in Japan. But after lot of discussions we decided that it’s the best to go now.

In December in Mauritius it’s peak summer, temperatures are between 25-35 degrees, it’s bit humid and really hot. Going from temperatures below 0 degrees in Japan to +30 degrees it took some time for us to adjust. 
During our stay in Mauritius the most time we spend with my husband’s close family, but on weekends we did explored the island a bit.
We mainly visited Casela (well known zoo), Île Aux Benitiers and La Vallee des couleurs.

We have been previously to Casela, when our daughter was 1 year old – but she doesn’t remember anything about the place. So we really wanted to bring her again. Casela is located in Cascavelle area near Flic En Flac. It is really spacious nature park with lot’s of animals for the kids to see, and a very nice theme park for the little children.

During our stay I really wanted to go for a boat trip, and my husband suggested that we go to Île Aux Benitiers. In high season I recommend booking boat trip as soon as you arrive in Mauritius or even before that. We struggled a bit to find available boat for that day. From Flic En Flac it’s about 30 minutes boat ride to the island, usually they accept between 5-10 people per boat it all depends of the size of the boat.
They offer free drinks during the boat trip, on the way to the island they stop to see the dolphins and you also may get an opportunity to swim with them which is an AMAZING experience. 

Once you reach on the island they set up table and chairs for all the guests on the boat, you get free drinks, lunch and dessert. I’ve been 2 times on Île Aux Benitiers and both times the food was amazing. Along the island there are lot of little boats parked in which some they sell little souvenirs.

Last but not least, was our trip to La Vállee des Couleurs. This is an amazing park with zip line, dirt buggies, animals and spacious outdoor park for kids. This was our first time here and I was amazed of how nice it was. We tried the zipline, the dirt buggies and we end our day at the children outdoor park.