FROM SUSAN & DAVE
Sent: 14th of February 2007

Hi Trudi,

Thank you for your email ! Our trip was amazing and totally exceeded our expectations.

Thank you for the recommendation and to you and Herve for all your advice and assistance. We are SO glad we chose The Residence and not went with one of the Beachcomber resorts.

The staff and the service at the resort were amazing; we had never experienced such fantastic service anywhere and we have stayed at some nice places.

The resort was spotless and fantastic and the beach was superb. The thing that did it for us was just the little things throughout our stay:
1. putting a bookmark into our books
2. leaving little notes in our room when turning down the bed each night
3. remembering one breakfast morning that we had asked for 'stewed banana and lime' the day before and the chef had specially prepared a little bowl for us the next day
4. always greeting us by our names 'mr & mrs beardsley'
 AND....
the thing that topped it off for us was the candlelit dinner in our room on the last night where we had our own waiter and the room had been transformed into a sanctuary of candles and rose petals !

The food overall was sensational and we have never eaten so much in our lives ! The only gripe we had was the alcohol and wine was very expensive but we were prepared for that.

I have attached a couple of photos for you to look at and again we thank you so much for all your help !

Susan & Dave

FROM GEORGE & NICOLE

Hi Herve
We have had the greatest time during our holiday in Mauritius where we stayed at ‘Le Sands ‘Hotel in Wolmar.
We cannot praise the Hotel staff enough for attending to all our needs from the day our flight from Perth landed in Plaisance.
We were whisked away in a taxi when we were expecting a Van to take us to the hotel and enjoyed the taxi driver’s commentaries as we were driving across the island.
We were welcomed at the Hotel by the staff who attended to our lugagge and our needs.
Our room was just magical; it had all the modcons one would expect as soon as we were settled we had our first breakfast in magical surrounds which was invigorating.
The meals were specially the Mauritian nights where we were treated to all the delights and foods.
The next few weeks were spent in the most relaxing surrounds as we visited the island and caught up with family and friends.
The view from our balcony still is a vibrant memory and thank you for ensuring that we had the best during our holidays which we will remember for quite some time.
We attach a few photos that we took.
Thanks

George & Nicole

From: Robyn
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 4:03 PM
Subject: Trip
Trudy,

Thanks for the follow up. We had a wonderful time and I can’t thank you enough for your efforts, patience and advice. I had expected that travelling in Africa would be much more difficult – especially with a young child.

The hotels and lodges were all well above our expectations and I will write notes to our favourites to thank them. The Namib Desert Lodge in Namibia and the Edeni River Lodge and Elephant Plains Lodge in South Africa were real stand outs. The rooms, activities and food were all wonderful and the staff were really helpful and informative. They were very supportive and helpful with Tess, our 3 year old.

All of the tours and activities were first rate and we feel so lucky to have seen so many things that many people might only dream about. The hot air balloon ride over the desert in Namibia was the best thing I’ve ever done and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Namibia. The game drives in Botswana and South Africa were truly remarkable and allowed us to get incredibly close to the wildlife – so much closer than I had thought we would.

The final leg of the trip in Mauritius on the way home was a perfect ending. It allowed us to do nothing but lay on the beach and totally relax!

African Eagle were excellent support and contacts too. Sofie from the office in Namibia met us at the airport and took us through all of the details of our plans while in Namibia. They even phoned our hotels to check that we were OK or if we had any questions – I’ve never had that sort of back up and it made such a difference to know they were there if something went wrong. Marc from the J’burg office similarly met us at the airport and took us through the plans for South Africa. We were able to ask lots of questions so we knew clearly where to go and what to do.

We had the trip of a lifetime and I really appreciate all of your help in putting it together. We pretty much fell in love with Africa and will spend a lot of time working out how we might get back there and live for a year or two in the future.....

Thanks again for your help.

Best regards,

Robyn

Added to this page on 13st April 2006

Dear Herve & Trudy,

Mauritius is beautiful. We have been enjoying our stay at La Plantation very much. Everyone is so warm and friendly. We have done some tours: A catamaran tour from Tamarin, to see the dolphins & the crystal rock and another day trip to see the botanical gardens at Pamplemousse. Stopped in Port Louis for a bit of shopping & finished at Flic en Flac. We have been enjoying swimming, waterskiing, sailing etc & snorkeling the reef, seeing many colourful fish. We have experienced Mauritian Sega, dance & culture with the festival “Holi”. Looking forward to the east coast & head to Belle Mare on Saturday. Having a delightful time.
Thanks for Everything.
Belinda & Matt
Added to this page on 1st April 2006

by Marianne and Rob

IT WAS to be the discovery of a lifetime – to ensure our places in history and guarantee more than just the 15 minutes of fame promised by Andy Warhol.
Long fascinated by the bird portrayed in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland we met with Herve of African Dreams in Melbourne who knows everything there is to know about travel in Africa.
We weren’t asking much – just a glimpse of the Dodo bird, not sighted since 1663.
The web told us that the extinct dodo was a gray, flightless bird – perhaps a distant relative of the pigeon family. It had a large, hooked beak with a plume of white feathers adorning its tail. It lived on the island of Mauritius and had no predators before the arrival of man.
Herve consulted with his vast network of contacts to plan for us an expedition extraordinaire to the island paradise.
A week was needed, he decided, and our base was to be 104 Demasse Avenue in Veranda Village which is situated in Grand Baie on the north of the island.
Herve ensured we would not be roughing it like the early explorers. The village was more beautiful than any brochure could portray with two swimming pools, a tennis court, gym and beauty salon located on a beach to take your breath away.
This, he explained, was to allow a little rest and recreation during our exhausting work.
We set off, flying into a cyclone which we determined would not hamper our meticulous planning for immortality.
Having unpacked it was time for business.
As seasoned sleuths we commenced our mission with probing questions for the locals.
It soon became apparent the task was to be more difficult than we had imagined.
‘What happened to the Dodo,’ we asked.
The charming Veronique told us: ‘Ze dodo bird – eet stinks. Ze Dootch zey eet zem all op.’
Further investigation showed that it was indeed the Dutch who invaded Mauritius in 1638 and that within 50 years the dodo was actually extinct
(eet stinks).
Mission aborted. Time to indulge ourselves in the beauty that is Mauritius.
Swimming, sailing, snorkelling.
Diving, dancing, drinking.
And we found out there were a number of ways to get around the island – by hiring a bike, boat or car – or just getting on a bus with the locals.
That’s the way we chose and it was an experience in itself. The drivers are most helpful – even if their English is limited – and it proved incredibly cheap. A trip from Grand Baie to the capital Port Louis for instance cost the equivalent of $2.
If we’d wanted we could also have negotiated with a taxi driver who would have been most happy to spend a day taking us around for about $100.
If shopping is your bag a trip to any of the local markets (bazaar) is a must. Just be prepared to haggle. The vendors will be most disappointed if you don’t. There’s a special price – ‘juz for you madame.’
And if you don’t want to go to the shops, the shops will come to you. The vendors will find you with an array of locally-produced goods you’ll drool over.
But if relaxation and atmosphere is what your holiday is about there’s nothing to beat Mauritius.
So, while getting along with the Phoenix beer on the beach at sunset we wondered why we’d had a mission in the first place. What dodos!
We may not have had our 15 minutes of fame.
But we’d had a week in paradise.

For everything you want to know about a holiday in Mauritius contact Herve of African Dreams Holidays on (03) 9563 8399.
Added to this page on 1st April 2006

Herve
the residence was a fantastic recommendation.
it had one of the most beautiful beaches in mauritius and the hotel was beautiful.
thanks
john
15 February 2006

Hi Hervey how are you?
just want to let you know our honeymoon was amazing the residence is an absolutely unbelievable resort. thank you so much for telling us to stay here if I was to go back to Mauritius again which we will, I will definitely stay there again.
Anthony
21th december 2005