Sun Drenched in Zanzibar

Zanzibar -the "Spice Island" famous for its spices such as cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, pepper and more, is located in the Indian ocean about 40km east of Tanzania and is part of an archipelago made up of Zanzibar (also known as Unguja, but more widely known as Zanzibar), Pemba Island (situated North-East from Zanzibar) and smaller islets surrounding Zanzibar.



Zanzibar is known for its beautiful white sand beaches filled with coconut palms and surrounding coral reefs, clear ocean water and rich history.


The east coast hosts the most popular resorts and hotels and great accommodation can also be found in the North in Nungwi.


Accommodation in Zanzibar can be divided into two categories namely hotels in historical Stone Town and the popular beach hotels/resorts. Some of the hotels or resorts have a more rustic feel to them, mostly built of local materials and thatched roofs and are generally the two star and three star properties while others are more modern and contemporary in style - usually the four and five star hotels. Most of the hotels are set in beautiful gardens by the beach and offer a range of activities to be enjoyed by guests.


The east coast's beaches are more beautiful but they face the prevailing winds and as a result the seas here are a bit rougher, but during low tide the water tend to draw back very far (sometimes as far as the coral reef surrounding the island).


Not far from the East coast are the Mnemba reefs which make for absolutely spectacular diving and many of the hotels are able to take you out to the reefs.


Zanzibar is a great destination for relaxing, diving, snorkeling, deep sea fishing, swimming with the dolphins and other water activities. A visit to the historic Stone Town with its narrow pathways and lively markets is an interesting cultural experience.


Zanzibar is also home to the rare Red Colobus Monkey, which is recognized as a distinct species.


Temperatures are ideal for for all year travel, but from April to June the monsoon rains fall but it usually does not rain every day during this time. December can be very hot as it is the peak summer month in Zanzibar and June the peak winter month with enjoyable mild temperatures.


The island is blessed with its beautiful nature and white sandy beaches, making it a haven for honeymooners and all people seeking the quiet nature away from life in the fast lane.

For more information, contact Travel Expeditions.

Idyllic Seychelles

Some of the world's most beautiful "untouched" islands are the islands of the Seychelles. A group of roughly 115 islands are located north-east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. These islands are densely vegetated and truly idyllic with their white washed beaches and clear ocean waters.


Only 16 of the 115 islands in the Seychelles offer accommodation of which only 3 offers more than one hotel - Mahe, Praslin and La Digue. The reason behind this is an initiative from the Seychellois to limit the number of visitors per day to prevent over crowded beaches and as a result sustain and adequately preserve the natural beauty and ecology of this extraordinary destination.


With a mild-sub tropical climate with temperatures varying between 24 and 33 degrees Celsius, Seychelles is a great island destination year round. Here you will find some of the rarest exotic plant and animal life from the Coco de Mer palms to exquisite tropical birds to the distinctive Seychelles black parrot.


With a population of about 89000, there are three national languages namely Creole, English and French.


The main island - Mahe is more developed and offers more activities than the other islands. This island features 75 magnificent palm fringed beaches surrounded by the clear water of the Indian Ocean. Beau Vallon is the most famous. Most hotels offer Creole cuisine and more international dishes.


Activities you can enjoy at the Seychelles include sailing, windsurfing and paragliding at Mahe's Beau Vallon Bay and Grand Anse and Mahe are both perfect for fishing. Island hopping is also a perfect idea to experience different attractions.


Seychelles is a jewel in the Indian Ocean; ideal for an extraordinary and unique breakaway. A destination few will be lucky enough to experience.

For more information, contact Travel Expeditions.

Beautiful Mauritius

Located within the Indian Ocean, somewhat 800 km east from Madagascar, lay beautiful Mauritius. Mauritius is a diverse tropical volcanic Island - home to lush vegetation, tropical forests, and more than 80 types of palm trees, craters, and superb beaches and offers abundance in marine life.


When the word "Mauritius" is spoken, the idea of romance, warm clear ocean waters and beautiful sandy beaches protected by a coral reef which almost surrounds the entire island enter your mind instantly. Mauritius is all this, and so much more...


The island hosts a mixture of cultures and religions, from Indian, Creole, Chinese and European resulting in numerous religious festivals and a variety of cuisine. The Mauritian people are friendly, warm and welcoming.


Mauritius is popular for its high quality hotels featuring a variety of water and sport activities - from diving and snorkeling, waterskiing, windsurfing, parasailing, boat rides, golf, spa treatments, deep sea fishing and much more. A variety of black marlin, blue marlin, yellow-fin tuna, barracuda & Dorado are found in the surrounding waters of Mauritius.


In Mauritius West is best. Not only because of the spectacular sunsets while enjoying a sundowner in the perfect relaxed setting, but the western parts are commonly drier and warmer year round The north-western part of the island generally enjoys warm, sunny weather during all seasons, making it ideal for all year holidays.


The North-West is also popular for the lively seaside resort town - Grand Baie; which has an abundance of shops, restaurants and a yacht club. Shoppers can easily find good value and high quality goods here.


A good infrastructure makes most parts of the island accessible for exciting day trips or exploring the island at your leisure.


Mauritius is true heaven for those seeking the perfect romantic hideaway or an exciting family holiday offering the comfort, tranquility and quality and memories that will allure you to return again and again.

For more information, visit Travel Expeditions.

Pearle Beach: Mauritius budget option offers great value for money, without compromising your comfort or enjoyment

3* Deluxe Pearle Beach:

So you want a memorable holiday or honeymoon on the tropical island of Mauritius, but; you don’t want to spend a fortune. Of course you do not want to jeopardise your dream holiday by your low budget. It is very true that in Mauritius you do not want to stay at just any 3* hotel. Many 3* hotels offer excellent rates, but leave guests disappointed with an image of Mauritius of never returning again.


For this reason it is very important to make the correct choice when choosing your budget hotel if you are on a budget.

One of the best value 3* hotels on Mauritius is 3* Deluxe Pearle Beach Resort. This hotel offers excellent packages for the budget conscious traveller, but promises a delightful holiday experience in return. This is value for money!

Pearle Beach Resort is located on the west coast of Mauritius, which, by many is seen as the best part of the island to stay on. For the simple reason of the west being more protected against the south-east trade winds and enjoys warmer, relatively drier and less windy weather.

Not only is the location perfect, this 3* Deluxe hotel is located on a spectacular stretch of beach shared by many exclusive 5* hotels and resorts on the same coast-line.

This charming hotel is situated on the beach-front and all rooms are sea facing.

Some of the many advantages this hotel offers its guests:

• Located on one of the best beaches in Mauritius.
• Recently fully renovated. All rooms are Sea Facing.
• Great hotel for Couples.
• Close to Flic & Flac Town (nightlife). 
• All Inclusive Upgradeable at excellent rates.
• Great value for money resort - excellent All Inclusive rates for a 3* Deluxe.

If you are looking for a great value for money budget break-away to Mauritius, don’t think twice, give Pearle Beach a try, you won’t be disappointed.

For more information, contact Travel Expeditions.

Tamassa - A great All Inclusive 4* Mauritian Hotel

If you are looking for a holiday or honeymoon filled with value, look not further. Tamassa hotel is a great 4* option, and the hotel is All Inclusive, which means that all meals and unlimited local drinks are included into your package, plus many extras like snacks and pancakes in the afternoons, access to kids and teens clubs free of charge, access to the underground disco – for those looking for a bit of nightly entertainment, and access to a vast variety of land and water sports on offer to all guests.
This hotel is an excellent choice and offers great value for money and early booking specials to its visitors.

Clients booking this value package will also qualify for a free travel bag per adult.

What is even more exciting is that this package includes a FREE full day excursion to the private island of Ile des Deux Cocos to all adults staying a minimum of 7 nights at this hotel. The excursion includes fascinating return boat transfers, a Mauritian Barbeque, lunch and local drinks. Children are welcome, but a supplement will be payable.

The hotel is located on the South-West coast of Mauritius. The location of the hotel is ideal for anybody who is looking for a vacation away from it all. Relaxation is the name of the game here. Unlike the more commercialised areas in the West and North-West of Mauritius, Tamassa is located in the preserved nature of Bel Ombre. This area is well known as one of the most unspoilt and most beautiful parts of Mauritius.

Tamassa Hotel is a big, spacious hotel – offering contemporary designed buildings but at the same time, adequate amounts privacy due to space. All rooms form part of a series of villas in semi-circles – facing the sea. 

Some of the many advantages this hotel offers its guests:

• Great value for money Family or Couple holiday.
• Located in the lush tropical South West - the most unspoilt part of Mauritius - in the heart of the preserved nature of Bel Ombre.
• All Rooms are Sea Facing.
• Various options of Interleading Rooms.
• Free full day excursion for (7 night stays or longer) to private island of Ile des Deux Cocos for adults.
• Newly built, Fresh, Modern, Airy Hotel - Large open gardens.
• Superb Beach Restaurant.
• 4 Swimming Pools, 2 surrounded by beach sand...
• In-house Disco.
• SPA - largest relaxation area and widest choice of SPA treatments for its category.
• All Inclusive Meal Basis.
• Located close to the Natural Reserve of Valriche with its stunning wildlife, the mountains, water falls and nature.
• The South-West offers some of the best snorkelling and diving spots.

Package prices start at an astonishing R12 300 per adult sharing (7 nights) - departure JNB.

If you are looking for a great Mauritius break-away, honeymoon or family holiday away from the hustle and bustle, with beautiful nature, beaches and sea, do not hesitate to book your next Mauritius trip to a very popular Tamassa hotel.

For more information, contact Travel Expeditions.

Stunning Sugar Beach Mauritius

Sugar Beach Resort - Mauritius:  This is an absolutely stunning 5* Resort located on the West Coast of Mauritius, near the village of Flic en Flac. The resort has an exquisite colonial style and boasts one of the most fantastic stretches of beach Mauritius has to offer. Being located on the west coast, this hotel offers breathtaking sunsets and the ideal opportunity to enjoying sundowners while lazing the late afternoon away. The perfectly maintained gardens blend perfectly with the island surroundings and offer a relaxing atmosphere.

The buildings comprise the central reception, the Manor House and 16 villas - ten with 12 rooms each and six with 10 rooms each. Guests have access to the facilities of La Pirogue which is within walking distance.

Facilities are fully interchangeable with its sister hotel – 4* La Pirogue – that is located next door to Sugar Beach, therefore clients have the advantage of enjoying the benefits two spectacular hotels have to offer. A wide variety of unlimited land and water sports are on offer free of charge to all Sugar Beach clients.

Spoil yourself to the glorious Spa treatments in a haven of beauty, wellbeing at the Aura Spa. The Spa has singles and couples rooms and a dedicated Shiatsu massage area. Try the ultimate therapy: a deluxe Hammam treatment with an exotic black soap massage. Or take time out in the plunge pool as you sip on a delicious drink from the organic Spa Bar.

Indulge in the glorious food with a feast of Mauritian, Mediterranean and international flavours in one of the 4 restaurants and bars, while enjoying excellent 5* service.

This resort is a big attraction to couples, honeymooners and families with children alike. Families can rest assured of adequate child-care facilities on offer and a teenage club is also available.

Another great advantage is that this 5* resort is All Inclusive upgradeable, therefore if clients choose the all inclusive package, they can be sure of a care-free holiday with all meals and unlimited selected drinks being included for the duration of their stay.

If you are looking at a truly enjoyable vacation or honeymoon in 5* luxury in Mauritius, choose Sugar Beach Resort and you will forever be in love with Mauritius!

Visit Travel Expeditions for more information.

Long Beach Mauritius – Part 2:

Long Beach Mauritius is as fresh and inviting as its lush tropical gardens’ as varied in its holiday offerings as the diverse plants, flowers and wildlife to be found there. Opening in December 2010 to considerable global anticipation, Long Beach Hotel promises and guarantees 5-star luxury topped with a galaxy of unique attributes.

Restaurants & Bars: Le Marche, the main restaurant (breakfast & dinner), with its 7 open kitchens. Sapori, for Italian and Mediterranean. Hasu, an avant-grade Japanese dining experience. Chopsticks, for modern Chinese meals with a twist. Tides, the superb seafood restaurant. Tides Pool & Beach Bar, for feet-in-the-sand-with-a-cocktail-in-hand. Shores, the main cocktail bar and lounge. Beach service 10am-5pm.

Room Overview: Each of Long Beach Hotel’s 225 rooms has a magnificent sea view, and as you enter yours, you’ll feel the harmony between open air and in-room comfort. Sit back. This is your sanctuary, your haven in shades of apple green, coral and white.

Room Types: The Beach-Front Family Rooms have king-sized beds and can accommodate two adults. A separate room can accommodate up to four children. The Standard Sea-View Rooms can accommodate two adults and either a third adult or a child. The Superior Beach-Front Rooms can accommodate two adults and an extra bed for a third adult or a maximum of two children sharing. The ground floor Deluxe Beach-Front Suites are situated right on the ocean. They can accommodate two adults and either a third adult or a child.

Room Amenities: All rooms have a 42” LCD flat-screen TV, satellite channels and multiple languages, international direct-dial telephones, WiFi internet access (usage extra), iPod docking stations, electronic room safes, hairdryers, aircon, mini-bars and tea/coffee facilities, a spacious separate shower, toilet and bath, and 24-hour in-room dining.

Spa Facility: The Long Beach Hotel’s Spa is focused on the theme of marine wellness through destination treatments and has been developed alongside Thal’ion, French leaders in marine cosmetology and thalassotherapy. There are 12 treatment rooms, including doubles, and an outdoor spa pavilion overlooking the lagoon. Within the spa, there is also a hair salon, manicure and pedicure stations, a relaxation area and a boutique.

Long Beach Mauritius coming to our website soon. Rates available for December onward bookings. For more information visit Travel Expeditions.

 

Long Beach – Mauritius – Part 1:

Long Beach Hotel is a first in Mauritian Holiday-Making: An upbeat beach resort – vibrant, chic and playful – that is, at the same time, the embodiment of fresh, relaxed and carefree beach living. It is even environmentally savvy.

Long Beach is light-hearted. It is sea views from every vantage point and home to a tropical lagoon in which a constellation of rare coral formations houses a rich underwater world.

Long Beach is to be found on Mauritius’ east coast, on the Belle Mare Peninsula, where a powerful urban feel meets the absolute ultimate in ocean, beach and 5-star luxury. Known for the longest, widest stretch of white-sand coastline of any Mauritian resort to date, Long Beach offers an outstanding 109m2 of beach space per room.

Long Beach is contemporary island design matched with natural flair. Tropical and local materials. Volcanic stone, wood and bright colour. It is consummate style, softened by natural forms, indigenous detailing and traditional touches.

Long Beach means a delectable variety of destination restaurants and eating experiences. A choice of textures, experiences and first time-treats. A blend of quiet spa time, nightclub nights, crazy water-splashed days or even conferences and golf.

Long Beach is unusual – a place that is as stylish as it is all-encompassing, that has something for everyone; that caters for both kiddie care and grown-up indulgence, and everything in between. In every way, Long Beach Hotel is an absolute original. 

Long Beach Mauritius coming to our website soon.  Rates available for December onward bookings.  For more information visit Travel Expeditions. 

Maldives – Worth a closer look (5):

Experience the Maldives – Part 5:

 
Up to now we have shared our experience from two extraordinary Maldives resorts to our Dubai stop-over City Experience. In the next blog, we will be looking at our Dubai Dune Dinner Safari Experience in detail.

Later that afternoon, we departed on the excursion which was the highlight of our whole Dubai experience – a Dune Dinner Desert Safari. This experience totally exceeded our expectations.

We were collected from our hotel and driven deep into the Dubai desert. This experience consists out of a few stops. The first stop was a camel stop where everybody could be photographed with the desert camels. This was very exciting as this was our first encounter with the soft desert sand and ambience. From here we were driven to our second stop, which is a refreshment stop. What we did not anticipate was that our ride from here on would be an adrenalin pumping joy ride. The drivers of these 4X4 vehicles really knew how to manoeuvre over these dunes at exhilarating speeds. Everybody in the vehicle was instantly on a high. What an experience!!! Finally we reached the second stop where we could enjoy a refreshing drink and run up and down the dunes, with a beautiful back-drop offering the most extraordinary desert photo opportunities.


Now it was on to our third stop, the sunset stop. Once again, we were taken on the 4X4 joy ride over the dunes at adrenalin rushing speeds and lots of very excited laughs. The sunset in the Dubai desert poses for extremely beautiful photo opportunities. Once the sun set, we were ready to leave for our dune dinner. Upon our arrival at the camp there were a group of camels awaiting us. We now had the opportunity to ride the camels, after which we were guided into our desert dinner camp.


This camp is set up as a typical Arabian Desert camp, with beautiful Arabic carpets stretching over the soft sand, with a selection of dinner tables to choose from and pillows to sit on. We enjoyed a sumptuous 3 course meal and then a belly dancer danced the night away. Guests were also welcome to join in, or just sit and relax while enjoying the experience.


Our night came to an end with a star-gazing experience. All the lights in the camp were shut down and we could all just lie on the pillows in the desert silence while gazing at the diamond sky above. What a beautiful sight.


This experience is really a must if you are a tourist in Dubai. When you book your next Dubai stop-over, do not leave this out of your itinerary.

This was the last night of your very exciting trip to the Maldives. We have experienced so much of the products we sell our clients and were truly happy with the products our clients ultimately experience when booking their trip with Travel Expeditions.
You can also have this dream holiday!! Contact Travel Expeditions for more information on the stunning Maldives.