Sweeten your tee

Jeremy Thomas takes a swing on a former sugar estate and finds winter in Mauritius is prime time for golfers

The professionals at Heritage Golf Club will tell you there are no poisonous snakes in Mauritius. The nastiest surprise you're likely to get is a bug bite if you stray off the perfect fairways. That, and a pretty, leathery-leaved species of shrub that exists solely to eat errant golf balls.

Speaking of reptiles, the last thing you need to pick up is a strange golf club when you tackle a strange golf course. A borrowed Cobra driver in my strangled grip might as well have been its namesake for all the control I had over it. Although the pro shop is happy to lend you a set, rather bring your own weapons; it's worth the schlep.

Lovely as it is, Heritage hides a wicked set of teeth. Within a whiff of the sea, the course climbs and falls along the contours of a series of hills that will remind you of KwaZulu-Natal. Plenty of elevated tees, river crossings and doglegs, and fairways that are a lot narrower - and further away - than they first appear. (Don't play from the tips unless you're off single figures because you'll make your name tortoise. Choose one of the four other shorter, options.)

As a proper championship layout, it is in perfect nick and a treat to play if you pay some respect. Its architect, South African Peter Matkovich, has learnt a few things from his celebrated designs such as Arabella, Steenberg, San Lameer and Woodhill, and I found definite echoes at Heritage of his little gem, Zebula, near Bela-Bela in Limpopo. One may be in the bushveld and the other on the southwest coast of a tropical island, but they both sit on the land as if they belong, full of indigenous trees and free of gimmicks.

If you want something more tricksy, Bernhard Langer's fantasia at Le Touessrok fits the bill. Near to it on the east coast is Anahita, a sprawling masterpiece by Ernie Els. Both courses are within a couple of hours' drive of Heritage. (I seriously wouldn't consider driving myself; the routes, roads and traffic are eccentric at best. Rather ask the local Connections people to organise a chauffeur.)

Golfing parties could consider renting an eight-sleeper villa on the estate (or the Domaine de Bel Ombre, as they prefer to call it). The package on offer until the end of August is R73455 (for your choice of two or three weeks), which includes unlimited golf at Heritage and access to both the Le Telfair and neighbouring Awali hotels, which have all sorts of stuff for moms, kids and teenagers to do.

Either bring your own food and booze or ask the hotel to provide in-house catering and bar services (and servants, if you wish). Or else eat at one of the 11 restaurants on the estate. Annabella's has a groovy, kind-of-Italian take on island style, under the baton of executive chef Enrico Rodati, and Gin'ja serves the most delicious sushi I've had outside of Nobu in Dubai.

The excellent food is not surprising, since the managing director of Heritage Resorts is the former boss of the foodie bible Michelin Guide.

Our party went across in mid-winter, which the locals say is prime time for golf. Indeed, the weather was sunny and mild - a fresh breeze off the Indian Ocean and low humidity.

Seldom are cynical journalists duped by public-relations guff, but the whole spiel about 19th-century Irish naturalist Charles Telfair and his Bel Ombre sugar estate was entirely convincing - to the extent that even the Johannesburg-based tour operator believed the resort had been around for 200 years. Not so, sadly (it's more like 10 years), but it certainly carries a sheen of old-school colonial grace. A gorgeous manor house that overlooks the golf course and coastline is the sole survivor from the 1800s. The chateau serves a fine breakfast; the eggs Benedict is just the thing.

Verandahs are the killer app of tropical hotels and Le Telfair has them everywhere. Long, wide ones above exposed white beams in the public areas, little stoeps outside the hotel rooms, a vast lapa shading the beach club boma. Totally cool - and the décor is nice, too. Camel, taupe, mushroom, shades of beige in the minimalist suites; the only decoration being framed letters and envelopes in the hand of the nobleman Telfair.

After golf, while the others were snorkelling and doing lady stuff at the spa, I decided to lie in the sun next to the pool with a book and a beer. So I sampled the mini-bar in my room - not the smartest move, anywhere in the world, but needs must. A bottle of locally brewed Phoenix lager is 170 rupees (about 3.4 rupees to the rand). What's that, about 50 bucks a pop? Whoa.

For the record, a half bottle of Drostdy Hof plonk is 1250 rupees. Water costs 140 and a Coke 130. A table d'hôte room service meal will set you back 1050 rupees. Hold the wine then, perhaps, darling.

I had a 500ml draft beer at the beach bar for a sobering 285 rupees. Just down the shore, the more rustic Awali resort runs on a kind of Club Med-type all-in tariff, which includes all meals and hooch. Something to consider if you're going to arrive with the kind of dainty, teetotaller golfing yahoos I hang out with.

• Thomas was a guest of Heritage Resorts and Air Mauritius.

Reader offer

The Holiday Factory is offering Sunday Times readers the following exclusive reader offer to Mauritius:

Seven nights at to Heritage Le Telfair resort in Mauritius from R15360 per person sharing including flights on Air Mauritius ex Johannesburg, current airport taxes, accommodation in a deluxe room, daily breakfast, lunch and dinner, non-motorised water sports and complimentary green fees at the Heritage Golf Club.

Add on about R2185 including taxes for Cape Town departures and approximately R2120 including taxes for Durban departures.

This exclusive offer is valid until August 30 2013. Booking conditions apply.

• Contact The Holiday Factory on 0860 ISLAND (0860475263), e-mail res@theholidayfactory.co.za or visit holidayfactory.co.za. Please mention the Sunday Times reader offer when enquiring.