Adventures in Mauritius for Sweta Keswani

Sweta Keswani has just come back after a mint-fresh holiday in Mauritius. She had a blast on the clear blue waters of the islands.
“What excited me was that this wasn’t a usual island trip but an adventure packed holiday with loads of fun,” says Sweta excitedly.

Jumping from the sky
Contrary to belief that you only get to do water sports in Mauritius, there are a lot of things that you can do in the air too. Like being dropped from the sky!

Sweta explained how it was done. “We were dropped from a level of 10,000 feet from a little plane. I got instructions on what to do, how my legs should be during the free fall and much more. The trainer jumped with me,” she says.

When they reached 10,000 feet, the door of the plane opened. “I think that for me was the scariest moment ever. We got thrust out of the plane…went over the clouds, The sight was breathtaking — the blue ocean, clouds and the sugarcane fields below. I was completely freaking out till the parachute opened, after that  I suddenly got pulled up with a tremendous thrust and a jolt on the harness, followed by calmness.  Then on, we were just gliding through the wind. It was the most amazing experience.”

Zipping it down
Zip lining was an experience in itself “We’ve seen how this happens in many Hollywood films. We walked over a tiny boardwalk to the other side of the cliff. There was a stream below running between the two cliffs that looked tiny because we were so high. Once on the other side, they clipped us on to this rope and we went swinging to the other side on that rope suspended between two cliffs. I felt like Tarzan, what a rush it was!” she says.

That’s a roar
There’s one thing about Mauritius that you must know now — you can walk lions here like you walk your dogs. “We walked with these two female lions who were about four months old, but they were huge! They were young and playful and didn’t realise their own strength.” That done, we could even pet them and see them take a bath. They played with their care-takers and it was a sight for sore eyes to watch man and animal completely at peace with one another.”

Scootering around
Mauritius has just introduced subscooters that make you dive like a kingfisher into the ocean. Says Sweta, “It’s an amazing vehicle, a grid on the boat parks them all. It submerges the scooters underwater, an air bubble is created shoulder up. So you’re almost neck deep in water, accelerating with both your feet, no brakes. You stop accelerating and it stops. Oxygen gets pumped into it with pipes. Once in, you go exploring the sea life and the corals — a different world,” she explains.

No shopping thoughts
There was more. Says Sweta, “Apart from all these we went for the dolphin cruise, snorkeling, parasailing over the ocean, saw waterfalls, did quad-biking. Visited Ile aux Cerf (an island), with a beach and the loveliest lagoon I’d ever seen!” However, she didn’t do any shopping. “I didn’t have time, plus Mauritius had me floored with its beauty,” she ends.