CABOUS VAN DER WESTHUIZEN

Cabous was born in 1965 in Cape Town, the second son and youngest child of Henno and Susan van der Westhuizen. His early years were unremarkable, but he was an active boy and enjoyed rugby and the outdoors.At the age of 19 he went to Stellenbosch University to study Physical Education and upon graduating began his rugby career.

Rugby

In 1989 he was recruited by the Transvaal Lions, playing forty games for them, but he is best remembered for his time spent with the Natal Sharks.From 1992 to 1998 he played one hundred and twenty eight games for them, achieving the club record for
most career tries - ninety, most tries in a season - twenty eight, most Currie Cup tries in a season - thirteen (a record shared with two other players), and most tries in a match - four (shared with ten others since 1968 but the only player to do it twice and in one season). For ten years, 1989-1999, Cabous, in his number eleven shirt, was renowned, not only for his tremendous pace, but also as, "... the only guy with long hair in those days. It became my trade mark, so lots of people still recognise me." His two and a half years and sixteen games playing for the Springbok - including the 1995 world cup - became his golden era, "It becomes any guys dream when you play for your national team." But the fame and fortune did not go to his head, which is just as well because the career of a rugby player is not a long one, "There is only a short period of time that one can play professional rugby, because of the physicality and getting injuries, knocks and bruises." Though Cabous does not miss the spotlight, he does miss his mates, "...sitting around the fire, or at a bar, or at home, having a good laugh." The "Price" is right, so is the sushi.

The next stage in Cabous's life was working for the recently opened Mr Price as sports and marketing manager. He spent the next six years there and used the experience to start his own clothing business "Pro Stuff" which produced corporate clothing with logos, such as caps and bags. A trip to a sushi bar in London inspired Cabous and an old rugby colleague to start their own sushi restaurant business in Umhlanga, just north of Durban, and so "SoSushi" was born. Another, called "Sumo's Sushi bar", was soon to follow, this time in a place called Morningside. They were both very successful and the menus included such delights as lime-dressed prawn and litchee salad, bamboo rolls, salmon and tuna roses, crab California with pecorino cheese and Sauvignon Blanc from Raka - for lovers of good wine.

Mauritius

In 1994 Cabous met Moira, an "animal crazy" chartered accountant whom he was later to marry. It was on a holiday to Mauritius in May 2008 that they fell in love with the country and decided that they would like to live here.They were attracted by the friendly people and more basic lifestyle, as neither of them are particularly materialistic.
They also consider Mauritius to be a good place to raise children, which is something they plan to do in the future and have adopted a local dog "Zoë" as a companion for their two Jack Russells, Merlot and Uzzi. By October they were back in Mauritius and Cabous was working on his new business, the Beachhouse restaurant and bar. It was a major undertaking and is still an ongoing project, for example a tarpaulin is soon to be added to the roof to provide shelter from the sun and rain. Despite the workload, Cabous has found time to invest in the local community, which is something he considers to be very important. He sponsors a local rugby side called the Northern Pirates and coaches the Under Fifteen and the First teams. He has also sponsored the Anti Drug Squad in Grand Bay, for their purchase of soccer kits.

But there is more, as part of the South African Rugby Legends Association he plans to help under privileged areas in Mauritius by building community centres, complete with rugby or soccer pitches and spotlights. Cabous is undoubtedly a very likeable person and he has already made some good friends on the island. A taste of his true nature became evident when I asked him what he would like to be remembered for, "I was privileged to be part of a successful [rugby] side, but I don't want to be remembered as a rugby player. I would like to be remembered as a person who lived life to the full. A person who was loving, caring, fair, a people's person."

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PAUL VAN FRANK

Paul was born in the Congo in 1957, second son to Sylvia and Claude van Frank, who were English and Belgian respectively. He remembers little of that country, as the family moved to Belgium when he was three years old.

Tennis was Paul's first love, though by the age of sixteen he realised that life as a professional player was probably beyond his ability. Not to be discouraged, he qualified at an early age as a tennis coach in England and thereafter worked with the likes of John Newcombe, at the John Newcombe Tennis Academy in San Antonio, Texas, and Harry Hopman, at the Harry Hopman International Tennis Academy in Tampa, Florida.Travelling extensively around the globe and staying in luxurious hotels was part of the job and he helped to coach some of the top fifty ATP professional tennis players.
At sixteen Paul also became financially independent, due to his tennis career.

He put himself through university in Ghent, Belgium, studying law and marketing but continued to work as a tennis coach during the holidays. By the time graduation arrived, he had come to the conclusion that life as a lawyer was not for him and subsequently became manager of a local tennis and squash club.However, the urge to travel once more soon became irresistible...

Moving to Antigua, Paul became Sports and Recreation Manager for the Jolly Beach Resort and thus began is career as an hotelier. Island-hopping the Caribbean over the span of he next thirteen years, he worked as Resident Manager at Club St. Lucia (in St. Lucia) and landed his first job as eneral Manager (GM) working at the Fort Young Hotel in the Commonwealth f Dominica. The Renaissance Aruba Resorts and Casino was his ext port of call and he stayed there for three years working as GM.

Over the years Paul has troubleshot numerous resorts around the world, averting them from financial liability to profitable enterprise. As fate would have it, his last job in the Caribbean brought him full-circle back to the Jolly Beach Resort, this time as GM.
Here he had "The most significant turnaround of my life..." in the form of Wendy, an English lady, solicitor and disgruntled customer staying at his hotel.
Ten days later he proposed to her and they have now been happily married for seventeen years. In 1994 Paul and Wendy moved to the Seychelles, but fourteen years of island life had created a certain amount of ennui for Paul and they soon moved to Istanbul, in Turkey, where he worked as the Managing Director of Kemer Golf and Country Club over the course of the next four and a half years.

In 2000 Paul was tasked with resurrecting the Begawan Giri Estate in Bali (now known as the Como Shambhala Estate at Begawan Giri). In 2002 the resort was not only voted number one in the "Top 100 Best of the Best" Conde Nast Readers' Travel Awards, but also "Best Overseas Hotel Spa" - a rare and prestigious achievement indeed. Paul was soon head-hunted to work in Thailand as Chief Operating Officer for a number of properties, but with the main focus on Rayavadee. Located in Krabi, it has played host to films such as "The Man with the Golden Gun" and "The Beach", due partly to the fantastic natural beauty of the location.

Two and a half years later Paul had his first appointment managing a world class "destination spa",Ananda, in the Himalayas. "Destination spas" have been around, at most, for fifteen years and there are only twenty or so well-known, high quality such destinations in the world.They differ from resorts in that the spa is the focus of the establishment and other facilities are supplementary.The Ananda was voted the number one "destination spa" in the world for three years running.

In July of this year, Paul began to apply his skills to "Shanti Ananda Maurice". Specialised in Ayur vedic treatment, there is, "... no other spa of this calibre in the Indian Ocean," and they employ expert therapists, yoga instructors and Ayur vedic doctors, trained in Southern India, to provide a variety of programs such as weight loss and detox treatments, stress management and over sixty types of health therapies. This luxury spa-resort also appeals to couples and honeymooners, as well as families, and provides activities such as tennis tuition, non-motorised water sports and special events for children.

Paul's work is very much the focus of his life at the moment. He works seven days a week and does everything possible to make this resort reach it's full potential. Despite his global success in management, he derives utmost satisfaction from training and developing the people he works with and as an "antique dad", he loves to spend time with his three and a half year old daughter, Phoebe. Ironically, though Paul is great at planning the future of hotels, the path his life takes he tends to leave, at least to some extent, to destiny.

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SANDRINE FANCHETTE

Born in the year 1970 in Britanny, France. Sandrine was the only child of Claude and Monique David. Her early years were spent mostly in France, but at the age of eighteen she left for university in Barcelona, Spain to study Marketing and International business. The desire to do an MBA took her half way around the world to San Francisco in California, where she met Bernard, a Mauritian and fellow MBA student and the man she fell in love with.

Work took Bernard back home to Mauritius, where he was employed in the tourism industry and a month later Sandrine followed. Her first job was as a marketing manager for a textile company and during the next three years the young couple married. In 1998 Bernard's work for Happy World took them to Madagascar, where Sandrine became financial director for a large textile company and later advanced her career in marketing further, working for Demad.

During their nine years in Madagascar their daughters Morgane and Ambre were born and though they loved life on that large island, in 2005 Bernard's career with Courts prompted yet another move. This time to Bali, a much smaller island in Indonesia.

For the first time since graduating, Sandrine now found herself without a full time job. She enjoyed the company of her young daughters and had the time and opportunity to put her long time passion for cooking to good use and so began culinary classes at home, once per week, for the Bali International School and the Bali International Women's Association.

Their time in Bali was relatively brief, lasting just over two years and in 2007 the family moved back to Mauritius. Bernard's fifteen or so years of experience working in retail and Sandrine's marketing skills were now put to the test, and within a few months they opened their own furniture store – Vivere Living – in Grand Bay, selling both indoor and outdoor furniture.

The business proved to be very successful and in 2008 they opened another shop in Emerald Park- Trianon. As testimony to their hard work and entrepreneurship, they recently moved to larger, six thousand square feet premises, in order to keep up with demand.

Vivere Living imports about ninety five percent of its products, bedroom-ware such as mattresses and pillows come from Singapore, sofas and chairs from Malaysia, China and Singapore and accessories and other decorations from Indonesia, China and Madagascar. Many products also come from Vietnam and customers can place special orders for unique items from Europe. The quality of the goods is excellent, made in many cases from one hundred percent leather and in wood veneers like oak and walnut.

Sandrine and Bernard believe strongly in good customer service and not only train their sales staff, but also provide an installation service for the products they sell, employing twenty staff in total. Their reputation for service and quality has enabled them to work closely with interior decorators and architects on villas and apartments and work with the IRS/RES schemes has become a growth market for them. They also supply local hotels and have exported to private customers in the Seychelles and Reunion.

But it is not all about work! Sandrine still enjoys cooking and she and six of her friends have formed a club in the Grand Bay area “Les Toquees de l’Ile Maurice”. They visit local restaurants and spend time with the Chef, learning new skills and recipes. Sandrine also enjoys yoga, which is perhaps why there is a large stone statue of Buddha, weighing almost a ton, situated in the entrance to her shop, and yes, you can buy it.

In the future Sandrine hopes to make her business even more successful and has tentative plans to open stores abroad. For the time being however, she is happy being a wife, business woman and mother, and providing the best service that she can to her customers.

© Mauritius in your hands - Islandinfo. All rights reserved

JASON BARRY

Fifty pounds may not be worth much. But don't underestimate the potential consequences of a fifty pound bet - your life could change dramatically. Heaven Can Wait...

It began in World War Two when an RAF pilot crash landed his Mosquito aircraft in a field near Uppingham due to engine failure.There he met and fell in love with a beautiful girl who was working in the land army and whom he later married. On October 3rd, 1965, she gave birth to Jason Barry - their third son and fourth and youngest child.

Educated at Loughborough Grammar School, Jason developed a passion for sports which remains to this day. However, in 1984 he was faced with a major decision - to go to university and study law, or stay at home and care for his ailing and recently widowed father. He chose the latter and in 1987 Jason and his family scattered the ashes of his parents in the same field where the Mosquito had landed years before.

Alone in a large house, Jason pondered his future. Fortunately opportunity knocked and Jason began his career coaching sports and teaching geography at a Leicester prep school, he considers it to be one of the best jobs he ever had. Good Advice...

In 1994 Jason, realising that as a semiprofessional cricketer he would never make the 'big-time', accepted a fifty pound bet that he couldn't play a cricket match in fifty different countries, each game raising money for the "Save the Children" charity. Jason accepted the challenge and packed his bags and left home. "My mum once told me 'if you ever get a chance to travel and get out of Leicester take it with both hands.' She was absolutely spot on, so that's exactly what I did."

By 1999 Jason had toured 128 countries, setting a new world record for playing cricket matches in the most number of nations. During those years of travel Jason became skilled at communication and marketing, through having to accommodate sponsors such as Reebok, Fujitsu and Sandals Resorts. He conducted interviews with Nelson Mandela and President Menem of Argentina and even joined Viv Richards' team in Antigua. In Soweto, he became the third ever white man to play cricket there and received some excellent advice...

Imagine a ninety two year old tribal wise-man, dressed only in "Y" fronts, seated on a large Heinz baked beans tin, in a little shack. "I have three pieces of advice for you." The wiseman said. Picking up two rocks he continued, "Your life is like a stone - on its own it is cold, round and hard but when it touches another stone...", he clinked the rocks together, "...it makes a sound.When you meet other people, don't be a cold stone, make music." He paused before asking, "What is your definition of intelligence?" Not sure of the answer, Jason replied, "You're the wise-man of Soweto, you tell me."

"It is very simple. Learn what you did yesterday and apply it to tomorrow. If you always did that, imagine how intelligent you would be." Impressed, Jason asked,"And the third piece of advice?"

"Always remember," the wise man replied, "in Africa - always wear a condom." But it wasn't all fun. Jason worked for the BBC and reported on the scud missile attacks on Israel by Iraq in 1998. In 1999 he went to work for Deloitte auditors in Estonia, applying his skills in marketing and communication to expand the business and in 2002 he incorporated his own public relations and marketing company. By 2007 the global financial crisis had become apparent and so he made the decision to head for greener pastures.

Island Life

An offer from Starwood International Hotels and Resorts brought Jason to Mauritius, where his current job has involved repositioning the Méridien brand and the global marketing launches for The Grand Mauritian and the Four Points hotel in Cyber City. Of course, when it comes to golf he is now spoilt for choice and he enjoys playing cricket at the Gymkhana Club. Indeed, Jason is very much in love with his lifestyle and sees no reason to settle down just yet.As he puts t, "On a Saturday afternoon when I pick up my golf clubs and head off to the golf course, I don't have to explain to anybody where I am going. Some people would say that's nice, some not; for me it's just my lifestyle and if it changes I hope that I'm a flexible enough character to be able to change with it."

Though Jason has travelled more than most and may appear to be a "wandering soul", he is actually rather down to earth and thoughtful. Our conversation ranged from supernovas to the value of introspection and the "grounding" effect of family and friends. Indeed, the only legacy he would like to leave behind for his loved ones is fond memories, accompanied by a smile.
He is still owed the fifty pounds...

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© Mauritius in your hands - Islandinfo. All rights reserved

LAINA RAWAT

Meet Laina Rawat., the young and dynamic CEO of the Trade & Commerce Division for the British American Investment Group of Companies. Laina manages the companies which fall under Quality Living Centre (QLC) including Courts, Quaincaillerie Centrale, Arcasa (Mtius) Ltd, Arcasa Paris and Effendi.


American born and bred, Laina funnily recalls how, at the age of six, when her father was promoted to president within his company, she informed all her classmates that her father was now the President of… the United States of America!
A very ‘hands-on’ person, Laina attributes one of the most important life lessons she has learnt so far, to her parents’ ideal to lead by example. As she aptly explains - “In life don’t expect others to follow your orders, try and do it yourself first, so at the end of the day you know what it takes for either yourself or someone else to conduct that task.”


Having completed her studies in America and acquired work experience from several retail shops, Laina moved to Mauritius and joined Marcom Co. Ltd where she gained some valuable know how in marketing, advertising and brand awareness. Her timely move to Arcasa (Mtius) Ltd meant that she was there from the initial setting up of Quality Living Centre (QLC), working on inventory, product display and marketing. She soon progressed to product purchasing and the management of the showroom.
After a further two years of dedicated hard work, Laina was swiftly promoted to head ARCASA and QLC.


Quality Living Centre was specifically designed to allow people to enhance their quality of life. Their aim is to put value into peoples’ home, their motto “make your home a haven for you and your family.” The Trade & Commerce Division ensures a wide range of offering that will suit people’s respective needs within their respective budgets.
As the CEO, Laina pays special attention to product variety, display, marketing as well as the management of corporate contracts.


Laina is extremely proud to be part of a group which is innovative and geared towards the future. She considers that “It is amazing to see the career path which one can build in our group – it is very encouraging for the younger generation.”


Although she sets the benchmark for success quite high with the measure of her achievements, Laina strives over and above to be a successful mother.
An American at heart, she describes the American social life as similar to what is portrayed in the popular ‘Friends’ sitcom! While, in Mauritius, the social life tend to be more centered on the extended family, in America the focus is on friends.


Another point that struck her is the work culture, which largely differs from that of America. Although she is quick to point out that the level of education here is much higher academically, in terms of mathematics, sciences, economics and accounts, she finds that a lot of initial supervision is still required. She concedes though that the majority of employees are quick learners and eager to accomplish their goals.


Laina is the mother to the gorgeous three year old Name. She endeavors to spend as much quality time as possible with the family at the week end, usually heading for the beach. Being in the retail industry it is little wonder that one of her favorite hobby is shopping. She also enjoys cooking desserts and traveling.


She believes that living in Mauritius will endow her son with a better appreciation of family values than if he had been living in another country. Another outcome of living here is that he is already fluent in both English and French.


According to Laina, being able to instigate change within oneself will always lead on to a healthier and happier lifestyle. Happiness is being able to enjoy the environment which is around you. She states “my belief is quite simple! Just try and be a good person and show kindness to others. I guess my life in America shaped this because despite what one sees on the news – America has a lot of very close knit communities where people are accepted for who they are. “

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N’TASHA

The early years

N’Tasha was born in Pretoria, the executive capital of South Africa. Her parents believed that she “had to earn money the hard way” and so, while still at school, she had two jobs, a credit controller at a large chain and a waitress at the local steakhouse.

Wanderlust took hold for a time and N’Tasha travelled around South Africa, staying for a while in Durban where she worked for Dunlop Slazenger in customer services before moving again to East London and finding work with Protea Hotels.

After returning to South Africa to complete her studies, N’Tasha worked for the ABSA bank. Starting as a teller for a meager salary, she quickly worked her way up to management level. Little did she know that all this work experience, dealing with customers and providing them efficient services and quality products, was to prove to be invaluable as the opportunity arose for her to combine her passion for good food with her love for Thailand.
Thaifoon

The wittily named Thaifoon restaurant is well known for its “Angry Duck” and “Tom Yum” seafood soup and at two years of age is going from strength to strength. N’Tasha shares the workload with her husband David and attributes their success to their passion for the services and products that they offer and excellent customer relations.

The input of positive people is also important as it offers the opportunity to listen and learn from them. N’tasha’s father in law is a perfect example of such a person, and the long, hard road he took to success has taught her much.

N’Tasha loves a bit of competition as she finds it motivating and is currently venturing into two other business areas. She sums up her attitude to work succinctly, “You have to enjoy what you are doing and I wouldn’t want it any other way, I love meeting people and I feel that I have achieved my goal when my customers leave saying ‘It was wonderful, thank you’”.


Family

While on holiday in Wales N’Tasha met David Lan Yee Chiu who was studying for an MBA at the time. They quickly fell in love and as fate would have it, it turned out that both their families lived in Mauritius! David is Mauritian and has a family business in Port Louis. N’Tasha’s father set up the Mauritian branch of the Form Scaff scaffolding company, still located at Plaine Lauzun in Pailles, and lived in the country for 15 years before moving back to South Africa.

N’Tasha and David have been married for over 6 years now and have one 20 month old daughter. N’Tasha recalls her surprise when she realized that there were going to be 600 people at the wedding, “Back in South Africa 200 guests is considered to be a huge wedding, but in Mauritius they celebrate in style and volume. The guest list also impressed me as we had ambassadors and ministers Etc. to name but a few. Needless to say I felt quite important!”

Not surprisingly, there was much to learn when combining a Chinese and South African family, but they get along very well and enjoy celebrating both cultures’ festivities, a benevolent trait that is common amongst the people in the melting-pot that is Mauritius.

Mauritius

“I love Mauritius. I love the fact that we are surrounded by beautiful coral reefs and clean white beaches.” Amen to that! The friendliness of the people also rates highly on N’Tasha’s list of the island’s virtues, as does the quality of life, “There is always someone saying hello in the street, or while you are driving, or stopping you for a little chat in the local supermarket.”

Other strengths are the country’s stable and sound economy, the ethnic diversity of the population, its differing cultures, the fact that both English and French are spoken and the relatively low crime rate. “I feel that Mauritius is a safe place for my daughter to grow up in. I am very happy that my child will grow up in a multi- cultural country, it is very important to me that she grows up free.”

N’Tasha recommends that visitors try a sunset cruise on a catamaran and visit different parts of the island to discover its many hidden treasures. She is a keen scuba diver and this is something that people might also like to try. Last but not least, she thinks that tourists should take time to meet the locals and leave Mauritius with fond memories of a friendly nation.


The Future

Making a difference in people’s lives is very important to N’Tasha and is something that she would like to be remembered for, along with being a person who cared for others. She feels that life should be embraced and that people, ex-patriots in particular, should beware being over-nostalgic. She sums it up nicely with a simple eloquence,

“Put down your roots, but make the world your home.”

© Mauritius in your hands - Islandinfo. All rights reserved

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Hazel Coldwell

The Past

May of 1978 was a month like any other. Spring was making its presence felt on the Scottish Highlands and the sleepy town known as Bridge of Allan was going about its daily business, as it had done for many centuries past. Then, Hazel Coldwell was born.

One of the first things one notices about Hazel is her energetic, almost effervescent, aura which fails to hide, and indeed complements, a quick intelligence. It came as no surprise at all to discover that she started work at a relatively early age, working for a hairdresser for a mere seventy-six pence an hour and buying her burger after burger.

At fifteen she moved with her parents and two brothers to Tenby in Wales – the place she loves and talks about with passion – and found a more amenable job working in the cloakroom of a night club. Even at such a young age her ambition was evident and after two years of working as a barmaid at the local pub she became its manageress.

Despite her ambition, Hazel wisely invested time in her education and went to the London College of Fashion to study Fashion Management and read Interior Design at Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design.

But her career soon rose to prominence again and she skipped her graduation ceremony because she had already found work on a “super yacht” in Parma, Majorca for one hundred euros a day. The boat belonged to a billionaire and the word “super” barely does it justice. It was sixty-five meters long, twelve meters wide and four storeys high. It had two helicopter pads and birth for a sea plane, a forty two foot sail boat, a rib – a type of speed boat – and a tender, which is a vessel which supplies its mother-ship.

After a year Hazel became head house keeper. A year later she was promoted to Purser and was responsible for ordering the ship's stock, its accounts and rosters. She worked there for a total of four years and so impressed a friend of the owner that she took a job as his Personal Assistant and spent most of the next two years living in New York – a city she adores. While there she tried her hand at freelance fashion design for six months and created handbags and t-shirts, but soon after meeting her fiancée to be, Jud, she left and moved with him to France.

Mauritius

Their daughter, Mia, was born on the seventeenth of November 2007 and a year later the three of them followed in the footsteps of Jud's parents and moved to Mauritius. At the beginning of 2009 they started their own company, Luxury Living Ltd., which specialises in interior design and the design and supply of uniforms and bed linen to the luxury yacht industry. Hazel's extensive knowledge of the business and her education have proved very useful.

But it doesn't end there, Luxury Living Ltd. is also the Mauritian agent for Carrol Boyes – who is famous in South Africa for her work in pewter, stainless steel and aluminium – and Charl Dettmer a talented young photographer (www.charldettmer.com). Both artist's work is available for sale at Hazel’s shop at the Black River Business Park in Tamarin.

Of course all work and no play is no good for anyone and Hazel loves to spend time with her family walking in the gorge or visiting places like Chamarel. She finds Mauritians to be very relaxed and friendly people but would like to see more recycling in the country!

Her future plans include expanding her business to include event management and she is also very keen on getting involved with charity work, particularly, “At the risk of sounding like a Miss World contestant...” with children.


© Islandinfo

DHARNA HASSIJA

With her parents and older brother,Dharna moved to Tanzania during her second year of life but moved back to India years later to study Political Science with Economics at Delhi University. Working and Studying For the next five years she worked for British Airways in Tanzania before leaving for the UK for work. It was there that her childhood passion for clothes and fashion resurfaced and at the age of twenty five she went back to university to study “Fashion Design for Women's Wear” at the London College of Fashion. India beckoned once more and Dharna headed back to Delhi to study jewellery manufacture and design. She wasted no time putting her new skills to practice and in March 2004 held her first exhibition at the Sea Cliff Hotel in Dar es Salaam, which kindly hosted the event and provided waiters to serve drinks –all free of charge.

With a meagre twenty four hours of advertising by word-of-mouth and leaflets, Dharna managed to sell sixty five percent of her stock in just one show and this success encouraged her to continue her efforts.Coming to Mauritius Dharna had been in touch with a Mauritian
named Roddy Ramsamy, on the internet for quite while, but they actually met for the first time in India when he flew out to visit her and her father who was in hospital for treatment. It was this act of kindness which decided Dharna to marry him and the wedding took place in December 2004.

Moving to Mauritius, Dharna attempted to continue her fledgling jewellery business but was now faced by a new challenge “People did not know how to wear the jewellery I was offering them, what to wear it with, when to wear it or where to wear it.” With the support of her husband and
family she was determined to break the ice. Another problem was that Mauritians preferred gold rather than silver. But she still continued to use silver as it is less expensive than gold and helps her to keep costs down. For the same reason she uses semi precious stones and “AAA” quality zircons and her goal is to achieve the look of Cartier but at a reasonable price.

Having noticed a gap in the clothes market in Mauritius, Dharna put her jewellery manufacturing on hold and began designing dresses to cater to that niche market. In October 2008 she opened a women's fashion shop, “Dharna Hassija”, in Floreal Square selling clothes of her own design and
accessories to go with them. Her dresses range from casual to formal, glamour to evening wear, and are designed to be more “fluid” – having more movement – than others on the market.They are made from light materials such as silk, satin, georgette and chiffon and, like her jewellery, each item is guaranteed to be unique. A new range of designs will be coming out in June.

Advising clients on what suits them and what does not, is an important part of Dharna's work. She prefers to sell a less expensive dress which looks good on a person rather than a more expensive one which looks terrible.The last thing she wants is for customers, “... to be wearing a
dress, and telling their friends that I recommended something which doesn't suit them at all.” Dharna's advice is taken to heart by many of her customers and they even bring other clothes, bought elsewhere, to ask about how to wear them or what to wear them with. It is here that Dharna's jewellery comes into its own for, along with other accessories, it can be used to form the perfect ensemble for fashionable women.As she explained to me,“For every person it's entirely different.A dress will fit differently, colours will look different and people have their own personal tastes to take into consideration.”

Hobbies By her own admission, Dharna is too lazy for sports, but she does like a good book or listening to soft music with a bit of soul. She often buys books on a wide range of artistic subjects to act as inspiration for her own design work. Interior decorating, painting, even origami all serve to stimulate her imagination and while she may not read those books, she will look at the pictures again and again.

Big Ambitions In the near future Dharna plans to extend the shop at Floreal and open two others and also looks forward to expanding into the Indian market in a couple of years. For the long term she is happy to settle down in Mauritius and fervently hopes that the country will become a shopper's paradise and that, eventually, her name will become synonymous with high design and fashion.

©Islandinfo

Muriel Roussel Prior

“In 2006 Muriel moved to Mauritius and initially worked as a high school teacher at La Bourdonnais for almost two years, but later became a professor at Alliance Française university lecturing in Economics. Interestingly and to her credit, she saw the first signs of the coming of the current world economic situation back in early 2007. In 2009, following a visit and some advice from a friend who runs a concierge in France, Muriel started a new business, La Conciergerie de Maurice."




Born in Paris to French parents, Muriel hailed from a very “European” family,
with german and Italian uncles and a Swiss sister. Educated in Paris, she studied
Turkish, Pachtoun and Farsi at Paris university with a view to working for the
French Foreign Office. However, upon graduating in 1972 she went on an eleven
month tour of Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan with three friends, and spent four of
those months living in the palace grounds of the Shah of Iran in Tehran, during the
winter. When asked what it was like she replied demurely ? “It’s very nice.”

Upon returning to Paris, Muriel and her friends made a documentary about their travels
abroad, on the strength of which she landed a job as a journalist and camera woman for
a French news programme which broadcast on cinemas just before the main movie.
She worked for them for two years. It was in 1975 that Muriel met and fell in love
with her husband Colin, an English computer scientist. They were happily married for
ten years and had four children, Cedric,Alexandra, Barbara and Mary.
Tragically, Colin died at the age of thirty five due to a sports accident and Muriel
was faced with a dramatic and unexpected change in her life. Recalling those events
and asked how she managed,
Muriel shrugged slightly saying, "I coped." She went back to university, this
time in Aix en Provence and Marseille, to study Political Science and Economics &
Management. Shortly afterwards, in 1988, Muriel formed part of a delegation which was
sent to French Guiana in South America to audit the Ariane space rocket programme.
Their mandate was to determine the funds that the project would require to continue
operating, which worked out as something in the region of one thousand million Francs.
Muriel remained there for three years with her children and in their spare time they
visited numerous islands in the Caribbean, such as Martinique and Guadeloupe and
countries such as Venezuela, Peru and Brazil. Returning to the South of France,
Muriel worked for an American company, ICA, for a while as commissioner
of auditing and for Val Adour as a financial manager. She then left France for New
Caledonia, a French island in the South.

Pacific, but the travel time between the two countries was too long and so she
relocated to Reunion. There she was again a financial manager, this time for Sterne
and later became a teacher for the Reunion Chamber of Commerce. In 2006 Muriel moved
to Mauritius and initially worked as a high school teacher at La Bourdonnais for almost
two years, but later became a professor at Alliance Française university lecturing
in Economics. Interestingly and to her credit, she saw the first signs of the coming
of the current world economic situation back in early 2007. In 2009, following a visit
and some advice from a friend who runs a concierge in France, Muriel started a new
business, La Conciergerie de Maurice. The goal of the company is to provide personal
and organisational facilities to organisations and individuals.Whether it is
catering services for a simple meal or a party, or organising corporate transportation
by helicopter, La Conciergerie will endeavour to provide the best services possible.
The company also specialises as a relocation agent and will help with such problems
as finding a place to live, organizing residence and occupation permits and
locating good schools for children.
La-conciergerie-of-mauritius.com has all the information a person might need.
Now a grandmother of four, Muriel enjoys swimming, golf and walking with the
Mauritius Hash House Harriers as well as visiting Reunion and France to see her
children. Her main ambition is to see La Conciergerie become one of the most
important companies in Mauritius and to prove to herself that at over fifty
years of age she still has what it takes to create a flourishing business.
I have no doubt at all that she will be successful.

© Islandinfo

The Life & Times of Alan Grihault (Part Two)

Last post we left Alan seemingly jobless in the UK, after 50 years of dedication to teaching and teacher training. What follows next is a story of determination and perseverance that should be an example to us all. Read part 1 of The Life & Times of Alan Grihault).

Having been refused further employment by DfID (Department for International Development) because he was over 60, Alan received a further blow when an Indonesian Educational Project with Cambridge Education ended, due to Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor where he was to be posted.

For the next 6 months Alan and his wife Sara lived in Plymouth, but in 2000 Sara’s mother passed away and they visited Mauritius for the funeral. Being on the island inspired Alan to find out more about the Dodo, but he was surprised to discover that several paragraphs in the Encyclopaedia Britannica was the best information that could be found.

Back in Plymouth, Alan began to research and write about the Dodo himself. Then, with the book almost complete and his wife’s work contract over, they decided to move back to Mauritius for a trial period of 3 years.

Once settled on the island, Alan’s priority was to find a publisher for his book. This was easier said than done. The first publisher took 3 months to decide whether or not they would publish and the second said they would publish, but in black and white. Finally, lucky number three took only 2 days to decide that they would publish.

Did I say lucky? Two Christmases and nineteen months later the book was ready for printing, with Alan having worked at the printers many times and helped with the page layout himself. It was, to say the least, “a terrible and frustrating experience!” Finally, the owner of the company admitted that he could not print the book himself, but that another printer could, on Sundays...

So, one Sunday 1000 copies of the book were printed and 50 were bound. Alan bought all 50 but, upon receiving them, he stopped his cheque as the book was a complete mess. Now, unbeknown to Alan, stopping cheques is illegal in Mauritius. The police were called and Alan paid the cheque.

In the mean time another printer, Mr Michel Coquet of IPC limited, had gone through the book page by page and highlighted all the printing errors. Following an acrimonious meeting with the original printer Alan was offered the other 950 books for Rs150 each, but as they were of such poor quality and unsellable, Alan refused.

Michel came to the rescue. The dodo is an integral part of Mauritian history and he wanted to make his mark by printing and publishing the book himself and leaving something for posterity.

The whole debacle turned out to be something of a blessing, as the delay allowed Alan to conduct further research and he was able to re-write the book including the latest information. It is now a book that he is justly proud of. Alan also wrote two other small books during this period, “How to Get a Job” and “How to Study and Pass Exams”.

Alan has also ventured into the arena of broadcasting. The Mauritian Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) broadcast the Mauritius College of the Air (MCA) which produces children’s programmes for television. With no prior experience, Alan offered his help and they agreed that he could present a series of ten programmes, for radio, in which he would narrate stories such as Aladdin and Dick Wittington.

Although the series was of excellent quality it was, inexplicably, never aired. A pity for, as Alan notes, radio is an excellent format for teaching children as it stimulates the imagination and creativity. In contrast, television has a hypnotic effect and evidence suggests that it may actually retard early brain development.

Despite this unexpected turn of events, Alan continued to work with the MCA and produced ten new stories, this time for television. He also presented a new Maths series called ‘Maths Alive’. Alan felt that children didn’t want to switch on their television sets and see the same sort of mathematics as they had been doing in their classroom. They wanted to see something lively and in real life situations. The series was a tremendous success and Alan has become a mini-celebrity amongst young children. Alan has also presented many science programmes such as “Science is Fun”, and a new venture is a couple of programmes on ‘Pirates’.

The President’s Fund for Creative Writing in English, was another excellent project that Alan has worked on since “retirement”. It consisted of regional workshops with primary school teachers, instructing them how to teach creative writing through storytelling, poetry and drama. The scheme was very successful and participants benefited enormously from the experience. Alan would dearly like to do more!

The success of “Dodo – The bird behind the Legend” prompted Alan to write his next book, “Solitaire – The Dodo of Rodrigues Island”. Published in 2007, it is about the dodo’s cousin, another extinct bird, and is a very interesting read.

Now 72 years old, Alan can be an inspiration for us all. He still runs regularly and is at present Grandmaster of the Mauritian Hash House Harriers. He has spent the last three years researching the pirates and treasures of Mauritius and has recently aired two programmes for the MCA on the subject. He has another children’s book, “Pirates’ Treasure on Dodo Island” in the pipeline... but, as they say, that’s another story.
Alan’s website is: www.dodosite.com

© Islandinfo

The Life & Times of Alan Grihault (Part One)

Born inauspiciously in the Channel Islands on July 10th 1936, Alan left with his mother at the age of 6 months never to look back. Little did he know that over the course of his lifetime he would travel much of the world, help educate thousands of children, become an expert on two extinct birds and eventually settle on another small island, this one in the Indian Ocean some six thousand miles from where he was born – here in Mauritius.
Alan’s mother was a nurse, a valuable profession at the best of times and invaluable during World War Two, which dominated Alan’s early childhood. From the age of two he was boarded out to care facilities while his mother lived and worked in the hospital at Teignmouth, Devon, in Southern England. Some of his earliest memories are of bombs exploding in the distance, but these are tempered by pleasant memories of visiting his grandparents in Derby during the holidays.
From the age of 11 to 17 Alan was a pupil at the Queen Elizabeth’s school in Crediton, Devon. A rare “Democratic” school where the boys governed themselves in a structure not dissimilar to the parliament structure of Britain itself. Alan’s experiences there are worthy of an entire book and a few sentences cannot possibly do it justice. Suffice it to say that as “Under-minister of Agriculture” and later “Minister of Home Affairs” Alan gained valuable experience in responsibility and management that was to stand him in good stead for the rest of his life.
After leaving school Alan did nine months as a Farm Pupil before going to agricultural college to do a two year National Diploma in Poultry Husbandry. During this period he attained a NCR (National Certificate in Rabbit Husbandry) and BBKA (Certificate in Bee Keeping Husbandry) but left before completing the main part of the course, to his mother’s chagrin.
Ten weeks later it was time for National Service which Alan did with the Royal Army Medical Corp. Two years later and Alan found himself cutting nettles in the rain, on a farm in Teignmouth, for a grumpy old pastor, for two pounds fifty per week. Needless to say he quit.
Young Alan still hadn’t found his vocation in life, but fate drew him onwards. A job with the Teignmouth Urban District Council saw him driving tractors on the seafront and beach, putting up huts & working on pedal boats. This brought him into contact with a student teacher called Andy Wood who suggested that Alan also try teaching.
On July 10 1958, precisely twenty two years after his birth, Alan attended an interview at Kesteven Teacher Training College in Lincolnshire. With five O-levels he would be the least qualified student there, but as luck would have it the Principal was keen on rugby and the rugby captain needed a new wing-three-quarter. Alan fitted the bill and graduated two years later with a Distinction in teaching practice. Thus began a career in teaching which was to span for 50 years from the UK and Africa to the South Pacific.
From 1960 to 1966 Alan was a primary school teacher in Derby, England and also achieved a Diploma in Child Drama. He married and had two children and at age 30 began work for the ODA (Overseas Development Administration which later became DfID (Department for International Development) which sparked a wanderlust which was to last much of his life.
His first ODA assignment was in Kenya where he was quickly promoted from primary school teacher to teacher trainer & lecturer in science, maths, physical education and drama. He also had his third child while in Kenya and adopted one cow and a clutch of chickens.
1969 saw Alan return to the land of his forefathers, Derbyshire, where he became headmaster of Clifton Primary School. What became of the cow and chickens? One can only guess.
The travelling itch struck again in 1973 and this time Malawi was the destination. Alan arrived there just as Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda banned New Mathematics, so instead of lecturing in New Mathematics Alan became Officer in Charge of Teacher Upgrading.
By this time Alan was doing jobs reserved for graduates and so was advised by the ODA to do a degree. To this end he became a student at Birmingham University at the tender age of 38, reading a B.Phil degree in Child Psychology.
Next, Alan became lecturer of Educational Psychology and Sociology at St. Luke’s Teacher Training College at the University of Exeter. Following that post, Alan first came to Mauritius lecturing at the College of Higher Education and running educational workshops. It was also in Mauritius that he met and married his wife Sara.
The travelling continued as did Alan’s love for Africa. The next decade saw him working in Botswana, the Seychelles, Zambia, UK, and briefly in Sierra Leone, followed by two years on the beautiful island of Vanuatu, situated in the South Pacific.
But Africa beckoned yet again; in the Kenyan Rift Valley Alan trained school inspectors and advisory teachers, and while in Swaziland he also trained school inspectors in the teaching of primary mathematics and science. Indeed, maths and science has been a consistent theme throughout most of Alan’s life and he has published many textbooks and guides on how the subject should be taught at the primary level.
In 1999, while applying for work in Malawi, Alan was informed by DfID that he was over the age limit, being over 60. Thus began part two of the Life & Times of Alan Grihault and a journey into the as yet unexplored arena of his creativity...

© Islandinfo

Patrice Dumont in Mauritius

The man behind the chef Patrice met his lovely wife.

Murielle 8 years ago in Singapore. They have three gorgeous children, two daughters along with a 1 year old son. Patrice himself grew up in Metz, France with his two brothers and one sister. After completing his studies in a catering school, he began his career as a pastry chef in Luxembourg, following which he worked for 7 years as a chef in a 2 Michelin Star restaurant in Paris and Lyon. Patrice funnily recalls how "for years my brother and I used to help our mother while she was cooking for the many family gatherings…doing a little bit of preparation and dish washing. Then we went to a catering school.

From then on, we were doing all the cooking and our mother only the dish washing…."
He recognizes that he was lucky to have a mother who was a great cook. Most days he would come home and it smelt divine, in retrospect he now understands where the few extra kilos originate from.

Working as a Chef in a 2 Michelin Star Restaurant in
Paris When probed on his working experience as a chef for a 2 Michelin Star restaurant in Paris, Patrice has several points to make. Paris is undoubtedly a great city when working for that category of restaurant. He enjoyed the ease with which he could meet with colleagues and discuss the latest trend. Furthermore, many events
were regularly being organized within the catering community.There was also no dearth of ingredients but rather an extensive selection of ingredients including exclusive products for one to chose from and be the very first to offer to customers. The natural curiosity of customers was a great source of motivation and pleasure for him and it also allowed him to be very creative.

Patrice considers Mr. Seguin, a Chef he trained under to have had the most significant influence on him: "He was one of the first chef offering a sale-sucre style.He taught me many traditional skills,
often put aside by some chefs today; he shared his know-how unreservedly and I believe in his motto to always deliver what you have promised, to be the key in
our business." Whilst in Paris, Patrice had the opportunity to cook for some very famous French singers and actors. Even in Mauritius he has concocted dishes for some distinguished people both foreigners and Mauritians. He recalls cooking for the nephew of Giscard.D'Estaings (former French president)who even bought one of his
paintings.

Back to Mauritius,As compared to Europe, the staff numbers here is comprehensive,
this however allows one to go further. A lot of emphasis is placed on training as well since the gastronomic culture here is different,but at the end of the day, Patrice believes that "Mauritians are very motivated and willing to learn.The
level of service is of high quality, there is a large variety of food on offer. People are friendly with professional manners, coupled with positive attitude and ease of communication."Always one to rise up to new challenges and explore new avenues,Patrice has recently launched his very own company -Dumont Catering. His objective is to be recognized as the first choice for outside catering.With the help of a professional and dedicated team of experienced chefs and 'maitres d'hotels,' Dumont Catering caters for sit down dinners, lunches, cocktails, weddings,finger buffets, parties and anything in-between.A wide selection of products is available. Based in Floreal, they cater to the whole island with a choice of food ranging
from French, Mauritian, Classic or Fusion to Thai or Japanese After living in many countries such as Luxembourg, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Belgium, and of course France, Patrice and his family are happy to be back here in Mauritius. He concludes that " we have always had the feeling that our home is here".According to Patrice the advantages of settling here are numerous : "the pace of life is calmer, the quality of air better, the people are kind and authentic, generally there is less stress, and everywhere is easily accessible."Finally Patrice is just content to be able to savor all the pleasures of life, even and more importantly,the simplest ones, like being at home soaking in happiness in the company of happy children.

© Islandinfo

Graham Parley in Mauritius

Interview of Graham Parley

Meet Graham Parley, Director of Manufacturing for the Esquel Group, one of the world’s largest and most progressive textile companies.

Settled in Mauritius for the last five years, Graham has recently taken over the additional responsibility of Esquel’s garment manufacturing facilities in Sri Lanka. In this interview he shares with us the group’s ethos and highlights the rewards of living and working in Mauritius,
Graham began his career in the garment industry more than 25 years ago in Fife, Scotland where he originates from. A prominent and exciting career which led him to work in various countries including England , Zambia , Zimbabwe, South Africa , Malawi , China , Mauritius and more recently Sri Lanka.
He fondly recalls his parents as the two people who have had the most significant influence over him. His father, a coal miner with a challenging and difficult job, was a contented person whose admirable work ethic and cheerful predisposition to life continues to be a source of inspiration to Graham till today.
His mother abided by the motto “if you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, then better to say nothing at all”, and Graham is proud to add “it is to their parenting skills and their moral example that I attribute my success in life”
The Esquel Group -

Embracing the Esquel Group five years ago, Graham firmly believes in the principles and philosophy that the founder YL Yang had in mind when he started this company and which still apply today 30 years down the line. The Chairman Ms Marjorie Yang and the CEO John Cheh have five guiding business principles; ethics, environment, exploration, excellence and education. These form Esquel’s “e-culture” and the values which continue to be used to grow their business which in 2007 produced sales of almost 70 million shirts and revenue exceeding US$ 650 Million.
With around 47,000 employees worldwide the group is regarded as the premier global shirt designer and manufacturer. Esquel has a totally vertical supply chain, from growing cotton in North West China, to spinning , dyeing and weaving in Southern China, and has Garment manufacturing operations in several countries, including China , Malaysia , Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Mauritius. Even though the ending of the MFA (multi fiber arrangement) in Jan 2005 resulted in comprehensive job losses in the Mauritius textile & garment industry, it is worthy to mention that this did not have an impact for Esquel ( Mauritius ) Ltd, The company grew substantially during this period and is currently the largest exporter of garments form Mauritius to the US
As Graham puts it “If you purchase a 100% cotton shirt in the USA or Europe from brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Brooks Brothers, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike, Lands End, JC Penney, Marks & Spencer, and Nordstrom, then there is a very good chance it was manufactured and supplied by Esquel.”
Recently promoted to take over the additional responsibility of Esquel’s garment manufacturing facilities in Sri Lanka, with a current total of 5,000 employees distributed over 4 factories, Graham has come to further appreciate in comparison the relative safety and security that living and working in Mauritius offers.

Family –
Graham is the proud father of four wonderful children and the husband to the lovely and dynamic Simone from South Africa whose zest for life is quick to rub off on her entourage. The children are particularly fond of attending school in Mauritius and the couple is delighted with the balanced approach to study provided by both Le Clavis Primary School & Le Boccage Secondary School. The multicultural and multiracial environment of these two very fine educational establishments contributed largely to the family’s smooth relocation to Mauritius. Graham trusts that “the wide cross section of various nationalities with whom our children have made friends while attending school in Mauritius is something which we hope they will maintain and cherish as they look back at their school years.”
It is little wonder that Graham places Mauritius at the forefront of the most enjoyable location in which he happens to be employed “the climate , the environment , the sheer beauty of Mauritius makes living here a pleasure.” Further to that his predilection and passion for golf are amply gratified in this golfers’ paradise.
“After 5 years in Mauritius I still feel extremely privileged to have the opportunity to play golf on a regular basis in one of the most beautiful locations in the world. The combination of the Indian Ocean coupled with the lush green vegetation makes the experience truly unforgettable I would encourage any visitor to Mauritius to try at least one or two of the many spectacular courses available on the island”
A lingering custom from the many years spent in South Africa is the weekend barbecue or “Braai” in which the family regularly indulge in over the weekend. And according to Graham washing it down with a local Phoenix beer is an additional satisfying bonus. Graham also enjoys snorkeling with his children around the many reefs of the island. Lately one of the Sunday rituals enjoyed by the entire family has been a late breakfast at the Sunset Café in Grand Bay where in Graham’s opinion the bacon and eggs and picturesque setting right on the bay are second to none !
To conclude with Graham believes that "Usually in life there are no such things as a “QUICK FIX” , be it success in business , or at school , or at making a relationship work , “ we will always reap what we sow”

© Islandinfo

Julie and Graeme Bristow in Mauritius

Interview of Graeme and Julie.

Meet Julie and Graeme Bristow and chance upon a close encounter with the wild. From hand raising cheetah and lion cubs to setting up the innovative concept of ‘Walk with the Pride’ at several locations, this privileged couple shares with us their exciting story, a life reserved for a chosen few.

Julie Bristow was born in Marlborough Wiltshire, in the United Kingdom. As a child she was already passionate about animals, secretly ambitioning to become a vet. A regular visitor to the Longleat Safari Park in Warminster, she clearly recalls at a young age, stating “I’m going to work here one day” and amazingly enough in 1986, she actually did go to work there in the “Giraffery”, with giraffes, camels, zebras, kangaroos and lamas! And this is exactly where she met Graeme Bristow who had just brought four baby elephants from Zimbabwe to the Longleat Safari Park. As fate would have it, Graeme whisked her off her feet and they took off for Zimbabwe. There she settled very well to life in the bush with all the African wildlife around them as Graeme owned a Game Reserve called Pamuzinda in Selous. This is where Julie got introduced to the big cats – the lions and the cheetah.

The couple had the extraordinary opportunity to live with a lovely lion called ‘Caesar’ in their house! Raised from a cub, he stayed with them until he was two years old, at which point with Julie’s advanced pregnancy he was returned to the park. It was Caesar that changed how Julie felt about big cats and it was from him that she found the confidence to work alongside them. Graeme is remarkable with lions and has infinite patience with them when working, especially in the film making world. He is the third generation in his family to be handling and training the lions, with expertise and techniques passed down from his grandfather.

Another defining moment in their lives was when they made a film together with the BBC Wildlife Unit directed by John Downer called “Lions Spy in the Den”. This was an incredible experience and Julie remembers working all day with lions of all ages and the famous boulder camera, hard work but infinitely rewarding.

Graeme’s most distinct memory of animals in his childhood is the one of the night his father came into his room and placed two new born lion cubs at his feet and asked him to keep them warm!

Before coming to Mauritius the couple was based in Zimbabwe but often took lions and cheetah to other countries for film work such as the Kenya Masai Mara, South Africa, Botswana & Namibia. Graeme also took 137 head of game to Bangkok to start a new safari park; he traveled for 35 days on a ship from Durban, and whilst on that trip he had two lion cubs born that he hand raised as he felt they were in danger from the other lions also traveling with the mother.

Seeing an opportunity in Graeme’s expertise with big cats, Julie suggested that they should start a ‘walk with the lions activity’ and this is how ‘walk with the pride’ was first conceived in Zimbabwe in 1995 at the Pamuzinda Safari Lodge. The couple went on to initiate another ‘walk with the lions’ project in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in conjunction with Shearwater, to date a very popular activity there. From Zimbabwe, they set sail for Mauritius where they joined up with some returning Mauritians Jano and Odile Labat, ex sugar cane farmers and wildlife enthusiasts in Zimbabwe and the four of them started the company Safari Adventures.

Julie believes that working with big cats in Mauritius is no different to working in Africa but is thrilled to see that the experience is thoroughly enjoyed by the locals and visitors alike. An average day begins with the cleaning and feeding routines of the lions and cheetah, bottle feeding can be very time consuming and has to be monitored carefully. There is also time set aside for training which is all done on a reward basis, then the couple take the cheetah and the lions for a walk on a lead around the park and finally there is play time, the cheetah cubs love playing football!

As Julie puts it : ‘raising any cub is a very rewarding experience. To get the animals to take the bottle and then to watch them develop and trust you is a fantastic feeling, it can be very tiring, time consuming and sometimes heart breaking, you get so attached to them. Patience and understanding are the biggest skills required.’

The Bristow’s ambition is to develop this venture along with Casela into a natural safari park for the enjoyment and education of the locals and visitors. Their aim is to educate people about wildlife and how to conserve it and why it is so important for future generations.

The clients they have had so far are from all walks of life and all the comments they have had are positive ones. People that have walked with the lions often say “it’s the best experience they have ever had” Some find it quite emotional but all find it amazing that this can be done and they say “it’s the highlight of their trip to Mauritius”

The motto of Safari Adventures is to be “in touch with the wild”. Julie and Graeme are a couple who go a step beyond that. They can vouch to change the way you look at the big cats again.

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