Mr Lek Bunag who is a well known Thai architect has been responsible for the architecture of the hotel.
The Oberoi Mauritius is the latest hotel in Mauritius and is located at Turtle Bay on the North West coast of Mauritius. It has twenty acres of lush sub-tropical gardens, six hundred metres of ocean front and is surrounded by a turquoise lagoon; a majestic range of green mountains can be seen on the horizon.
The 20 acre site of The Oberoi, Mauritius occupies a headland facing West. It is essentially a flat plateau, rising some 100 metres above sea-level. During the development of the foundation, while basic grading was being undertaken, huge naturally worn bolders, many as big as a car were discovered just under the soil and have been used to form the contours of the gardens and landscape. The swimming pools right on the beach, are hidden from view from the guest rooms. The resort is entered by driving past a 12 metre high aquaduct reminiscent of the aquaducts used to water the sugar cane fields, which spills water into a natural fresh water pond. High vertical edges of this pond are softened with the profusely flowering yellow allamanda.
Guest rooms and public buildings have been dyed ‘rust’ to match the natural volcanic bolders and the roofs are covered with a thick sugar cane thatch. The walls are stacked bolders which complete a very rustic landscape palette which enhances the natural curves of the hotel site. All rooms have been integrated with the natural landscape so that the resort is more like a spacious garden than a hotel building.
As a dramatic and most effective contrast to the earthy colours of the hotel, a beautiful lush garden of sub tropical splendour awaits you. Meandering the contours and slopes which characterize the site, a wide range of trees offer their generous foliage and dancing leaves. Colourful cream and yellow frangipani trees are peppered around the gardens together with the traditional coconut and Livistonia palm trees, Indian coral trees, African tulip trees as well as the pendanus and phoenix trees. Closer to our hearts, we can still contemplate and appreciate the beauty of the bright red flame trees which bloom every year announcing Christmas and New Year rejoicings. A majestic 25 year old Banyan tree graces the landscape with its unique presence and brings a fragrance of nostalgia and solidity which is ageless – it is the ultimate symbol of the nature which surrounds and immerses oneself in the over all atmosphere of peacefulness and serenity.
Not only do the gardens offer different species of big and small trees, but a variety of flowers as well. Water-lillies have been carefully nurtured to adorn the natural pond. A rainbow of colours warms our visual senses as flowers such as hibiscus, geranium, heliconias, orleander, purple-hearts, aloe, bougainvilleas, lantanas, ixora and vinca are mixed in a harmonious bouquet all around the hotel. The gardens of the luxury villas with its precisely pruned and tendered plants and flowers, especially when sitting next to the private pools with the golden and green reflections of their slates, seem like an oasis of freshness and restfulness.
