Tamarina: Life Inside Mauritius’s West Coast Golf Estate

Living at Tamarina means living inside a private golf estate while keeping a genuine surf-and-family town, Tamarin, just a few minutes away by car, with its own shops and neighbourhood life – a balance offered by neither Anahita on the East coast nor Heritage Bel Ombre in the South, two estates that are more isolated from their nearest village. Opened in 2006 across 206 hectares between mountain and sea, Tamarina sold all 119 of its villas shortly after launch. Today it is a resale market built around an 18-hole golf course, with access to a Mauritian residence permit from an investment of USD 375,000.

What is Tamarina, in practical terms?

Tamarina Golf Estate is a 206-hectare residential and golf estate between the Rempart mountain and Tamarin Bay, in the Black River district on Mauritius’s West coast. It was one of the earliest developments built under the Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS), the legal framework introduced by the Economic Development Board (EDB) to allow foreigners to acquire freehold property in Mauritius. Its 119 villas, set on plots of 3,000 to 5,000 m² and offering 400 to 700 m² of built area, all found buyers shortly after the development launched. Several property professionals describe Tamarina as one of the island’s first IRS estates to sell out completely. There are therefore no off-plan sales left in the original estate, only a resale market between owners.

The estate’s golf course and beach club

Tamarina Golf Club opened in 2006. It is an 18-hole, par-72 course designed by Rodney Wright, stretching 6,886 metres from the professional tees across savannah terrain crossed by the Rempart River. The clubhouse includes a pro shop and Le Dix-Neuf restaurant, serving international and Mauritian cuisine. The estate combines the course with beach access and a beach club, which sets Tamarina apart from purely golf-focused estates: residents have both fairway and coastline without depending on an integrated hotel, as at Anahita or Heritage Bel Ombre.

Day-to-day life around Tamarin

This is Tamarina’s real difference from the island’s other golf estates: the village of Tamarin, known for its surf break and its bay, where a resident pod of dolphins returns to rest every morning, as well as for its long-established expat community, is only a few minutes from the estate, with local shops, restaurants and genuine street life. For larger grocery runs, Cascavelle Shopping Mall near Flic en Flac brings together a supermarket and other retailers less than fifteen minutes away by car. The island’s main employment and administrative hubs – Port Louis, Quatre Bornes and Moka – remain around thirty minutes away depending on traffic. A car is still essential, as across most of the West coast outside the densest areas, but Tamarina avoids the complete isolation of an estate cut off from any village, unlike Heritage Bel Ombre.

Healthcare and emergencies on the West coast

The Black River district has its own local facility, Dr Y. Cantin Community Hospital in Black River. It is part of health region 5, administered from Victoria Hospital in Candos, which the Ministry of Health says covers around 30% of Mauritius. For more comprehensive private care, estate residents generally use clinics in the centre of the island, around a 45-minute drive away.

Schools and families: three options within ten minutes

This is a genuine strength of Tamarina compared with the country’s other golf estates, which are more isolated in terms of schooling. In Tamarin itself, École Paul et Virginie teaches around 500 pupils from nursery through CM2 on the French curriculum, as a school affiliated with the Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE), and has operated since 2003. Also in Tamarin, Telfair International Academy offers a British curriculum from early years through lower secondary, with a partnership leading to Le Bocage Secondary High School in Moka for pupils continuing their education. For upper secondary, Westcoast International Secondary School in Cascavelle is an IB World School authorised to deliver the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, with its first graduating cohort in 2021. A family living at Tamarina can therefore cover schooling from nursery through the baccalaureate without leaving the West coast, something Heritage Bel Ombre cannot offer and Anahita cannot offer at secondary level.

Property at Tamarina: the market and access for foreign buyers

Buying a villa at Tamarina is a freehold purchase under the IRS scheme. According to the Economic Development Board, an investment of at least USD 375,000 in an IRS, RES or PDS property gives the buyer, their spouse and dependent children under 24 access to a residence permit, valid for as long as the property remains in their ownership, without requiring a separate work or occupation permit. The owner may rent out the property and freely repatriate income from rental or resale. The rules for each scheme (IRS, RES, PDS, R+2) are explained on our dedicated guide to property acquisition schemes, while the applicable notary fees and registration duty are detailed in our separate article. At this price point, Tamarina sits within the island’s luxury property segment, alongside the other golf estates covered in our guide to golf property in Mauritius. Westimmo tracks properties returning to the resale market at Tamarina on our Tamarina Golf villaspage, together with the wider local inventory on our Tamarin property.

Regional comparison: Tamarina versus Anahita and Heritage Bel Ombre

On the East coast, Anahita offers a comparable gated golf-estate model backed by five-star hotels, with the recent arrival of Clavis School in Beau Champ, but daily life remains more dependent on its internal hotel ecosystem. In the South, Heritage Bel Ombre offers two championship courses and a 1,300-hectare nature reserve, at the cost of greater isolation: no independent village immediately nearby and no international school within twenty minutes. Tamarina stands apart from both through its proximity to a genuinely lively village, Tamarin, and a full local schooling offer. The broader comparison between Mauritius’s East and West coasts, beyond golf estates alone, is covered in our article East or West Coast Mauritius.

Who is Tamarina right for?

The estate is first suited to an international buyer looking for a golf base with access to a residence permit, without giving up village life within walking distance or a few minutes by car. It also suits a family with children that wants golf, beach and a complete international schooling path in the same area, a balance that is harder to find at Heritage Bel Ombre or Anahita. It is less suited to a buyer primarily seeking classic long-term rental yield, as the Tamarina market remains focused on high-end resale and holiday rentals, or to someone looking for the urban energy of the North: on that point, Grand Baie remains the better fit.

Sources and verification

• Tamarina Golf Club – official website : estate size, course opening year, architect, course length and par.
• Economic Development Board Mauritius – IRS/RES/PDS schemes and residence permit : USD 375,000 threshold and residence-permit conditions.
• Government of Mauritius – public hospitals by health region : health region 5, Victoria Hospital and Black River Community Hospital.
• Telfair International Academy – official website : location in Tamarin, British curriculum, age range and partnership with Le Bocage.
• AEFE – École maternelle et primaire Paul et Virginie : affiliation and location in Tamarin.
• Westcoast International Secondary School – programmes and curriculum : IBDP authorisation in 2019, first graduating cohort in 2021 and location in Cascavelle.