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Mauritius has all the
exoticism of the most exotic resorts, but none of their scars.
Virgin beaches embraced by coral reefs, translucent sea lagoons,
weird and wonderful landscapes, chic hotels, sophisticated
cuisine, charming, cosmopolitan people, civilised politics
- like a paradise free from original sin.
No wonder Mark Twain was moved to exclaim
that God modelled heaven on Mauritius
Certainly, there’s no place on earth like
it
Mauritius basks in splendid isolation in the
bosom of the warmest ocean of all, the Indian Ocean, just
inside the tropic of Capricorn, bounded by Africa, India and
Australia.
Within its 720 square miles there are more
than 1,000 miles of good roads lined with bougainvillea and
flame trees, violet moon scaped mountains, deep craters, wild
gorges, thick forests, tumbling streams, twisting rivers,
waterfalls, rainbows and shooting stars, villages hidden in
lush coastal vegetation, plateau towns and charming old colonial
houses, flowers and trees growing out of the red earth in
a riot of colour and everywhere the green and golden mantle
of sugarcane.
The people are unique for their sheer diversity:
Indians, Creoles, Muslims, French, Chinese and an intoxicating
range of mixture. Beautiful people with soft features, infectious
smiles and disarming personalities.
While preserving their original cultures,
they live, work and play together achieving a unity in diversity
which offers the rest of us an inspiring vision of tomorrow’s
cosmopolitan world.
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