Where I come from...

Hello to all my beautiful readers. I was really out of idea for this week article but then I realised that that I had a lot of visitors from all around the world. So, I decided to write something about my beautiful country.

MAURITIUS

Mark Twain once wrote that ‘Mauritius was made first and then heaven, heaven being copied after Mauritius’. For the most part, it’s true: Mauritius is rightly famed for its sapphire waters, powder-white beaches and luxury resorts. But there’s so much more attraction to Mauritius than the beach, and it's the kind of place that rewards even the smallest attempts at exploration. There’s hiking in the forested and mountainous interior and world-class diving and snorkelling offshore. There are boat trips to near-perfect islets and excursions to botanical gardens and colonial plantation houses. Mauritius is a fabulous culinary destination with great wildlife watching thrown in. And the real Mauritius away from the beach resorts – a hot curry of different cultures and quiet fishing villages – is never far away.

Mauritius is a densely populated island of around 1.2 million people. It has a reputation for stability and racial harmony among its mixed population. Mauritius is known as a plural society where all the ethnic groups present: Hindus, Muslims, Creoles, Chinese and Europeans live in peace and where all the ancestral cultures have been preserved. These features make the island a unique place in the world, and the Mauritians known for their tolerance and kindness towards all people. Located just off the southeast coast of Africa, some 900km east of Madagascar, is the island nation of Mauritius. Surrounded by the warm Indian Ocean, the island is 2040km2 in size and forms part of the Mascarene Islands, with La Réunion to the southwest and Rodrigues to the northeast. As a Republic, it also includes the islands of Cargados Carajos, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands, while its capital is the city of Port Louis.

Most Mauritians are bilingual being equally fluent in French and English.. Oriental languages also form part of the linguistic mosaic. Mauritian Creole, French and English are mostly spoken on the island. While English is the only official language, the lingua franca is Mauritian Creole and the newspapers and television programmes are usually in French. Rodriguan Creole is a minority language and is spoken in certain parts of the country only.

Mauritius enjoys a mild tropical climate all year round. The winter months are typically warm and dry from May to November, while summer is hot and quite humid from December to April. The coastal temperatures: 22 degrees in winter to 34 in summer.

Often, the sound of the native Sega music (an Indian Ocean version of calypso) inspires dancing and laughing on the beaches all night.

Participants refresh themselves with the local ice cold Phoenix beer, the occasional Green Island rum and Coke and barbecue, freshly caught seafood like snapper, dorado, prawns, octopus and lobster.

The cuisine of Mauritius is a blend of Creole, Chinese, European and Indian. It's common for a combination of cuisines to form part of the same meal.

Strong ties with the French (who ruled the island from 1710-1810) has meant that even today French dishes such as bouillon, tuna salad, daube and coq au vin are popular, while Indian workers who migrated to Mauritius brought their cuisine with them, making curries, chutney, rougaille (tomato paste that's popular especially when served with fish) and pickles popular especially when given a unique Mauritian flavor.

The arrival of Chinese migrants at the end of the 19th century led to rice becoming part of the staple diet of the island and noodles, both steamed and fried, became common.

Chinese appetisers such as crispy chicken and crispy squid have also become part of the Mauritian diet.

Yet any holiday on Mauritius needn't be a laze on the sand.

For sightseers there are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites the Aapravasi ghat & Le Morne Cultural Landscape, the colonial capital of Port Louis, one of the oldest horse racing tracks in the world at Champs de Mars, one of the world's best botanical gardens at Pamplemousses, the Blue Penny Museum (home to one of the world's rarest stamps), the Black River Gorges National Park and the Casela Wildlife Park, where you can walk with lion cubs.

To get to any of these, or just to get around Mauritius, you can use taxis (find a good one on your first day and stick with him), hire a car.

When your island is surrounded by perfect white sand beaches, themselves surrounded by the stunning blue Indian Ocean, and the centre of the island contains mountains and breathtaking scenery, plus almost year-round sunshine, it's difficult to be miserable.