MAURITIUS – SUNDAYS AND SUNNY DAYS

© Sally Hammond

 ‘A Sunday landscape’ was Mark Twain’s appraisal of Mauritius in his 1897 book, “More Tramps Abroad”.

He wasn’t being rude, merely expanding on his clutch of impressions of this island which included ‘a dainty little vest-pocket Matterhorn’ (Pieter Both the 820-metre peak overlooking the capital, Port-Louis, perhaps), along with ‘toy peaks’ and ‘tiny mountains’ as he called them, and a countryside he found generally ‘charming but not imposing’. 

So on a Sunday, over a hundred years later, I am in Mauritius, no longer under British rule as it was at the time of Twain’s visit, to see if he got it right.

We’ve been given the use of a car and a driver so we can visit other parts of the island, and it will be a long day. I have a list.

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(finishes)

With its 1.2 million people (making Mauritius the 18th most densely populated country) and untold thousands of annual tourists, you would expect this 1864 square-kilometre island to feel crowded. 

But on this Sunday afternoon as I watch the gentle green and golden landscape slipping past, I find myself beginning to agree with Mr Twain, 

What’s more, I know there will be a tall cold drink waiting for me at our resort. Better still, there’ll be one every day, if I want it. Not just on Sundays.

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©Sally Hammond 2006

(Sally and Gordon Hammond travelled as guests of Beachcomber Resorts)

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This article is written in an easy conversational style and includes information on the accommodation provided (Beachcomber), the local food and cuisine, things to do, and see – or not see – such as the dodo, depicted on everything from fridge magnets to tablecloths and T-shirts, which has been extinct for over 300 years, yet is till a symbol of this magic island.

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