The title of this article is a courtesy to many readers, myself included, who may not have known just whereMauritius is. Others might have confused it with similar-sounding Mauritania, which is on the opposite corner of Africa. But looking at a map you can see this island is on the sunrise side of Madagascar.
It is technically part of Africa, but it feels more like India, or maybe Madagascar. When we came here two weeks ago we had very little knowledge of this island country. It has been full of surprises. This first post is more of a general write-up. In the following article I hope to write about the environment here.
The first bird I see when I got off the plane was the Dodo – on the disembarkation card. And on the money we changed our dollars into. Dodos are pictured everywhere here: posters, team mascots. And in grocery stores you can see it on food labels and beer bottles. The center photo is from the History museum here in Mahebourg. The closest you can get to the real dodo are these bone fragments on display.This statues of a sitting Swami is often mistaken for a Buddha. He is sitting. He is corpulent. He looks serene. But he is not Buddha. This is in the port area of Mahebourg, the first city we are staying in here in Mauritius.Also near the dock area are the buildings associated with the railroad that used to come in. I’m not sure where exactly the train station is. Somewhere near here. The signage is confusing. Note the strangler fig tree in the process of strangling the building that may, or may not, be part of the train station.Mahebourg downtown area. Not exactly a pretty town. But there are some corners that still have historical significance.Blue Bay, just down the coast, and a short bus ride, from Mahebourg. This is a great place for swimming and snorkeling. Very close to the airport. Every half hour or less we see planes taking off.Curepipe, Mauritius. This is the market building. Truly odd mostly cement architecture. In fact the whole downtown looks rather grimy, as if it is overdue for a high-pressure scrubbing.These pyramids are just outside the town of Plaine Magnien, close to the airport.“Land of contrasts” is a cliche of travelogues but, when it comes to religions, this truly is the case here. Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and other religions demonstrate mutual toleration.What can we do with these “pineapplettes”? Hmm.I was saddened to see just how much of the country is given over to agriculture, especially sugar cane. Although that commodity is no longer the cash crop it used to be the fields have already been plowed up. Countless square miles of forest, lagoons, rivers, and savanna have been irrevocably destroyed. Parrots, owls, and several other animals have joined the dodo in ecological oblivion. There are still a small number of animal and bird species that only have a mountainous section, Black River Gorges National Park, near the center of the island as a refuge.
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