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There are holiday destinations that people visit once. Mauritius is a place with which people fall in love and return again and again.
There are, of course, miles and miles of sandy beaches. There are the beautiful lagoons and places where you can snorkel and look at colourful tropical fish. There is diving and water sports, and catamaran or glass-bottom boat trips. Small enough that you could travel round the whole country, the landscape is varied, with mountain walks and plenty of nature parks, with abseiling and Tyrolean rope walks for the more adventurous. Large green plateaus spread out from the foothills of the mountains, which are craggy in some places and full of lush vegetation in others. Many of the mountainsides provide panoramic views over the sugarcanes fields and on to the ocean.
Mauritius lies in the south-west Indian Ocean region, some 500 miles east of Madagascar. The main island is volcanic in origin and is just within the Tropics at 20° South.
The climate is sub-tropical, with average daytime temperatures varying between 26° C and 32° C in coastal regions.
Coral reefs protect the crystal-clear lagoons and the sea ripples gently onto the beaches, edged with coconut palms.
The various waves of immigration have created a cultural and religions mosaic that is now typically Mauritian, with a colourful and fascinating range of festivals and religious architecture. Creole, originally French-based, is now the everyday language. Although the official language is English, French is probably more widely spoken. Bhojpuri, originating from Bihar in India, is spoken by a sizeable number of people, as are other Indian languages, as well as some Hakka, Mandarin and Urdu. |
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