Mauritius is a friendly island some 42 miles long by 29 miles wide. Today, it is a colorful ethnic melting pot where the cultures and cuisines of Europe, Africa and Asia have achieved a vibrant synthesis. Uninhabited until the arrival of the Dutch (who notoriously consumed the entire dodo population), it was subsequently settled by the French. A period of British rule from 1810 to 1968 ensured that English would be universally understood and spoken today. The interior is carpeted by sugar plantations scattered between ridges of vertiginous green mountains. The island is ringed by some of the most beautiful white-sand beaches in the world.

We sometimes think the beaches of the Indian Ocean are the most beautiful in the world. The quality of the sand in places like Mauritius is perhaps rivaled only by that on the atolls of French Polynesia.

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