The Beautiful Island of Mauritius

I am getting ready to reduce my pix so that they will fit here, but This is what a wrote about in Mauritius while we were there (I put my blogs on Word first):

Okay, I think the heat was getting to me in my last blog…Since then I have been able to upload and explain many pictures of Dubai. I have also been to one of the greatest places on Earth for a vacation. The place is called Mauritius and I will be adding more pictures!!!! Mauritius is an island off the east coast of Madagascar which is off the east coast of Africa. Of course as I write this I can’t find my little info booklet that I got at the airport, but I will try to remember as much as I can. It is small only about 1860KM area that was formed from volcanoes which have not erupted since people have begun coming to this Island. It was first founded by the Portuguese who later abandoned it, and then the Dutch who tried to settle here. The Dutch abandoned the Island but left the sugar cane, pigs, and many rats. Then the French came and tried to settle. They spent some time here then somehow the English came. They settled here until Maritius became independent in 1992. When slavery was abolished all the slaves decided not to work for their owners (go fig, huh?). When this happened Indians came to the island. The book I was reading said that they came about 10,000/week for many months. Now about 70% of their population now is from Indian decent. The official language is English but everyone speaks French, and the “native” language is Creole (I’m still trying to figure how that happened!!)(Oh! The slave languages plus the French. I get it!!) and the money used is called Mauritian Rupees. About 1000 rupees are equal to about $35.
I think it was the Dutch who killed off the Dodos. Mauritius is known as the island that was the home to the now extinct Dodo bird. They were killed off right before the 17th century when their home area which was filled with the ebony trees (what they use to make the black keys on a piano) was destroyed. They were also killed off for food at about 8 or 9 at a time. They also would eat tons of the other birds on the island. Here’s a rough quote from one of the books I I read about the island… “we would walk right up the doves so you could kill about 150 in one day and many more if you could hold onto them all”. A crocodile reserve has an area that is reserved for the extinct animals of the region. There was a huge skink (like a smooth skinned lizard), a long necked tortoise from Rodrigues Island, and a variety of birds from Mauritius, Rodrigues, and Reunion Islands I think thethree of them are called the Marcarene Islands) that are now also extinct. The long necked tortoise was hunted for food and also to make oil. It would take about 500 tortoises to make one barrel of oil. Can you imagine? The giant tortoises that they had at the reserve are slowly being reintroduced into Mauritius. They are originally from Seychelles Island since they were hunted to extinction on Mauritius.
Okay, let’s see what else… Mauritius is almost completely surrounded by a coral reef and I think it might be one of the longest unbroken coral reefs in the world. The temperature now is around mid 80’s to low 70’s and this is their winter. The summer can go up to around 90, but there is always a breeze from the ocean. Summer is their rainy season and there can be a threat of cyclones. There are banana trees and coconut trees everywhere as well as huge fields of sugar cane. Ziyad’s first reaction was, “look, a corn field!!!”, and it does remind you of that. As you can see from the pictures it is breathtaking. We have begun to contemplate how we would be able to live here and still earn money in some way. But, no Mom!!! I don’t think that will be happening….maybe when we retire??? All I can say is WOW!!! If anyone ever gets a chance to come here take it cuz it really is one of the most beautiful places I have seen on Earth. (Pictures soon!!)