Exotic melting pot
A man, dreadlocks to his waist, walks slowly through the shimmering sea. He raises his arms in the air and whistles a set of scales. Is this a typically Mauritian form of meditation?
He's one of the musicians who played until dawn at the annual International Kreol Festival, so maybe it's just a way to greet the day after very little sleep.
It's not unusual to have long days and nights in Mauritius, especially if you like a mix of sun, sea and nightclubbing.
Only a few hours previously we'd been at the Banana Club in the chic area of Grand-Baie in the north of this 60km-long Indian Ocean island, drinking rum cocktails and listening to live music.
In a disco behind the club, the strobe lights were right out of Saturday Night Fever as the dance floor heaved with sweaty bodies moving to techno music.
We'd driven for more than an hour from the south-west where we'd attended a Sega festival, watching dancer after dancer dressed in the traditional outfits of flouncy long white skirts, midriff tops and headdresses move to the ancient rhythms of slave songs created on the sugar-cane fields.
When most people think of Mauritius, five-star resorts and honeymooning couples come to mind.
It's much more than this, with lots to see, from the old working-harbour capital of Port Louis and the sugar-cane fields dotted with historic brick chimneys to the former French colonial homes to Le Morne, a UNESCO World Heritage area due to its slave history, not far from the centre of Rastafarian culture.
By day Grand-Baie is the place to take a fun catamaran trip to nearby islands, take photos at the nearby red-roofed Cap Malheureux church, swim at Pereybere, an exquisite public white-sand beach, shop at boutiques or people-watch from cafes and restaurants.
Addressing the United Nations in the 1970s, independence movement leader Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam described his country as: "Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean discovered originally by Malays and Arabs, and then rediscovered in the 16th century by the Portuguese, held later by the Dutch, who named it Mauritius, and colonised by the French who named it Ile de France, until Great Britain came in 1814 by the Treaty of Paris and named it again Mauritius."
The Dutch first settled in this dramatically scenic island in 1598, using it as a stopover point on the Dutch East India Company's trade route to the East Indies. Slaves were brought from Madagascar and Africa but when they were freed in 1835 the British, now ensconced here, replaced them with one million indentured labourers from Bihar and Utah Pradesh in India.
Today the country is a fascinating mix of almost 1.3 million people: Creoles (mixed descendants of the African slaves), the Indians, French, Chinese and other nationalities. They are each recognised on the local currency, the Mauritian rupee. For example, Charles Gaetan Duval, a Creole leader, is on the 1000-rupee note.
Gaining independence in 1968 and becoming a republic in 1992, Mauritius has a democratic parliament based on the British model and multiculturalism is something all groups work hard to maintain. As the Nigerian university student I met on our catamaran cruise said to me: "I like it because it's peaceful here."
As we drive from Zilwa Attitude, our hotel in the north, to Port Louis we pass stalls brimming with lychees and mangoes, then the seafront where the Aapravasi Ghat Immigration Depot welcomed more than 500,0000 Indians and other immigrants between 1834 and 1920.
Men lean on walls in the sun as we go for lunch to The Court Yard, which serves typically Mauritian food - like its people, a melting pot of flavours and influences.
A day after walking through the Pamplemousses Botanical Gardens to see plants and trees from all over the world, including the giant water lily Victoria amazonica, we have lunch at Eureka House, a former French plantation owner's home near Port Louis.
Although built by an Englishman, it was sold to a large French family, who converted the upstairs rooms to a dormitory for their 17 children.
Now sometimes used as a location for Bollywood films, the home has antique furniture and wide verandas where lunch is served. We have a marlin salad, curry with lentils, pumpkin and coconut chutney.
Later, chewing on grilled coconut - a popular delicacy here - we imagine what life must have been like for the French colonialists.
FACT FILE
Air Mauritius flies directly from Perth three times a week for $1602 including all taxes and service fees during the low season. www.airmauritius.com or 1300 332 077.
Other things to do
Take a catamaran trip from Cap Malheureux: croisiereaustrales.com
Kite surf at Anse-la-Raie, Cap Malheureux, Post Lafayette, Belle-Mare or Pointe d’Esny. Also surf at Le Morne.
Visit a rhumerie or rum-maker such as Rhumerie de Chamarel to see how the spirit is made from sugar cane. rhumeriedechamarel.com.
Walk or interact with South African lions at Casela Nature and Leisure Park: caselayemen.mu
Maurtourco offers all sorts of different tours: mautourco.com
Accommodation
Zilwa Attitude opened in November, 2013 with architecture based on the old beach holiday houses, using local artists and designers, as well as the “boutiks”, the Creole name for the grocery shops with thatch tin or shingle roofs. On the north coast in Kalodyne, close to the fishermen’s village of Grand Gaube, it has views of the five islands of the northern coast: Coin de Mire, Ile Plate, Ilot Gabriel, Ile Ronde and Ile aux Serpents. Its main bar, overlooking a swimming pool and this view, is called Siro Kann, the word for the sugar cane juice widely used in rum-based cocktails. Creole lessons are available at the resort as well as a sunrise boat trip where a local fisherman shares his everyday life. zilwa-hotel-mauritius.com
Other hotels include
Grand Baie (North)
Le Mauricia: beachcomber-hotels.com/hotel/le-mauricia
Merville Beach: mervillebeach.com/
East
Le Touessrok: letouessrokresort.com/index.php?lang=en
One & Only Le Saint Geran: lesaintgeran.oneandonlyresorts.com/
Centara Poste Lafayette: centarahotelsresorts.com/centara/crm/
South
LUX Le Morne: luxresorts.com/en/hotel-mauritius/luxlemorne
Shanti Maurice: shantimaurice.com/en/
Heritage Resorts: heritageresorts.mu/en/
West
Le Meridien: lemeridien-mauritius.com/-
Sofitel: sofitel.com/gb/hotel-6707-sofitel-so-mauritius/index.shtml
Diana Plater was a guest of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority.
