The geography: Mauritius is a volcanic island, situated some 800 km east of Madagascar, off the Eastern coast of Africa. There have been no active volcanoes on Mauritius for several tens of thousands of years. The island is roughly 60 km by 30 km large, making it a size of some 1,860 square kilometres and it is one of the world's most densely populated countries, with more than 600 inhabitants per square kilometre (although you hardly seem to notice this as you travel through the country).

The island of Rodrigues is also part of Mauritius. It lies 560 kilometres to the north-east and there are a number of other "outer" islands which also form part of the Mauritian territory, such as Saint Brandon, Agalega etc.

Mauritius consists of a central plateau, where the climate is somewhat cooler and rainier than in the coastal areas. The island is surrounded by coral reefs and there are long stretches of white sandy beaches scattered all around.

Mauritius lies in the Tropic of Capricorn and the climate is tropical. It can rain at anytime throughout the year. It is at its hottest during our "Summer" i.e. December to April, when the temperature can rise to almost 35 degrees (several degrees cooler on the central plateau) and the coolest time is our "Winter", between July and September, when the average daytime temperature will be around 24 degrees and it can do down to around 16 degrees at night (a few degrees cooler on the central plateau). There is usually some humidity in the air.

The inhabitants and a bit of history: The population of Mauritius is fast reaching 1,3 million, made up of persons of different religions and origins. There are about 50% of Hindus, some 35% Christians (made up of Creoles, Chinese and Mauritians of French or European origin) and approximately 15% Muslims. The island was first visited (it is believed) by the Arabs.

Then came the Dutch and the Portuguese, but it was the French who first colonized  Mauritius, giving it the name of Ile de France. France "lost" Mauritius to the British, after a famous naval battle which was won by France in the first instance, and it became a British colony in 1810. Mauritius became independent in 1968 and a Republic in 1992.

The capital is Port-Louis and the currency is the Mauritian Rupee, which at this particular time is exchanged at around 43 to the Euro.

The Economy:The Mauritian economy consists of three main sectors : sugar, textile industry and tourism. The road network is good and there is today a four-lane motorway all the way from the airport in the south-east to Grand Bay, the most important tourist centre, in the north-west.

The official language is English, but in general Mauritian are more at home speaking, reading and hearing French. The mother tongue is Creole and other languages spoken are Bhojpuri, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Mandarin and Hakka. It is this extraordinary mixture of peoples and cultures that makes Mauritius the very special place it is.

There are numerous daily newspapers, mostly in French but also in English and Creole, and the history of the press goes back well over a century. Mauritius has three national television channels, several national and three private radio channels.