Mauritius, day 2 and 3

Today is Mauritius, the final two days on the island. As I already wrote, the island is very small. For two days, you can fully explore it, which I used to hire a car at the airport.

Landscapes of Mauritius are relatively dull. Half of the entire area of the island is occupied by sugar cane plantations! In the center of the island there are several high mountains. The highest point is the peak Rivière Noire, 826 m.

Cane! He is everywhere. The first colonists planted spices in Mauritius, the French - coffee, the British - tea. All these crops could produce excellent harvests if the cyclones did not destroy the planting. And only the stalks of sugar cane withstand the onslaught of the elements.

Now a little history. The island was discovered 500 years ago by the Portuguese and called it Sishna. After 100 years, the Dutch took away the island, brought slaves from Madagascar here and began to grow reeds. After another 100 years, the bred rats chase the Dutch and in 1715 the island passes into the possession of France. In 1810, after the victory won by the British troops over the French garrisons, the island passed into the possession of Britain. The British built roads and farms here. Farm all with these pipes here.

Along the roads, the British planted trees, still growing

All local residents are descendants of slaves.

They are lazy, slow and sloppy. If something in Mauritius works well, then the white man is driving it. For local residents, this also applies.

Fishermen.

On March 12, 1968, Mauritius was declared an independent state.

This dog sailed on a yacht from the United States.

The standard of living here is quite high. The island has many good restaurants, great hotels, McDonalds and even an Apple store.

Scary old buses run around the island. Pay attention to the road. All roads are VERY narrow. Stop there is nowhere for several kilometers. And the most unpleasant, the edge of the strip usually ends just with a cliff, they do not even make slopes. During the bus ride, I almost fell off the road a couple of times.

A good driver in his car will definitely draw a picture about love.

In general, there is no problem with driving. Gasoline costs $ 1 per liter. Very few cars, excellent roads everywhere.

The road to the reserve. Once covered with hills, dense forests with valuable tree species have long been cut down and replaced by plantations of Canarian pine and eucalyptus

For all the time, the police stopped only once, asked at which hotel I live and rewrote the driver's license data.

The British left a good legacy to their slaves - architecture.

Courthouse

strange house

sometimes there is such a terrible architecture

And there are many temples on the island. Half of the islanders profess Hinduism, the remaining half - Catholics and Muslims. The most magnificent, of course, are Hindu temples.

From the beginning of 1968, clashes began to occur between representatives of the Asian part of the population and the Creoles (blacks and mulattoes). Now everyone lives peacefully, but everyone in his quarter.

Guess which quarter is this beach? That's right - Indians live here

And the locals are mostly fat. Perhaps this is because they sit all day and look at the sea.

Palm is not real, it is so disguised tower cell operators. Very cool.

And now the acacia blooms beautifully!

All roads in gorgeous flowering trees!

Sunset...

Anthem of Mauritius:

Glory to thee, Motherland
O motherland of mine.
Sweet is thy beauty,
Sweet is thy fragrance,
Around thee we gather
As one people,
As one nation,
In peace, justice and liberty.
Beloved the Country,
May God bless thee
For ever and ever.