Mauritius is the most developed of the Mascarene Islands. The island is well known for its natural beauty.

It was perfectly obvious why Mark Twain (1896) had declared: “You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then heaven was copied.” It was heaven. These words perfectly describe this extraordinarily beautiful island nation.

Mauritius is a volcanic island of lagoons and palm-fringed beaches off the coast of Africa, in the Indian Ocean roughly 800km (500m) east of Madagascar. It is like a pearl in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius can hardly be found in a world map, measuring 58km (36m) from north to south and 47km (29m) from east to west. As a country, it includes the islands of Mauritius, the inhabited island of Rodrigues (east of the principal island), the islands of Agalega and the archipelago Saint Brandon. Its capital is Port Louis.