HITTING THE TRIFECTA
Granted, it’s the beaches that’ll woo you first.
Even from the narrow window of the jet, those pearly shores and crystalline waters, which seem to appear in the Indian Ocean out of nowhere, look plucked from a postcard. The grassy sugarcane fields and verdant mountains, which vividly rise up into the sharp blue sky, will dazzle too.
Mauritius, south of the equator and east of Madagascar, is rimmed with chalky beaches and reefs freckled with exotic fish, garnering a reputation as a quintessential island getaway. Ads and brochures will broadcast how it’s a family-friendly destination with water sports and waterfalls. And they wouldn’t be wrong. But like so many tropical islands, it’s not all coconut palms and daiquiris. Mauritius is a lot more textured than its reputation might suggest.
The island’s complex history—it was colonized three
