Hinduism is the most widely practised religion. The people of Indian descent (Indo-Mauritian) follow mostly Hinduism and Islam. The Franco-Mauritians, Creoles and Sino-Mauritians follow Christianity. A minority of Sino-Mauritians also follow Buddhism and other Chinese-related religions.
The constitution prohibits discrimination on religious grounds and provides for freedom to practice or change one’s religion.
According to the 2011 census Hinduism accounts for 48.54% of the population, followed by Christianity at 32.71% (with Catholicism as the largest Christian denomination at 26.26%), followed by Islam 17.30% and Buddhism 0.18% in terms of number of adherents. Mauritius has the highest percentage of Hindus in Africa and third highest percentage of Hindus in the world after Nepal and India, respectively.
A Catholic Church
The government provides subsidies to the Roman Catholic Church, Church of England, Presbyterian Church of Mauritius, Seventh-day Adventists, Hindus, and Muslims according to their tax-exempt status and numbers in the census. Other religious groups can register to get their tax-exempt status but they will not get any subsidy. Religious public holidays are the Hindu festivals of Maha Shivaratree, Ougadi, Thaipoosam Cavadee, Ganesha Chaturthi, and Diwali; the Christian festivals of Assumption and Christmas; and the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
A Pagoda
Maha Shivaratri, or the ‘Great Night of Siva’ is one of the biggest festivals on the island . During this annual Hindu celebration, which takes place in the months of February and March, four to nine days of ceremony and fasting lead up to an all-night vigil of Siva worship and Ganesha worship.
Among Mauritius’s Christians, 83% are Catholics (26% of the total population or 324,811). Christianity came to Mauritius with the first inhabitants, the Dutch. The French arrived in 1715 and revived Christianity. From 1723, there was a law which required all slaves coming to the island must be baptised Catholic. But this law was not followed strictly. During the 1840s and 1850s, the British tried to turn Mauritius Protestant. Today Christianity is practiced by 31.7% of the total population.
Jummah Mosque
Islam is practiced by 17.3% of the Mauritian population. Approximately 95 percent of these are Urdu speaking Sunni Muslims. Memons and the Surtees are rich merchants who came from Kutch and Surat province of Gujarat in India, while the “Hindi Calcattias” came to Mauritius as indentured labourers from Bihar. The first purpose-built mosque in Mauritius is the Camp des Lascars Mosque in around 1805. It is now officially known as the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Jummah Mosque in Port Louis was built in the 1850s and is often described as one of the most beautiful religious buildings in Mauritius by the Ministry of Tourism.
The Botanic Garden, formally known as Sir Seewoosagur Botanic Garden, is one of the most visited attractions in Mauritius.
National Botanical Garden
The garden is located in the proximity of Port-Louis. The botanical garden was first opened nearly 300 years ago. It is populated with more 650 varieties of plants including the famous Baobabs. There are also 85 different varieties of palm trees brought from different corners of the world. The garden also contains the Palmier Bouteille, the Giant Water Lilies, dozens of medicinal plants, a large spice garden and many more. You also can enjoy the smells of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, camphor, lemon, eucalyptus, sandalwood, and others.
Lilli Pond
There is a 200-year-old Buddha-tree and the crosstree, with leaves shaped like a cross. You can visit the Java Deer reserve and the giant Aldabra tortoise park.
National Botanical Garden
Castle of Mon Plaisir, built by the British in the middle of the 19th century, which is a historical monument, is also found in the gardens.
The garden covers an area of around 25,110 hectares (62,040 acres). Entrance fee to the garden is $8 per adult and children under the age of five are admitted free of charge. Guides are available at the entrance of the garden. A guide will cost 1 euro/hour per person. The payment for the guides is made at the entrance of the botanical garden.
The garden management request the visitors to refrain from feeding the animals both aquatic and terrestrial, plucking flowers, fruits or any other plant, lighting fires​, swimming and fishing, throwing coins in ponds or on water lilies, consuming alcoholic drinks and smoke, and climbing on the trees, monuments, buildings and structures.
With the successful vaccination rollout, Mauritius is allowing vaccinated travelers from 1st September 2021 to spend only 7 days in a special ‘resort bubble’ hotel before going out to discover the island. From 1st October 2021 all vaccinated travelers, who present a negative PCR test taken 72 hours prior to embarkation, will be allowed to enter and travel freely.
The Mauritian government vaccinated tourism workers and hotel staff to make it safe for international travelers.
Mauritius is opening
Flights from Europe and the Middle East is currently provided by Air Mauritius, Emirates, Turkish Airlines, Air France, Kenya Airways and British Airways. At this time of year, visitors will find the perfect climate for enjoying the various outdoor activities Mauritius has to offer, such as hiking, kite surfing, water sports, as well as of course relaxing on the country’s world-renowned beaches.
Paradise island
Mauritius opened for international travel in the middle of July. Vaccinated guests could spend 14 days in a special ‘resort bubble’ hotel before going on to discover more of the Indian Ocean paradise.
Your travel here can satisfy your short break for shopping, partying, sunbathing, fine dining, sporting events, and even a few sinful pleasures
Mauritius is typically tropical in the coastal regions with forests in the mountainous areas. Seasonal cyclones, that generally occur between January and March are very destructive to the flora and fauna, although they recover quickly. Warm and humid summer is from November to April. The rest of the year has cooler dry winter.
The central plateau is much cooler than the surrounding coastal areas and receives double the rainfall of the coastal region. The trade winds keep the east side of the island cooler and bring more rain.
Mauritius faces environmental problems in water management, soil erosion, sustainable land use, invasive species, and preservation of its wildlife. The sources of water pollution are sewage and agricultural chemicals. Mauritius cities produce 0.1 million tons of solid waste annually. The erosion of the soil occurs through deforestation.
Oil spill from a Japanese ship
The government is adopting an Integrated Management Approach to Sustainable Environmental Management under the Environment Protection Act of 1991.
Manure heals toxic fields
The overuse of chemical fertilizers to bump up their yields has turned the soil toxic. Farmers in Mauritius use about 50,000 tons of fertilizer each year. The chemicals leach into the island’s underground reservoirs when it rains. These chemicals pollute about 80 percent of water used by locals from these underground sources. Now attempts are being made to use compost instead of chemicals to remove the toxicity from the soil.
The Constitution of Mauritius mentions no official language. It only contains a statement in Article 49 that “The official language of the Assembly shall be English but any member may address the chair in French”. Thus English and French are de facto official languages.
Bilingual street signs
Mauritian Creole is spoken by 86.5% of the people at home. Mauritian Creole is a French-based Creole. Bhojpuri is spoken by 5.3% of the people, while French is spoken by 4.4%. Bhojpuri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken predominantly in the Northern-Eastern region of India and the Terai region of Nepal.
Most Mauritians are bi-lingual. Other languages you may hear include Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Urdu, and some varieties of Chinese (predominantly Hakka and Mandarin).
Mauritius PortLouis
Your travel here can satisfy your short break for shopping, partying, sunbathing, fine dining, sporting events, and even a few sinful pleasures
The majority of Mauritians are descended from Indians, Chinese, Malay, African and Malagasy and people from other parts of South Asia who were brought in as indentured labor to work in the plantations, while large minorities are also descended from Europeans.
Indian diaspora
The Franco-Mauritian elite not only controlled nearly all of the large sugar estates but was also active in business and banking. When the population of Indian origin increased the political power shifted from the French elite to the Indians.
Democracy in Mauritius
The ethnic groups of Mauritius consisted of Indo-Mauritians (30%), Afro-Mauritians (48%), Sino-Mauritians (26%), and Franco-Mauritians (28%).
Saint Gabriel church is located at the heart of Rodrigues Island and has one of the largest Port Louis diocese congregations. The religious building serves as a cathedral of the Catholic Church’s Apostolic Vicariate of Rodrigues. About 32.7% of the Mauritian population adheres to Christianity and Christian beliefs. Christianity was introduced in Mauritius with the arrival of the Dutch.
Saint Gabriel Church
The parish of Saint Gabriel, the largest in Rodrigues, includes 33 villages. Placed at the heart of this parish territory, the newly renovated cathedral is a place of worship for more than twelve thousand parishioners.
It is also the seat of the bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Rodrigues. Hundreds of people from all parts of the island gather here every Sunday for the Mass.
Hardworking local volunteers hoisted sand, stone and corals from all parts of the island to build this church, which was completed on 10th December 1939.
