Mauritius has all the exoticism of the most exotic resorts, but none of their scars. Virgin beaches embraced by coral reefs, translucent sea lagoons, weird and wonderful landscapes, chic hotels, sophisticated cuisine, charming, cosmopolitan people, civilised politics - like a paradise free from original sin.

No wonder Mark Twain was moved to exclaim that God modelled heaven on Mauritius.

Certainly, there’s no place on earth like it.

Mauritius basks in splendid isolation in the bosom of the warmest ocean of all, the Indian Ocean, just inside the tropic of Capricorn, bounded by Africa, India and Australia.

Within its 720 square miles there are more than 1,000 miles of good roads lined with bougainvillea and flame trees, violet moon scaped mountains, deep craters, wild gorges, thick forests, tumbling streams, twisting rivers, waterfalls, rainbows and shooting stars, villages hidden in lush coastal vegetation, plateau towns and charming old colonial houses, flowers and trees growing out of the red earth in a riot of colour and everywhere the green and golden mantle of sugarcane.

The people are unique for their sheer diversity: Indians, Creoles, Muslims, French, Chinese and an intoxicating range of mixture. Beautiful people with soft features, infectious smiles and disarming personalities.

While preserving their original cultures, they live, work and play together achieving a unity in diversity which offers the rest of us an inspiring vision of tomorrow’s cosmopolitan world.