May 2014.

Not quite an island paradise.

Looking at Mauritius, it appears to be an island paradise of gorgeous beaches, lush hills, and small villages. Alas, it's not.

I first spent a week on Rodrigues Island, which is covered coast to coast in goat feces. There was also nothing to eat - shops are closed at erratic hours, and with my gluten free diet I found nothing. The first two days I finished off the white rice, plain, that I had brought on the plane. When I finally managed to find a new bag of rice, and walked an hour back to my room in the hot sun, I was frustrated to find the rice was pulsating with some strange termite-like insects, and was inedible. By the time I made it back to the shop, they had closed.

The main island is densely populated and traffic-clogged with smog-belching buses. All the decent beaches seem to have hotels crammed into them, and I was hassled several times for being on hotel beaches. 

It's also a very expensive country, and budget travellers will struggle.

I can't really recommend Mauritius.