Rodrigues

While my parents were here we spent 4 days/3 nights visiting Rodrigues an island dependency 560 km east of Mauritius. With a predominantly roman catholic creole population of approximately 37,000, the island seems very different than the main island of Mauritius. Before I visited, people kept telling me that Rodrigues is like Mauritius 30 years ago. If this is true, Mauritius has truly made rapid, unprecedented progress.

Although the tourism industry is beginning to grow in Rodrigues, the hotel accommodations are no where near the luxury, 5 start resorts found in Mauritius. My parents and I stayed at a lovely hotel in the southeast of the island call the Mourouk Ebony. Pictured to the left is the view from the pool where we ate lunch and watched the kite surfers.

Although you cannot really tell from the greenness of the picture to the left that we took while hiking/exploring the island, water is a huge problem for the people of Rodrigues. Each house is equipped with a storage tank. At a designated time during the week (the schedule for water distribution is given via radio) residents open the water valves and fill their tanks for the week (or sometimes two weeks). In the summer, lack of rain exacerbates the problem.

In addition to the free social services in Mauritius such as education and health care, in Rodrigues, land and water are also free. Even with this large amount of social spending, the poverty is obvious and there is a lack of viable employment. There is not much of a private sector in Rodrigues and fishing and agriculture provide the livelihood of most people. Onions and garlic are grown for export to Mauritius and maize and chickens are produced for domestic consumption. The island is also know for its dried Octopus which is both consumed and exported. There are paved roads for the 200 or so privately owned vehicles on the island but the preferred mode of transportation seems to be public bus or motor bike.

The main market is held on Saturday morning in the capital of Port Mathurin. Pictured to the left is my mother shopping for various chillies. Also found at the market are various chutneys, drinks, woven basket and hats as well as fruits, vegetables and meats. There are also various other souvenir type items aimed at the growing tourism industry.

Although 4 days was not enough time to see everything, I would have to say that from what I saw the best part of Rodrigues in under the water. Bouba diving club (www.boubadiving.com) conveniently situated at the hotel with a friendly, knowledgeable staff took us to explore the colorful corals and huge schools of fish. I would imagine that the sea really is what it must have been in Mauritius 30 years ago before the pollution of the textile industry and non-ecologically friendly tour operations such as the underwater sea walk (where you literally walk across the corals). I went on one deep dive to see blacktip reef sharks, but even at shallow depths there was lots to see (pictures to follow shortly). The coral in Rodrigues seems brighter and more alive and being the only divers around made it seem like we were truly observing an entirely different world.