Learning a little more about Mauritius

Just over one month until the big wedding in Grand Cayman. I'm starting to get really excited about everything... mostly because all of the planning will finally be over. I'm amazed at how many details and logistics can be crammed into one day. I did a little research on wikipedia about Mauritius which is where we're going to go after our safari in south africa. Here's some info on wikipedia -


Mauritius (pronounced: IPA: [məˈɹɪʃəs]; French: Maurice /mɔʀis/; Mauritian Creole: Moris), is an island nation off the coast of Africa in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometers (560 mi) east of Madagascar and about 3,943 kilometers (2,450 mi) southwest of India. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the republic includes the islands of St. Brandon, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands, with the French island of Réunion 200 kilometers (125 mi) to the southwest. The flag of Mauritius has red, blue, yellow and green stripes. The red stripe represents the struggle for independence. The blue stripe represents the ocean around the island. The yellow stripe represents the sun and golden light of independence. The green stripe represents fruitful soil and vegetation.

Mauritian society is highly multi-ethnic. Island residents are the descendants of people from the Indian subcontinent, continental Africa, Madagascar, France, Great Britain, and China, among other places. The official language of Mauritius is English. All administrative documents are drawn up in English, which is also the principal language of instruction in the educational system. French, however, predominates in the media, both broadcast and printed. The French-derived Mauritian Creole, with influences from the other dialects, is widely spoken on the island and is considered the native tongue of the country. Creole was the language used by the African slaves to communicate with the French landlords. Nowadays, Creole is used in everyday life by all Mauritians. Hindi is also widely spoken, though restrained to the Indian community. Several other languages, including Arabic, Indian languages such as Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Punjabi or dialects of Chinese like Cantonese, Hakka and Mandarin are also spoken. The latter South Asian languages are spoken by descendants of the labourers brought from British India during the British rule. The Indo-Mauritians (when the ethnic groups are combined) form approximately 70% of the total population, the remaining 30% being mostly Creoles. The French and Chinese make up the smaller minorities. There are approximately 30,000 Mauritians of Chinese descent, from the Hakka, Mandarin, and Cantonese language groups. More than 90% of the Sino-Mauritian community are Roman Catholic; the remainder are largely Buddhist. Small groups of foreign students from Europe or the Indian Ocean region are present. The recent years have seen a constant flow of foreign workers mostly Chinese women in the textile industry, Indian workers in the construction industry and Taiwanese men in the harbour-related activities. Though immigration is not a debate at all in Mauritius, the relative economic stability of the island is attracting more foreign workers. Of all religiously affiliated Mauritians, Hindus constitute 52%, Catholic Christians 28%, Muslims (16.6%), Buddhists (2.5%), Adventist Protestants (2%), Sikhs (0.3%) and other religions are also followed[6].