Mauritius

A lagoon island that learned every language of the ocean.

Your host · Mauritian Creole

Jean

Island host

Jean grew up under Le Morne and still speaks Morisien first. He will walk you from sugarcane to lagoon without switching islands.

Mauritius is a volcanic island inside a coral reef, famous for vanished dodos and living endemics. Morisien Creole is the speech of the market, French of the paper, English of the school.

Field notes

10 fruits

Pineapple
Zannana
Ananas comosus
Queen Victoria pineapples, small and sharp, sold by the roadside in bunches.
Mango
Mang
Mangifera indica
Summer mangoes from backyard trees, eaten over the sink, juice to the elbow.
Coconut
Koko
Cocos nucifera
Grated into chutneys and curries. Water drunk from the nut on the beach at Flic-en-Flac.
Banana
Banann
Musa
A dozen varieties in Creole gardens, from cooking plantain to tiny sweet figs.
Lychee
Letci
Litchi chinensis
November lychees are a national event. Trees in the north drop pink shells on the grass.
Papaya
Papay
Carica papaya
Breakfast with lime. Green papaya becomes a salad with chili and coriander.
Guava
Gwayav
Psidium cattleianum
Wild strawberry guavas along trails, eaten out of hand on a hike to a waterfall.
Starfruit
Carambol
Averrhoa carambola
Sliced into stars for salads and pickles, tart and cooling.
Jackfruit
Zak
Artocarpus heterophyllus
Sold in wedges at the market, honey-sweet, the size of a sleeping child.
Longan
Longan
Dimocarpus longan
Translucent flesh around a dark seed, a quieter cousin of lychee in Chinese-Mauritian yards.