44th

Today, we are celebrating the 44th Independence day of Mauritius – 44 years have passed since we got independence from Britain and 20 years since we are a Republic. On the media, Facebook and Twitter, you’ll see everyone wishing themselves a happy Independence day or stating that they are proud to be Mauritian… should we really be proud?

 

Take a look at these 2 brochures from the 90s which extoll the virtues of Mauritius as a paradise island.

Except these no longer exist. Yesterday, a twitter friend @yadhav13 tweeted a link to this blog – Maurice, derrière la carte postale. After going through all the posts, what I learnt profoundly disturbed me.

Le Chateau du Réduit has since been reconstructed (instead of renovated) and that iconic beach at Ile aux Cerfs is now entirely blocked by sand. Twice I have gone to Ile aux Cerfs. The first time (in 1999), unfortunately I didn’t go to that part of the island and the second time (2009), the entire beach had sand deposits and muddy waters.

Here’s another story. At some point on the Port Louis to Réduit motorway, there is place where the mountains and the sugarcane fields combine against a backdrop of vast clouds to give a magical landscape that projected a sense of enormity. I always wanted to take a photo, but never bothered. Now though, I will never have that chance because that place is now occupied by Bagatelle Mall…

 

Take a look at the list of future mega-projects in Mauritius. Every single one of them will be irreversibly changing the natural beauty of the seaside and its ecosystem.

Do we need more shopping malls? Do we need more hotels at the expense of our lagoons, beaches and wetlands? Do we need IRS (Integrated Resort Scheme) projects that can never be visited (forget owned) by a single Mauritian? Do we ultimately need more tourists? No.
These promoters, corrupt bureaucrats and politicians… all they care about is money. Instead of preserving the natural heritage of Mauritius and sustainably developing them, they are hell-bent in building artificial beaches and transforming wetlands (that prevent erosion) into marinas.

 

Rampart Mtn, Mauritius, 1975

What is Mauritius famous for? Its natural paradisiacal beauty. The Mauritian idyll – the virgin beaches, the lush-green sugarcane fields, the mountains, the lakes and the gorges. All of that is being killed by a bunch of corrupt people. & we can’t do anything about it because today it’s ultimately money which triumphs.

Independence has been a boon and a bane. The massive economic success of the Mauritius has made people greedy. So greedy, that they are inexorably destroying the soul of Mauritius.

The Dutch killed the Dodo. Mauritians are finishing the job.

Nothing can be done now. Apart from taking photos of the areas they’ll be destroying… Like Sept Cascades (cable car), Rivière Noire (IRS, IRS), Mont Choisy (IRS), Baie du Cap (IRS, hotels), Pointe des Lascars (IRS), La Cambuse (IRS), So that one day you can tell your grandchildren that this was once Mauritius…

There’s still Rodrigues that remains largely untainted…

 

2020. A paradise of private villas and shopping malls in a concrete jungle.

No longer proud to be Mauritian.

 

Related:

• SOS Patrimoine en Péril
• Maurice, derrière la carte postale
• Yashvinblogs - Glory to thee, Motherland, O Motherland of mine
• SouOnline - J’habite au Paradis
• Clichés De l'Eldorado - Dans mon paradis
• Nilesh - Mauritian Independance Day 2012
• Heaven on a Spoon - Beloved Country, God Bless Thee
• Yashvinblogs - 45 pictures from Independence Day Celebration (Champs de Mars)