IT is when the sun slices out from behind the angry black clouds that I finally get Mauritius. The sea, for days a frothing grey, is suddenly a flat, sparkling turquoise. This is the view you will can ...

I walk away from the immigration counter, staring at the stamp on my passport—the teensiest dodo stares at me, seeming to welcome me to Mauritius. The island country in the Indian Ocean, about 2,000km ...