Indian Ocean Paradise Lost

By: William R.Sukala


MAURITIUS: PARADISE LOST  

 So there I was in the Mauritian capital of Port Louis. Our motley crew band of surfers left the cyber-cafe only to find the entire island besieged by rioters! It turns out a popular Mauritian-creole reggae singer was killed in jail by police and the people revolted, essentially turning certain regions of the island into full-on war zones! If you heard about it in the news, it is, indeed, all very true. Right before we left, all the shop owners were asking us where we were staying, warning us that "it is dangerous out there. You must be careful." I thought to myself, "what do you mean 'dangerous?' Why would they care where I was staying?" But as it turned out, they wanted to know so they could warn us about the riots. Of course, we were more interested in getting some photos of the scene. So there we were, three Americans and one Mauritian local cruising home, cameras in hand when, lo and behold, we saw the road blocks and riot police keeping order. Unfortunately, they had already finished overturning burned out cars and rock throwing. Before I go on, I guess I should offer a little insight into the social and political scene there.

SOCIAL PRESSURE COOKER 

Mauritius is a religious and ethnic potpourri. You've got the Indians who comprise roughly 60% of the population with the remainder made up of Creole, Chinese, and Franco-Mauritians. The bulk of the government and police force is controlled by Indians in that they all elected their own into power. The Franco-Mauritians have most of the wealth, as they control most of the sugar industry and the like. The Chinese have quite a few shops and are, for the most part, very docile. The Creoles basically get the short end of the stick by all groups given their previous history as slaves, hence the root of the problem. There was a huge rally the previous weekend held in favor of legalization of marijuana. Some big reggae singer (a Creole) was jailed soon thereafter for possession and was beaten to death by police while in custody. This naturally didn't sit well with the people, so 30 years of capped tension exploded into the worst civil rioting in as many years.

CREOLE BY ACCIDENT OF BIRTH 

While I don't condone rioting and looting, I am sympathetic to the Creoles. They really are a wonderful bunch of people, but seem the unfortunate and unwilling recipients of the short end of the social stick. I've only had positive experiences with them and could never understand why they were so vehemently persecuted! Maybe it's an Indian/Creole thing beyond my comprehension. It shouldn't be, but it is. Doesn't matter where you go, ignorance, racism, prejudice, and unfounded hatred are everywhere.

SOUTH AFRICA OR BUST 

The morning of my flight, I heard from the locals that rioting was at a fever pitch. Most said not to go anywhere, but hey, I had a flight to South Africa to catch. Cruising along the local road out of Tamarin, I could feel the tension and believe me, it was palpable. No rioting or anything, but I was legitimately concerned we weren't going to make it to the highway. Somehow we did make it to the main highway and from there it was smooth sailing. If we would have taken the back way, we would have gone through a little town called Curepipe in which, as I heard, the rioting was quite heavy.

MAURITIAN CHEESE GRATER

I thought my recent impaling on the reef with resultant torn left butt cheek and low back was bad until Julien lifted up his shirt. The poor kid looked like a cheese grater went over his back from just below his shoulder blades all the way down to his low back! He was dragged over the reef in the worst kind of way! It kept him out of the water for a few days, too. It's not difficult to get hurt at Tamarin. It is, spare none, one of the shallowest waves I've surfed. It's generally pretty shallow all over, but the thing that makes it all the more dangerous is the volume of coral heads that jut up all over the place. I was literally pulled off my board and under water when my leash wrapped around one just as a wave was approaching, quite literally pinning me underwater. I fortunately had the presence of mind to unfasten my leg-rope and swim to the surface. And to further illustrate the shallow depth, I was sitting all the way out in seemingly deep water waiting for set waves!