Travelling to the island of Ile aux Aigrettes across the crystal clear Indian Ocean revealing coral reef below

I was recently lucky enough to visit Madagascar for a month in October/November 2015. Madagascar is a country I'd longed to visit for about six years and what an amazing trip it was. I'll be posting blogs about the different areas I travelled to soon. When, sadly, it came to an end I was lucky enough to fly home via Mauritius. I once spent two weeks in Mauritius back in 2009. Although it is a beautiful little island, it doesn't take long to see the devastating effect man has had on the environment and the wildlife. Apart from the Black River Gorges National Park, almost the entirety of the country has been taken over by hotels, golf courses and sugar cane plantations.

The country is home to some of the world's rarest plants and animals. As the island of Mauritius is isolated and from volcanic origin it is home to a biodiversity of fauna and flora not usually found in such a small area. Unfortunately the arrival of man on the island brought about the introduction of invasive species (such as rats and cats etc) which predated on the endemic inhabitants. Before man, and with no terrestrial mammals on this island, many bird and reptile species evolved without need of much defensive physiology. When these invasive species arrived, as well as man, the natural inhabitants of the island proved easy pickings. Perhaps most famous of all, the national animal of Mauritius, is the Dodo. As with most island animals able to live away from the fear of predators the Dodo lost the need and ability to fly. It didn't take long before the Dodo became extinct.