1 Who said 'Mauritius was made first and then heaven, and that heaven was copied after Mauritius?' 2 What name did early Portuguese explorers give to Mauritius? 3 What are the Blue Penny and the Red Penny? 4 Mauritius Turf Club is the first racecourse in the southern hemisphere and the second in the world, when was it opened? 5 Mauritius could be the first country to set which hi-tech record? 6 Mauritius was the only known habitat of what creature? 7 Why is Mauritius Tambalacoque called the Dodo tree? 8 What is the major agricultural product of Mauritius? 9 Which famous Mauritian died for the sake of marijuana?
Answers
1 Mark Twain in Following the Equator. 2 Navigator Pedro de Mascarena called Mauritius The Swan Island. 3 The Mauritius Post Office postage stamps. They are among the rarest and most valuable stamps in the world. They were the first colonial stamps in the world and the initial issue was printed with the wrong wording. Of the 500 made of each stamp only 27 have been preserved. 4 1812 5 It could become the first nation to have coast-to-coast wireless internet access. Sixty per cent of Mauritius is already covered by wireless hot spots and by the end of this year this will rise to 90 per cent. 6 Dodo bird. It had lived for thousands of years on Mauritius. The last known Dodo was killed in the 17th century, less than 100 years after the species' discovery. 7 The dodo ate the seeds of the tree. 8 Sugar cane. It is grown on about 90 per cent of the cultivated land area and accounts for 25 per cent of export earnings. 9 Popular reggae singer Joseph 'Kaya' Topize was arrested during a rally to legalise marijuana and died of a skull fracture while in police custody.