TRAVEL - MOTORING IN MAURITIUS

When I first went to Mauritius ten years ago, the roads around the island were filled with a kind of moving museum, dedicated to the British motor industry. Since Mauritians drive on the right and since this Indian Ocean island was a British Colony until the Sixties, there were old British cars everywhere: Vauxhall Vivas, Morris Oxfords, Austin A40s, Humber Sceptres and Sunbeam Rapiers. Many were taxis: all were battered -but still in use.

Back then, taxes on cars were so prohibitive that most people couldn't afford a new one. That, and the lack of an effective MoT system, meant that these old relics just stayed on the road. Mauritius was perhaps the only place you could learn to drive in an Austin A40.

Today, inevitably, things have changed. Right hand drive cars are easier to get these days, even if you're a small island, and the Mauritian government has relaxed its tax structure a little. Not much mind you. The cheapest, nastiest car is still around 20,000 - most of which goes straight into government coffers. Thanks to a prosperous sugar crop, textiles and tourist-driven economy however, a few more people can afford them. Those that can't become pick-up drivers or taxi operators.



For some unfathomable reason, the law has reduced the tax on pick-ups to 10% of that levied on cars. Which means that you can have a beautifully-specced double-cab pick-up with all the features of a luxury car and room for four for the cost of the most basic Citroen Saxo, Fiat Punto or Peugeot 106. Not surprisingly, such double-cab pick-ups make up the majority of the best selling vehicles in the country - and about 50% of the traffic.



Much of the other 50% is made up by taxis. Embarrassed that its precious tourists were being ferried around in Vauxhall Victors and aware that no Mauritian would be able to afford to pay current car prices, the government slashe...