Part of the Mascarene Islands, the Republic of Mauritius is off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, 900 km (560 mi) east of Madagascar. The republic consists of five islands: St Brandon, Rodrigues, two Agalegas Islands and Mauritius itself.

The latter was originally uninhabited, but the Dutch named the island and established a colony that was seized by the French in 1715. They renamed the place Ile de France and built a prosperous economy based on sugar. But the British took the island in 1810 and it reverted to the original name.

Independence was granted in 1968 and this Commonwealth country is a stable democracy with one of Africa’s highest per capita incomes. This might be guessed by a visitor to Port Louis, who finds a sophisticated place with a cluster of high and medium rise buildings that might be mistaken from afar as the downtown area of a small American city, were it not for its location beside the azure Indian Ocean, surrounded by lush tropical vegetation.

Tourism has become an increasingly important sector of the economy, which had hitherto been based on sugar plantations and off-shore financial services.

The effort to attract visitors is proving successful, and might not even need the boost of a move to duty-free status. Mauritius is the most accessible island in the Indian Ocean, with wonderful beaches and crystal-clear waters.

Important though these essential ingredients of every tropical holiday destination may be, Mauritius has something extra, friendly people and a vibrant cultural mix that will leave a long-lasting impression.

There is a festival or fiesta practically every week and a tempting variety of ethnic food choices. The place must be good. Author Mark Twain remarked that Mauritius was made before heaven, and heaven modeled on Mauritius.

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Being the largest island at Aswan, it was easily defensible and at one time was thought to be a major ivory trading centre, possibly giving rise to its name. But rumour has it the name may also arise from the elephant-shaped granite boulders lying around its shores.

It is said that Khnum, the ram-headed god of the cataracts, dwelled in caves beneath the island and controlled the waters of the Nile. Nowadays, the southern tip of the island holds the ruins of the Temple of Khnurn, which was rebuilt in the 30th dynasty. Up until 1822, there were also temples to Thutmose III and Amenhotep III here, but the Ottoman government in their wisdom destroyed them.

Elephantine is an exquisite island, steeped in ancient history and blessed with significant artefacts. Transported instantly back in time, you wander under banana trees and date palms through colourful Nubian villages with narrow, dusty alleyways and mud houses painted or carved with crocodiles and fish.

On the edge of the island is one of the oldest Nilometers in Egypt. It is a stone `yardstick’ used to measure the height of the River Nile. It was last reconstructed in Raman times and was still in use as late as the 19th century. Its 90 steps, leading down to the river, are marked with Hindu-Arabic, Roman and hieroglyphic numerals, and inscriptions carved deep into the rock during the 17th century can be seen at the water’s edge.

Elephantine Island is a green, flower-festooned oasis of calm lapped by the turquoise waters of the Nile and clinging quietly to its exotic past.

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Indeed, the Rhode Island part of the longest state name in America is unofficially called Aquidneck Island to distinguish from the state as a whole.

Now that’s cleared up, what of Rhode Island? It is the largest of several in Narragansett Bay, with its southern shore facing the Atlantic Ocean. The area of this well developed island is 117 sq km (45 sq ml) and it is connected to the mainland by three bridges.

The Newport Bridge goes to Jamestown on nearby Conanicut Island, and thence to the mainland on the western side of the bay. The Mount Hope Bridge in Portsmouth connects the northern side of the island with Bristol. The same area is served by the Sakonnet River Bridge over a narrow saltwater channel to Tiverton. The nearby Stone Bridge was destroyed by Hurricane Carol in 1954. The island is divided into three municipalities: Newport, Middleton and Portsmouth.

The island’s population shrank by a fifth in the 10 years after the US Navy reorganized its major base at Newport in 1973, but is growing again, with over half its area now built over as housing demand increases. But wetland and woodland still occupy a third of the island and there is an active preservation society trying to keep it that way.

After the naval base, the island’s principal revenue generator is tourism. Narragansett Bay is a honeypot for visitors and they come to Rhode Island principally for the beaches and coastline, enjoying related aquatic activities like boating, kayaking, sailboarding, diving and fishing.

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Several rivers flow across it and the dark alluvial soil deposits make it the most fertile land in Slovakia. The island also contains central Europe’s largest storage of high quality drinking water and it has the warmest and least humid weather in Slovakia.

A beautiful area of marshes, natural and man-made lakes and rich agricultural land, the south has been deemed a Protected Landscape. The still waters of the Little Danube provide excellent recreational boating through the alluvial forests. While on the water, the controversial hydroelectric dam at Gabcikovo may also be visited.

Zitny Ostrov has two main towns, both of which have strong Hungarian influences. DunajskA Streda has a majority Hungarian population, though the only reminder of a significant Jewish minority is a memorial erected in 1991. There is also evidence of Bronze Age settlement here.

In the late 1990s the town centre was rebuilt with unique white buildings capped by towers and elaborate tiled roofs. A large thermal park offers year-round bathing in naturally heated water.

Komarno, Slovakia’s principal port, is located on the Hungarian border — a bridge leads into Hungarian Komarom, which used to be part of Komarno. Here two thirds of the population speak Hungarian and the street signs are bi-lingual.

Europe Place is a large shopping and leisure centre built in a variety of European architectural styles. A native son of Komamo, Franz Lehar, is honoured with a biennial music festival, whilst the annual Komarno Days Festival celebrates Slovak and Hungarian culture.

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Grand Cayman is by far the largest. The Sister Islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are mostly a wilderness of fruit trees, orchids and cacti where tranquility and an authentic West Indian culture are the main attractions. Just 145 km (90 ml) to the southwest, Grand Cayman at first resembles nothing so much as a transplanted American urban nightmare.

The capital, George Town, and Seven Mile Beach, its renowned local playground, are full of condos, resorts, satellite dishes and mini-malls. The streets teem with bankers and the faceless suits of the institutions that have made it the world’s fifth largest financial centre.

Five days a week, cruise liners decant up to 22,000 tourists, joining the millions each year whose holidays have given the Cayman Islands the eighth highest GDP per capita in the world.

George Town is so busy, loud, and determinedly up for it, you feel the privateers and pirates of former times have merely put on modern dress in their eagerness to empty your wallet.

In the small towns and villages outside George Town, the atmosphere changes immediately. Grand Cayman’s true self is African-European, deeply Christian, conservative and church-going (there are lots of churches).

The locals are openly friendly and well-mannered, laughing and hospitable. Isolated by the central mangrove wetlands -3,440 hectares (8,500 acres) of lush forests, emerald green parrots and bright orange frogfish, the mainspring of the complex ecology that maintains both the turtle grass and shrimp mounds of North Sound Marine Reserve, Rum Point typifies Grand Cayman at its best.

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