Mauritius: the safest country in Africa

Well in my brief 1 year here i have yet to feel unsafe or been a victim of any crime. 
I've made mistakes of leaving my keys in my bike for an entire day at the beach,  nothing happened.   
My brother-in-law left his go-pro on a side wall by accident while packing the car,  a guy next to us saw it and actually followed us to the petrol station to give it back, quite amazing.

So to say, i do feel very safe here (Keeping street smart and using common sense of course).

Coming from SA, its an extreme breath of fresh air and hope it can continue

I always felt quite safe until last July when my apartment was broken into. Now I don't.
I used to dismiss peoples concerns as over reaction but now I know better.
I hated seeing bars on windows and doors and vowed I would never have them.
Now I do.
I live in Pereybere and we have had quite a few bag snatching incidents as well.
Be aware all the time.

undoubtedly, Mauritius is very safe and clean compared to any other African country

Sadly there is crime everywhere .. One always needs to be aware of their surroundings ... At least you are not going to be shot/stabbed/assaulted in your own home for your flat screen tv!! So much of this has been happening in our soon to be ex neighbourhood ...

Having lived in Johannesburg for almost 30 years where the crime and stress levels slowly grew and grew in a way which was hardly noticeable - until after about six or eight months in Mu when you quite suddenly realise that all the crime related stress has gone. Yes, you still have to be careful and yes, there are areas of towns which you do not go to late at night for example but the general day to day continually locking doors, checking any little noise etc., all that ebbs away!

During the past 3 years we have spent almost 18 months in Mauritius & have always felt very safe until 2 weeks ago. First while we had the window of our car smashed & items stolen out of the glove box. 5 days later whilst driving along the road a male on a scooter driving towards us threw a stone at our car, needless to say the car was damaged, again. Fortunately we have not been injured on either occasion however, we are now seriously considering whether or not we should move on from Mauritius.

It's my fourth year in Mauritius. I don't feel relaxed here. My house is now "secured" with alarm and bars everywhere, after a burglary a couple of years ago. The more it's secured, the less secure I feel : when I leave home, I drag the bar, put the lock on, then the alarm... I had my bag stolen in my car this week with passport, driving licence, purse, credit cards, glasses, keys etc, and yesterday, the car I was in had his window smashed while we were away. When I went hiking with a local association, we were told not to park where it seemed obvious to do so, at the entrance of the walk, as cars were regularly broken in there. So no : most honest Mauritians will advise every body, especially foreigners, residents, expats, or tourists to be extra careful here. It's not Japan ! A colleague of mine escaped a rape at Pointe d'Esny, unfortunately the  young tourist a few minutes later didn't. My Indian neighbours keep on telling me I am far too confident and at the car company, I was told : how do you make quick money when the employment rate is low ? It's another life, being a single woman, I certainly don't feel able to walk anywhere here by myself. Jenny

Thanks for sharing the dark side of Mauritius. So sad. I don't think anybody is safe anywhere in this world anymore.

Louis from another very dark world - South Africa.

Sorry to hear of your bad experiences Sun Lizard and genevieveg
It really does change your perception of the island once you have been the victim of crime here.
You really do have to watch your back and take all precautions.
I hate the bars I now have on my windows and doors and hate all the rigmarole when going out locking up, but it has to be done.
Thanks for sharing both of you.

Having now read a few of the posts, the trend I see is that those of us who have lived in S Africa over the last few years treat Mauritius as unbelievably safe by comparison. Perhaps by default being very aware of our personal security helps - certain things become habit (I could give a two page list but won't). This is not to say that I think Mu is completely safe as by some experiences posted it is obviously not and I feel for those affected by whatever crime they have endured. We have also experienced an attempted robbery on a quite beach and two friends have had robberies. What I know is that I would rather live and work in Mu than in SA currently.

You really cannot compare South Africa with Mauritius.
And yes, I for one am very aware of security and always have been.
Crime here is definitely on the increase and I could give you lots of reasons why.
I know South Africans are very keen on security - hence the gated communities.

No country or district is safe...that's the reality...not even Singapore now.

Yes...Mauritius does have crimes...it's a developing country and there's income and wealth inequality. So?
You can get blown up anywhere in Europe today, your son or daughter can get shot at any school or college in the US, your husband can get caught in the middle of a cartel fight in Latin American and get killed, you can get kidnapped in other African countries or the Middle east...

Therefore no need to over-react and denigrate a whole country or it's population.

The govt certainly cannot dispatch a cop to patrol everyone's house and neighborhood everyday or bring drastic changes to legislation because some expat feels bad that his/her house was broken into.

Everyone can be safe by observing simple safety measures and using common sense.

Mauritius does its best to protect and provide a safe and healthy environment to both citizens and visitors alike despite limited means and resources.
However, that said...moving to another country is a personal decision and should anyone still feels something is bad or still not much is being done...then maybe it's time for a rethink and a move to new skies!

The question was for this post "Is Mauritius the safest country in Africa?" Having been to a number of African countries over the last 35 years, I say, currently, yes. KavirajG, I agree with you entirely.

WillYoung wrote:

The question was for this post "Is Mauritius the safest country in Africa?" Having been to a number of African countries over the last 35 years, I say, currently, yes. KavirajG, I agree with you entirely.

The difference(s)  between living in different countries around the globe ( to differentiate from either travelling for leisure and/or vacationing for a short term in far away must see spots) versus the first time leaving the safety and routine of one's country of residence and experiencing life as a first time expatriate ( or a retiree or spouse) or immigrant  in a foreign land.

Thus the colonists used to have their army barracks or gymkhanas or country clubs for the family of their servicemen and their govt officials. Ditto for big corporations or oil companies or banks etc when they started doing business in foreign countries : enclaves for the foreigners, special international schools for kids too young to send off to boarding schools at home or Switzerland  and places of cults where permissible. Yep some brought everything except  the kitchen sink. 

So much safer than the Northern hemisphere these days!

We have been here for 5 years now and Mauritius is a beautiful Country with friendly people, however there has recently been a upward turn in crime in our area and many Neighbourhood watch groups have been set up, (mainly burglaries), in fact there are a few petitions online now asking for better policing/quicker response.

We still love Mauritius and its people but we are just more aware of our surroundings at home i.e. lock our car, windows at night etc

Crime all over the world, you will never get away from it sadly

true , what area do you live in??

derekp219 wrote:

true , what area do you live in??

Hi We live on the west coast

ah we r up in Grand Bay we do not seem to attract as much problems as in the south

must be bcause the weathers better up here lol

derekp219 wrote:

ah we r up in Grand Bay we do not seem to attract as much problems as in the south

must be bcause the weathers better up here lol

Lol

The South West Coast where we live is the hottest and driest part of the Island so they all say,  In fact Grand Baie is similar, although we have all had a lot of rain this year

We have only ever had similar to you petty crime incidents, but the last 6 weeks have seen this
rapid increase in Burglaries - probably organised the police say and will move on to another area when the police close in.

It's a shame gated communities have been imported into this country.