Articles

The last of the native forest of Mauritius, on 3.5 per cent of the island, holding species that exist nowhere else. On the Tentative List, not inscribed.

A crater lake in the Mauritian highlands, the most important Hindu site on the island and the focus of the largest Hindu pilgrimage outside India.

The basalt mountain at the southwest corner where escaped slaves sheltered, inscribed for what is remembered about it rather than for what is built on it.

Two forced migrations built Mauritius and the island remembers them separately. Slavery, indenture, and where a returning descendant can begin.

A Hindu majority, a Creole heart, four working languages and a great deal of quiet politeness. How Mauritius holds itself, and how to fit in.

Four UNESCO-inscribed traditions and a public calendar that belongs to four religions at once. What Mauritius celebrates, and when it moves.

Four cuisines arrived on one small island and did not stay separate. What to eat in Mauritius, from street samoussas to a Sunday biryani.

One of the oldest botanical gardens in the southern hemisphere, and the clearest surviving record of the plant economy that indenture was imported to serve.

Malawi has one long rainy season and one long dry one, and the choice between them decides whether you get roads or waterfalls.

Malawi sat on the eastern slave route, not the Atlantic one. The lake carried captives to Kilwa, and the trail that records it is on the Tentative List.

Greetings that take time, a matrilineal inheritance system and a masked society older than the state. How to be a good guest in Malawi.

Six traditions on the UNESCO lists and one lakeside music festival. Malawi keeps its calendar in dance rather than in dates you can book.