ETO's cast is stunning: Dwayne Jones's Laca, Richard Roberts's Steva and the gorgeous Amanda Echalaz - last year's Alcina - as Jenufa (despite some disappointing diction in Act I) were all wonderful in their way, and should be snapped up by Garsington, Grange Park or Glyndebourne. Best by a mile, however (and that came as no surprise) was the spectacularly brilliant Anne Mason as the crazed murderess and child-killer, Kostelnicka. It isn't easy to serve up two hits in succession, but with its new productions of Janacek's Jenufa and Puccini's Tosca, English Touring Opera comes remarkably close to achieving it The company's Jenufa is truly astounding. Based on Gabriela Preissova's terrifying drama of Moravian peasant life, Jeji Pastorkyna ("Her Foster-daughter"), which fits the composer's emerging folk-style like a glove, the opera was completed in 1901-3, but not staged until 1916, in Prague. As for those just wanting an idyllic holiday-home location, Mauritius must be near the top - and at last offers an alternative to the Caribbean.For more details of the integrated resort scheme, see www.gov.mu. Annual growth over much of the past 40 years has been 5 per cent or more, reflected in dramatic improvements in life expectancy, infant mortality, infrastructure and income distribution. It now has Africa's second-highest per capita earnings, and it is a stable democracy with 1.25m residents.So buying a property is a solid-looking long-term investment. The rest of the island is a blur of lush greenery, much of it on hillsides and 2,000ft mountains that plummet down to glorious coastlines and hundreds of undeveloped coves and bays.Since independence from the UK in 1968, Mauritius has developed from a low-income, agriculture-based economy to a middle-income diversified economy.
It has one of the most educated and multicultural workforces in the world, with descendants from the Indian subcontinent, Africa, Madagascar, France, the UK and China English is the main language. Port Louis, the capital, is a thriving but chaotic cluster of markets and streets choked with hawkers, buyers, tourists and cars - think of New Delhi but with more innocence and less noise. It clearly feels that its charms more than compensate for the 12-hour air journey from London - and a typical economy-class fare of £600 return.Mauritius is already home to 9,000 offshore companies, mainly dealing with India and South Africa, and investment in its offshore banking sector alone has exceeded US$1bn Yet the country remains charmingly undeveloped. Given the premium prices of the very first holiday homes, and no hard evidence of what the resale market will be like, no one can accuse Mauritius of undervaluing itself. Mortgage schemes have been set up with the local branches of Barclays and HSBC.Joanna Yellowlees-Bound of Erna Low Property, the UK agent selling Anahita, says: "'By encouraging overseas investment, the Mauritian government is looking at building a future for the island, which now cannot rely on sugar and textile exports as its major source of revenue.
By carefully allowing a measured degree of growth, the island should be able to avoid the overdevelopment that has encroached upon some of the Caribbean."Soon, more property under the scheme will be on sale in the UK - two other top-end estate agents, Hamptons International and Knight Frank, are thinking of setting up shop on the island. As well as the £40,000 government tax on new build, there is a £28,000 transfer tax for second-hand properties plus legal and land-registry fees totalling 1 per cent of the price. Prices here are much more expensive, starting at £456,000 and rising to a whopping £2.85m.The integrated resort scheme limits the volume of land to be purchased by any individual to 1.5 hectares. A Four Seasons hotel within the complex will provide restaurants, other sports facilities and shops, in what the builder promises will be a "plantation-style development" on the island's eastern coast.