Being an expat, especially from the continent you might notice, that Mauritius has quite humid air. Normally places close to Equator or located in the Ocean have extremely high humidity level. It creates some special rules for living, if you don't want mold and fungus enter your home, live inside your closet and slowly kill all your favourite things, including clothes, shoes, and even technical devices!
I've done little research on this matter, and based on my experience, here are some advices:
1) Fungus will grow in the places with limited air access and absence of sun light. Warmth and darkness are the best friends of fungus.
So at your home regularly open the windows to ventilate and let sunlight in. Do the some for your closet.
2) if you sweep the floor, make sure you clean it dry right after.
3) Don't let your wet things inside your home, better to dry it outside.
4) Be simple. Try to allocate minimum number of furniture, and create space in between pieces of furniture and walls, so air can go everywhere.
5) Even pillows and mattresses can be damaged by mold, so don't forget to bring them outside from time to time.
Regarding clothes.
Don't let your clothes stay at your wardrobe, unworn. Bring it outside from time to time under sunlight.
Don't put wet clothes into closet.
Better to iron all clothes before putting it in wardrobe.
To make air drier in the closet, install little lights inside. I heard (but haven't tried yet), coal, rice, salt are good at absorbing humidity.
Be careful with leather stuff (jackets, shoes, bag, belts etc). It can be easily damaged by mold.
6) Try to keep your technical devices in use all the time, otherwise you're in danger to loose them.
Hope it will help some of you. For me, humidity is a kind of big issue, cause when I saw some of my things started to be damaged by mold, it really upset me, as I don't want to loose my beautiful and favourite things especially clothes. Does anybody of you face this problem? Do you know other ways how to deal with humidity?
Mold and fungus stuff in your house.
Ventilation is the key. We live in Beau-Bassin, near Balfour Garen, an area that tends to be quite humid. In the first couple of years we lost countless items to mold: Clothing, shoes, purses, and yes, electronics. If left in a sealed room with minimal ventilation (e.g. a closet), objects will develop a sticky mold "film" that makes them unusable.
And it doesn't seem to matter what the object is made of. I've had plastic items, rubber items, even glass items - all develop the "mold film." We've grown to accept that this is part of life here and that any extended trip abroad - with the house sealed tight while we're away - will result in some nasty surprises when we return.
Just another one of the joys of living in "paradise." :-(
Randall C. Kennedy, Director
American International Academy
The best solution remains the dehumidifier. I used to live in Curepipe and mold was destroying everything - clothes, shoes, furniture. I finally bought a dehumidifier that had the capacity to remove 20L of water from the air per day and it did ! Ran it 24h a day for 2 weeks, had to empty the condensed water twice in 24h.
Then all started to equilibrate and I could use it one a week to keep everything to a low level of humidity.
You might also buy smaller capacity dehumidifiers (10L/day) and plug it with a hose and let it run constantly on automatic mode.
Of course it uses power but frankly I found it worth the cost.
Small dehumidifiers can be found at JKalachand at a fair price.
guys for the electronics, can we fix them to work again?
I have a wireless speakers for my iphone and ipad, i forgot them in my car's dashboard and one day i found they are not working 
I m sure its fungus... have any of you manage to fixed your electronics after this damage?
I placed it under the sunlight but no use
Sumeetrana,
Are you sure it is due to moisture and mold? You say you forgot them on your car's dashboard, it might rather be due to heat?
Yes its moisture & mold..
I m sure not cause of heat as it was raining those days!!
sumeet
Mikl_C wrote:Sumeetrana,
Are you sure it is due to moisture and mold? You say you forgot them on your car's dashboard, it might rather be due to heat?
or - as veronique has suggested buy packs of de-humidifier products which will cost 40rs and last from 2 to 4 months depending on the weather - you will find them at any supermarket 0 eg superU in the same place where you buy garbage bags etc - and if you look at her blog - my mauritian garden - you will find a useful way of recycling the by product -
Hi thanks for this just asked a question about this on a new blog should have checked yesterday's posts before I did thanks. M
Hello,
I am from India and I am wishing to relocate to Mauritius. Recently, my 5 year old daughter is diagnosed with allergic rhinitis and allergies. I guess the one of the underlying causes could be high air pollution in New Delhi to which she has been exposed to, as neither me nor my wife have any allergies till date. Since Mauritius has good air quality, I guess it may be a good destination for her health but I am confused about effects of hot & humid climate. Any ideas on this will really help me on the decision about selecting the right place for her. I also have a UAE visa but I am afraid she may develop allergies to dust over there as dust storms are very prevalent there.
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