And about to enjoy some very tasty pizza.


Rianda kept her bag next to her on the seat beside her (just visible to her right in the above photo). There was a few bushes between us and the road. As we were eating we heard some rustling just behind us. A guy wearing a motorcycle helmet then suddenly emerged, grabbed Rianda's bag and then bolted!

I quickly jumped up to try and catch him but he had jumped on a waiting motorcycle and quickly disappeared into the night.

The bag had contained Rianda's wallet, a point-and-shoot camera and some clothing but luckily we had left our passports in the hotel safe.

My ~$4.5k DLSR camera had been sitting on the table beside us and fortunately just our of reach of the thief.

Some South African expats who were also dining at the pizzeria then quickly gave us a lift to the nearest police station to file a report.

The Police were very professional, helpful and friendly and quickly helped us to make a witness statement. Rianda was still a little shaken up but somehow managed to remember the 24 hr phone number for her bank and call and cancel her cards. Given that the thief was wearing a helmet and that we only got a brief look at him there was little chance of being able to identify him. The police report would help with replacing Rianda's ID and insurance card though.


It was my first time being mugged while travelling since I had my iPhone pickpocketed (and promptly returned after I angrily confronted the would-be thief) in Mexico City and figured we had had a pretty good run since then so just chalked it up our luck finally running out.

They then gave us ride back to our hotel. It was my first time taking a ride in the backseat of a Police car and it was quite a surreal and bewildering end to our first day in Mauritius!