Imagine the worst beach on an island marketed as an elegant and mythical paradise. Pre-fab Swiss chalets with frosted glass windows disguising a sea view, force ‘air-conditioned comfort’ on unsuspecting guests. The windows un-openable for fear of mosquito invasion through the absent bed nets. Fresh sea breezes sweep past the inappropriate architecture trapping you inside staring at cheap fixtures, or watching the cockroaches scuttle across the floor. At meal times, surly over-worked staff excel in starving guests waiting, hungry eyed for them to throw down plate after plate of rubbery five course table d’hote ‘elegance’. La Digue Island Lodge aspires to a type of luxury that it neither understands nor is capable of excersing in this climate, with this budget.