I visited Mauritius last year and stayed at an all inclusive resort. You may be surprised (I was a little) that it is not as 'third world' as you may imagine. We saw little real poverty (we hired a car and travelled around the island a bit too). I would therefore reccommend not taking 'gifts' for tipping, I think they may see this as an insult?
Within the resort we stayed the tipping rules were very relaxed and NO staff hung around for tips once they had served you/helped you, it meant that there was no awkwardness about the right thing to do. I've been to countries before (Kenya, Morrocco) where the waiters etc have stood waiting for tips, we encountered nothing like this in Mauritius.
At the end of our stay at the resort there was a tipping box on the reception desk for you to leave tips at your discretion to be shared amongst the staff.
Hope this experience of ours will help you....