Reunion - Flight of a lifetime

As we spotted Reunion from the airplane when we arrived:

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we knew we have to fly over this amazing landscape some more. So we hired an ULM (Microlight) airplane

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to take each of us on a one hour scenic flight:

As the plane only seats two and neither of us has a license, we had to take turns:
1st Flight: Krisztina In a few minutes after takeoff we were already in/above thousand meter deep valleys of Cirque de Cilaos:

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Cirque de Mafate, with its isolated villages accessible exclusively by air or on foot

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Then we turned east towards Salazie (where we had the 1st climb)

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heading to the famous Piton Fournaise:

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As seen on the above photo, the "mars-like desert" within the secondary crater we mentioned in our previous post, was filled with clouds.

The flight then passed above numerous crevasses and plains in between

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 Proceeding back to the coast...

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...followed by a smooth landing putting an end this amazing experience.



2nd Flight: Zoli

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Quickly after takeoff, we took a turn from Saint-Paul (below) towards Cirque de Mafate

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I soon found myself surrounded by green mountains with waterfalls plunging in the valley, a true paradise:

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Particularly impressive in Reunion is that in just 15km away from the coast

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you have 3000m peaks towering above, like Piton de Neiges at 3069m above sea level

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In the one and a half hour since Krisztina flew here, the clouds around the volcano started to dissolve

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It was really interesting to "review" the hike to the Volcano the day before...

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...and the martian desert we crossed

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It was then time to leave the volcano behind and head for the coast

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...descent to the ground

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and tow the plane back to the garage:

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May I just end the story with the remark that this flight was definitely one of the most amazing experiences of our lives...

 The map of the flight


View ULM Flight over Reunion in a larger map

check out all photos of the flight

Reunion - Hike to Piton de la Fournaise

For our second hike on Reunion, we set ourselves quite an ambitious goal, the 2632m high Piton de la Fournaise.

The day began early, very early in the morning at 6AM in freezing temperatures by driving to the foot of the volcano

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Note: no, that is NOT the sun but the moon...

We started early as we wanted to being the hike just at sunrise (the colors being amazing at this time):

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The hike began with a 150m descent first from an outer ridge (in the background) of the secondary crater, leading to a long, that is few-hours long "moonwalking"

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In order to get a few nice photo shots we climbed some smaller craters:

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The hike then continued on a mars-like landscape...

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before reaching the main crater.

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Note: this photo we did not take during the hike, but two days after from air.


The climb of the main crater was quite a challenge and seemed never-ending as the route went spiraling up, each time giving the impression the summit is "just around the corner" just for a new stretch to unfold.

...forward a couple of hours...

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...notice the small bump at center left in the background? That is the "small" crater from before...

Going around one of those "corners" offered us an incredible view of the main lava flow

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and the next corner of the most recent lava flow, both leading down to the ocean (some 2300m below us):

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Forward a couple of hours more...we finally reached the ridge of the main crater:

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... a rewarding site it was.

As always, we did not go alone, taking Gulliver with us

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The descent wasn't particularly easy either, especially walking through the "martian desert" seemed endless, but after the 7-8hours hike, we were both proud to look back to our "achievement":

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check out all pictures of the hike to Piton de la Fournaise

Reunion - drive around...

Note: Our drive around Reunion was spread over several days, but it makes more sense to combine it into one post.

Day 1. The road trip started with climbing the curving roads leaving the capital Saint Denis

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Descending back to sea level, we had a fantastic cruise on Reunion's "sunset boulevard" heading east

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Days 2-3: Unless one sticks to the coastal highway, the roads in Reunion don't stay flat for long, a few kms inland one is already surrounded by huge mountains

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with plenty of waterfalls everywhere:

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Back on the south-east coast there is still plenty to see, like old bridges:

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lava flows from the Piton de la Fournaise:

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and dramatic seas-side cliffs.

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Day 5: change of scenery: where sometimes driving in Reunion feels more like driving on mars (not that I have too much experience in that...)

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Unfortunately our rental did not enjoy the roads of Reunion as much as we did and decided to abandon us at the most remote location on the island. Even though thinking back...maybe the little Fiat just wanted to spend more time at this splendid spot ...after all it can't be a coincidence it broke down exactly HERE

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...giving us enough time to enjoy the sunset (and the weather cooling down close to 0C) while the replacement car arrived.

Day 6. Just as driving up the roads towards higher grounds, descending down is also quite an experience, as the gigantic size of the continuous slope of the volcano's footsteps lie ahead of you:

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Along the west coast a few other sights lined the road around the island as well such as colorful Tamil temples:

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Day 7. With so much to do in Reunion (make sure to check out the posts about the hike to the Volcano and the ULM Flight over the island), there was little time left for the beach, but we "saved" a day for "walking" the beaches...

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which are well suited for snorkeling (after all we could not just lie on the beach the entire day) :

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Day 8. Then it was slowly time to drive back to the Roland Garros airport and fly back    :-(

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All our photos from Reunion

Reunion - Hike to Piton d'Anchaing

On our second day on Reunion it was hiking time - big time:

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We chose the Piton d'Anchaing at 1356m for its picturesque location in the middle of Cirque de Salazie, with the idea that we will have a superb panoramic view once we get on top of it. However, that meant climbing for about 4 hours and about 750m in altitude.

The hike started at our accommodation for the night at Hellbourg, at the foot of the piton

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The humidity was close to 100%, but we did not mind as this meant the vegetation was incredibly dense and green

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The climb was not particularly easy, but definitely rewarding:

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Krisztina did a fantastic job,  she showed no sign of carrying one more person, she was as energetic and smiling as always:

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Unfortunately upon reaching the peak of the piton, our vision of panoramic views of Salazie started to fade, as clouds gathered

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Even with the clouds covering the sky at the end it was still a great tour...
...even though we had to leave our motorcycle behind :-)

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(we are still puzzled why that sign was up there as there were like 100 stairs leading to the hanging bridge).


All our pictures from the hike.