Reunion - Flight of a lifetime

As we spotted Reunion from the airplane when we arrived:

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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:

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

heading to the famous Piton Fournaise:

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

 Proceeding back to the coast...

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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



2nd Flight: Zoli

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

...and the martian desert we crossed

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

...descent to the ground

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and tow the plane back to the garage:

From INDIAN OCEAN - Reunion

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