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

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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 - 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.

 
 

Reunion - Introduction to the miracle of nature in the Indian Ocean

To be honest, after the landscape of Rio, the beaches of the Caribbean beaches, the eight-thousanders of the Himalayas or the snorkeling paradise of Phi-Phi Islands, I wasn't sure if a landscape can amaze me in a wow/ jaw-dropping way.

As we have spotted Reunion Island from the plane...

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...I realized I was SO WRONG...

The closest anything I've seen to such a landscape

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was probably the mountains of Planet Pandora, of course that was just Cameroon's fantasy movie.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves with the story.

So where were we? Oh yes, so as we were approaching Reunion, looking down below...

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we were eager on driving these amazing roads following the coastline.

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Upon arrival to Reuinion, we immediately noticed this is not the usual Indian ocean island, we are after all in France. Which was good (even though we were forced to make use of Krisztina's french lessons) as the atmosphere was pleasantly relaxed - french. However, this is not France as we know it, but a special one, where cultures mix and co-exist peacefully, be it in the form of:

• a Christian church
  

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• a Muslim mosque
  

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• a Buddhist
  

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• or a Tamil temple
  

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We ended our visit of Saint Denis (Reunion's capital) with a nice lunch, after which we drove up on winding roads...

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...towards Hellbourg in the Cirque de Salazie, which was the starting point of our first hike on Reunion to the Piton d'Anchaing (to be continued)

Mauritius, paradise island in the Indian Ocean

Let us warn you first, that this blog entry might not be as exciting as usual since we spent most of our time on the beach in Mauritius. We had a very relaxing (lazy?) week, almost felt like a vacation within our vacation, especially after the 40+ degrees we've experienced in UAE.

This tiny spot on the map in the Indian Ocean is one of the most popular honeymoon destinations in the world, with a perfect setting to qualify as a "paradise island":
- luxury resorts with infinity pools, where we enjoyed our special "honeymoon package" - champagne, fruit bowl and free dinner: 

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 - long, white, sandy beaches with palm trees and warm turquoise waters - no comments:

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- great seafood, tropical fruits we've never seen before and dinner shows proving the diversity of the Mauritian culture - where Europe meets India, China & Africa:

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- and some of the most amazing tropical sunsets over the ocean:

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But Mauritius has a lot more to offer than just the typical honeymoon paradise. After a few very lazy days we decided to explore the inlands of the island, which offered a lot of adventure and unforgettable memories. Like a vast green blanket, sugar cane plantions dominated the dramatic landscapes along the bumping roads:

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We were on the way to a lifetime experience at Casele Natural Park, our one-on-one adeventure with the lions and tigers, the big cats of the island. After a briefing we were given a big stick and advised to keep it between us and "the cats" and never wear our sunglasses as they would see the reflections in our glasses and might think we are friends or enemies, thus they might either want to play with us... or kill us.

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Well, little Gulliver this time got a hint of a fear and decided to"keep the distance" (the tigers seemed just a bit scarier than the toucans last year in Brazil), thus he enjoyed the more pieceful sites of our tour, like:
- the geological oddity of the seven coloured earth:

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- the national parks, amazing waterfalls and botanical garden:

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- the colourful tamil temples and the holy hindu pilgrimage site, the Grand Bassin:

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- or the views of Port Luis, the crowded, dusted, traffic filled capital of the island, from above:

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For a perfect ending to our vacation in Mauritius, we signed up for a catamaran cruise to the beautiful island of Ile aux Cerfs:

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See all our pictures from Mauritius here.