Blogs from Reunion, Africa

Continuing southwest from Mauritius about 120 miles, we arrived at our 2nd unscheduled port, Reunion this morning about 7:00am. Today, we signed up for a 10-hour tour called “Volcano”, a trip to the La Fournaise Volcano, so we had to get a quick breakfast and hop on the bus by 7:30 for a long ride. Reunion is a French island with about 800,000 population located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. Administratively, Reunion is one of the overseas departments of France and one of their 26 regions, with the same status as those situated on the European mainland. It is the outermost region of the European Union, and due to its eastern location, it was the first region in the world where the euro became legal tender. The Portuguese are thought to be the first ... read more

A short greeting from Ile de la Reunion, a small volcanic island in the Indian Ocean. Never heard of it? Me neither until recently. She lies 1 day downwind from Mauritius and is a French possession. In the south, there is an active volcano which occaisonally has a major eruption (but sputters and tosses just a little lava every day). A long time ago, there would have been total seismic chaos. Now, in the center of the island lie 3 ancient, extinct cirques - collapsed volcanic craters - which provide the ultimate hiking experience. Never mind the drone of expedition helicopters above and noisy day-trippers on the trail.. if you ever find yourself in the neighbourhood, strap on a heavy backpack, eat "franks-and-beans à la hobo", sleep under the stars and hike the cirques til you ... read more

Day 5, my last full day on the island. I returned to the coast from the Cilaos caldera, enjoying the twisty, mountain roads, before turning north and heading towards Saint Dennis along the west coast. I stopped at a Creole barbeque for lunch. The food was a mixture of French, Indian and Malaysian. Boy, did I eat on this trip! Some of the meals had 6 courses. Only the French could invent a mini dessert placed between the apperitif and the main course. A small portion of coconut ice cream swimming in a bath of…you guessed it…more rum.... read more

I head back towards the coast, exploring interesting roads as I go. Sugarcane is a major crop here and the sugarcane fields stretched as far as the eye could see. All the signs in towns were in French and few people spoke any English, putting my high school French to the test. In the town of Saint Andre, I came upon a Hindu temple and my brain did a backflip. It had to take a few seconds to figure out where I was. The South Pacific? India? France?…oh right, I’m on Reunion Island. It was a strange place in that way. The people were a mixture of French, African, Indian, Malaysian and Chinese. I have to say, I never encountered any of the French gruffness that sometimes seems prevalent on the continent. Everyone I came across ... read more

Today, I awoke to the sound of the pitter patter of raindrops on my window. I decided to tough it out and head for the coast, hoping to find better weather. It was a 1 hour slog thru a misting rain back down to the coast, but fortunately, the weather began to improve. I headed south along the shore towards the island’s remaining active volcano, the Piton de la Fournaise. Unfortunately, team orson’s photographer decided to store his camera in the front pocket of his jacket during the rain, and the camera started to malfunction. I honestly don’t know why we keep the idiot around. So, there are no pictures of steam arising from the lava fields on the south coast of the island. Fortunately for team orson’s photographer, the sun began to work its charms ... read more