Heads in the clouds

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Geo: -21.1151, 55.5364

Reunion is a small island half way between Madagascar and Mauritius and it is a French territory, so the difference between it and Africa is huge. All the road signs (decent roads) are exactly as they are in France. I hadn't realised it was French and therefore forgot to bring euros which is the local currency. Although it is modern and clean there is still a high unemployment rate as there is no heavy industry and very little agriculture.Sugar cane is the main crop as well as coconuts and fruit. A cyclone had hit the island 2 weeks previously and brought down all the fruit. However usually it is not as green as we saw it thanks to all the rain. The island is volcanic and is younger than Mauritius. We were taken by a very winding road to the top of the nearest mountain from where it was hoped we would see the huge caldera of the volcano. As it was the cloud came down as we went up and the views were intermittent. Our guide was French with quite a strong accent which reminded me of the British policeman in Allo Allo! After this we visited a tiny geranium distillery in which a family made oil from geraniums to sell to French perfume houses. There were good views of the lovely coastline as we drove back. A short visit but we got some idea of what the island was like.

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[pjc]

A two part trivia question for the team: 1. What's the population of China? 2. Name them?