The beautiful islands of Mauritius and Réunion, off the east coast of Africa, were our home for two summer months.

We spent much of our Mauritius time on the beach sand or in the water, with a bit of inland exploration. 

Kayaking at dawn on the Tamarin Rempart River

Inland Adventures

A few days before we were to leave Mauritius and fly to Réunion, Tropical Cyclone Eleanor headed for the islands. We watched islanders move boats ashore and board up windows in preparation for the storm. They had gone through the same thing just a few weeks before when a cyclone brought very strong wind and very heavy rain. Fortunately Eleanor moved further east than predicted and lost strength, so both of our island destinations only had a bit of wind and measurable rain. And our flight on to the next island occurred as scheduled.

Two volcanoes and three calderas cover most of the 2500 square kilometers of Réunion, an island that is a French territory. Piton des Neiges is a dormant volcano, and Piton de la Fournaise, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, was very quiet during our visit. We explored a coastal town and villages in two of the three calderas: Cirque de Salazie and Cirque de Cilaos. We skipped the third caldera, Cirque de Mafate, because there are no roads to that area. It can only be reached by helicopter or on foot. 

While in Cirque de Salazie we used the village of Hell-Bourg as our base.

Saint-Pierre, the third largest town on the island of Réunion, sits on southwest coast and is sometimes described as France’s southern capital. 

From Saint-Pierre we drove to the village of Cilaos, which is inside the cirque with the same name. The steep, narrow, twisty road includes over 400 turns! We were thankful for a very small rental car.