"Bonjour, monsieur," said the man in the airport queue behind me. With a weatheredface and a handful of surfboards stacked on his trolley it was clear he was heading for somewhere sunny and salty. "Parlez vous Française?"
It was a phrase I'd hear more than a few times as I travelled through Reunion, the island that's a close cousin of Mauritius and a four-hour flight east of Johannesburg.
Sadly, I did not speak much French… well, apart from a smattering of long-forgotten school phrases. But telling your hotelier that "the pencil is behind the rabbit" is unlikely to help you find your way to the charred slopes of the Piton de la Fournaise!
The alluring Piton is far and away Reunion's most popular attraction, drawing hundreds of visitors each day despite the precipitous route from the coast.
Is the road really that steep, I hear you ask? Well, climbing a chest-heaving 2300 metres in under 40 kilometres it's like heading out of Durban and reaching Sandton City before you're halfway to Pietermaritzburg. Zut alors!
Once you've gotten used to driving in permanent second gear you'll be mesmerised by the views as the road winds through lush pastures and fields of spring flowers. Wonderful picnic spots dot the roadside, so bag a baguette et fromage at one of the many boulangeries and pack a picnic for an alfresco lunch en route.
The route heads ever upwards into high altitude scrubland until, just when you're beginning to doubt those volcano road signs, you reach the main attraction: the Rempart de Bellecombe and the edge of the Piton's outer crater. In the distance, the lava-spewing volcanic mount of the Piton de la Fournaise rises from the area known as the Enclos Fouqué.
On 2 April 2007 the Piton's entire magma chamber blew itself into the sky, dropping the crater floor by 300m and sending molten lava cascading down the peak's eastern slopes to live up to its name: 'Peak of the Furnace'. The Piton has since calmed down, but the summit is unstable and has been closed to hikers. However, you can still explore the larger crater as a steep path leads you down the Pas de Bellecombe and into a landscape cracked and buckled like a vinyl record left out in the sun. Darker patches singe the earth where magma oozed and bubbled, solidifying in waves frozen in time.
The Citroen's thermometer had earlier read a mild 19°, but with the sun beating down on the stiff climb back up the Pas de Bellecombe, I was soon working off that extra pain au chocolat from breakfast!
In the distance loomed the Piton Neige; at 3069-metres the tallest peak in the Indian Ocean and the higher, colder cousin of the Piton de la Fournaise. Towering above my next destination, the village of Cilaos, the Piton Neige is just 25-kilometres away as the crow flies, but I had a solid two hours in the car ahead of me.
The road to Cilaos, a lost-in-time village cradled in an ancient volcanic crater, would put legendary road-builder Thomas Bain to shame. With over 500 bends, two tunnels (just wide enough for a single car, mind you) and any number of blind corners it's a white-knuckle, heart-in-the-throat kind of journey. Single lane sections require a combination of caution and blind faith to prevent you from coming head-to-head with a bus, truck or (evidently mad) cyclist.
When you finally make it the village is worth every twist and turn though. Nestled at the bottom of towering cliffs, every step you take in town offers breathtaking views of the sheer slopes of the towering Cirque de Cilaos.
The area is famous for its mountaineering, horse-riding and canyoning, and the steep slopes bring mountain bikers from around the world, says Christopher Payet, one of Reunion's top pedallers and owner of Tof' Bikes in Rue du Pere Boiteau. Payet rents out bikes (€15/day) or can take you on a guided tour of the region's best single-track routes. At the end of the day you can rest those tired limbs in the thermal baths above town.
Et moi? I'm happier wandering one of the 10 well-marked hiking trails that climb the slopes above town, gazing up at the clouds that cling to the Cirque as if debating whether to stick around and enjoy the view or flit westwards towards the coast.
As for me, time was running short so I fired up the Citroen and hit the N5 back towards St. Louis. Twist, wind, heart attack and one hour of beating the bends brought me back down to the coast. My destination? The beach of Roches Noires at the seaside town of St. Gilles-les-Baines, and a surfer named Bertrand.
Easier said than done. You'll only need a smattering of French phrases to get by on Reunion, but it's a good idea to keep a French phrase book on hand. My directions to Bertrand's 'Ecole de Surf des Roches Noires' went something like "Ah oui, le plage est droite, droite, aprés le cimitiere premier gauche, droite, gauche et deuxième droite. D'accord?"
Um, well, yes. Best throw in a map along with that phrasebook. Luckily it's fairly easy to find your way around, with a ring road circumnavigating the island.
Reunion is not especially famous for its beaches, and it's easy to see why. Few match the powder white stretches of its Indian Ocean neighbours, but what they lack in picture-postcard perfection they make up for with dramatic scenery and plenty to keep you busy, and there are a few worth a visit.
For sheer novelty value a dip at the black-sand Etang-Salé-les-Baines is something not to be missed on your way down from Cilaos or the Piton de le Fournaise. The beach is popular with swimmers and surfers, but watch out for the area's notoriously fickle currents.
Further north, Boucan Canot is the Camps Bay of Reunion; a glamorous strip where the bathing beauties go topless and top-notch hotels overlook one of the island's best strips of sand. This is the place to be if you want to catch some rays and strut your stuff.
There's more of a family feel at the nearby St. Gilles-le-Bain though. Ice-cream vendors line the promenade, beach buckets dangle in shop windows and kids make the most of the safe swimming area. Or they hang 10 with local surf coach Bertrand Piece, who I found at last.
Bertrand's easy-going surf academy makes light work of the eponymous 'black rocks' and he regularly sends swarms of young grommets out into the surf to learn the ropes.
Further down the coast there's surfing of a different sort on the go at St. Leu. This laid-back resort is Reunion's shot at Jeffrey's Bay. There's a beach, sure, but it's the gnashing left-hander that brings tourists to what is one of the island's best surf spots.
Not a surfer? There's safe swimming to the left of 'Le Port', and a number of dive schools offer regular trips from the harbour. The nearby Pointe au Sel is the best reef on Reunion, dropping to 60m and offering fantastic hard corals. From July to October you also – given the lack of regulations – have the chance to get up close and personal with humpback whales migrating south with the currents.
St. Leu is also famous for currents of a different sort, with the hills above town known as one of the best spots in the world for paragliding. Steady thermals ensure paragliders can stay aloft for hours, and the town hosted a leg of the Paragliding World Cup late last year. Now that the pros have left, the skies are clear for tourists to catch a few thermals and admire the view, with companies like Parapente offering daily sightseeing flights.
There are few better places to take in the action above and below you than the deck of the Hotel Blue Margouillat. Perched on a hillside a short way out of town, the hotel offers laid-back island hospitality with a European twist.
Resident Chef Marc Chappot will weave his magic onto your plate each night if you have a few euros to spend, or head into town where you'll find a range of great dining options. L'Auberge du Relais in the Rue General Lambert is an excellent choice. This bare basics spot in the main road through town offers no-frills Creole cuisine. Local 'cari' is the typical flavour of Reunion, and you can put your palate to everything from Duck Cari to Cari Langouste. At just €13 for curry, rice, lentils and a starter salad it's an affordable, authentic taste of the island.
Reunion may not be a cheap destination for South Africans converting many Rands into a handful of euros, but with everything from soaring volcanoes to shimmering sands it's a small price to pay for a slice of joie de vivre in the Indian Ocean.
» Originally published in Shape Magazine, March 2009
|
Or just a sign of commercialism heading south? Refuse to shop at Melissa's nowadays: overpriced and average
