Réunion

Réunion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, is known for its volcanic, rainforests, coral reefs and beaches. Its most iconic landmark is Piton de la Fournaise, a climbable active volcano at 8,635 ft. The island is about 980 sq mi, a little bigger than Maui, with a population of ~850,000.

We had a fabulous time staying with Philippe and Rachelle Usunier (and their dog Fiji).  Lots of great food and company, hiking the mountain cirques and valleys, canyoning, snorkeling, paddleboarding, ropes courses, and more!

Canyoning Trou Blanc

After many years of canyoneering slot canyons in Utah, canyoning seemed like a trip to Disneyland.  Clear, rushing water with lots of cliff jumps and waterslides to go with the rappels and swimming.  The white basalt canyon was beautitful, and having a guide worry about routefinding and rigging the ropes made it even more pleasant!  There are many other technical canyons in Réunion - we'd love to come back and visit more of them.

Watch the video below for a taste of this fun day:

Voile de la Marieée (in English, Bridal Veil Falls, which seem to be the name of every other waterfall in the world)

Cirque de Mafate

Cirque de Mafate was formed when the magma chamber of Piton des Neiges, or ‘snow peak’, collapsed some three million years ago, and is unique in that the entire cirque, which contains over 120 miles of hiking trails, has no roads and is accessible only by foot or helicopter. In 2010, UNESCO designated Mafate (as well as Réunion’s two other, more accessible cirques and all the island’s pitons and ramparts) as a World Heritage site.

Rachelle planned our 2 day hike with an overnight stay at a Grand Palace gîte.

Our gîte at Grand Palace with Rachelle and Philippe

The viewpoint of Le Maïdo peak and the start of our hike

A steep descent

This is not a 'big' spider. It's all relative!

A nice cool break from hiking

Beautiful views of this extinct volcano

Piton de la Fournaise

Reunion has one of the world's most active volcanoes: Piton de la Fournaise. The hike out to the crater was closed due to recent eruption activity but we were able to hike around the perimeter. We also enjoyed a stop at the volcano museum to learn more about this local volcano and see videos of the major eruptions. Watching 'lava pillows' created under the sea from flowing lava is amazing!

One side of the caldera

Volcanic activity

Scenes from Réunion

No one is happy about homework but at least the view is nice!

Always enjoying the water

Philippe surfing

A sunset walk on the beach

Coconut tug-o'-war with Fiji

We never got tired of this view

We loved the geckos especially since they eat bugs

Comorant Basin (that's Katie and Rachelle climbing up to the jump spot)

Beautiful sunsets every night

She found hundreds of toads on our hike to Grand Etang

Rainforests and beaches...such a diverse island

The Lagoon

It is an easy walk to the beach for paddle boarding and snorkeling. We saw lots of cool underwater creatures.

Follow me!

Lagoon coral

Schools in session

This fish kept attacking the GoPro

Moorish Idol

Eel

Mr. Octopus taking a peek

An orange-spine unicornfish

The evil sea monster is coming!

Picasso triggerfish

Acroplaine

We spent the morning at this fun ropes course in the rain forest. You reserve a 3-hour block and can complete as many courses as possible. Luckily we had the place to ourselves! The longest courses had 22 different and creative stations from surfing, rope climbing, slack lining, zip lining, swinging, and lots of walking along moving boards and logs! It's always an experience communicating in places where the staff does not speak English (and we don't speak French). Luckily we have experience with ropes and gear so it wasn't an issue.

I'm having so much fun!

Mike surfing in the rainforest!

Alex working his way across the swinging logs and Katie moving across the rope ladder

The final zipline