France > Réunion Island of the Indian Ocean

A collection of Instagram posts on a trip that we did in October, 2016.

NOTE: Some posts below may have multiple pictures embedded – please scroll to the right to see all such photos.

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Port Louis, Mauritius. I'm now going to do a series on the French island of La Réunion in the western Indian Ocean, a trip we did in October 2016. It's only a one hour hop by air from Mauritius to the volcanic island. Hence our journey started in Mauritius where we boarded the ATR72 turboprop plane belonging to Air Austral, bound for St Denis, the capital of La Réunion. #mauritius #lareunion #reunionisland #atr72 #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 3, 2019 at 1:33am PDT

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Réunion Roland Garros Airport in Saint Denis, Réunion Island. (A piece of the EU in the tropical western Indian Ocean, how quaint. 😁) Saint Denis, the capital of La Réunion, was founded in the mid-17th century. Without the palm trees, humidity and the surrounding (Indian) ocean, this place could have easily been passed as a provincial town in mainland France itself. Mind-boggling considering France is 9000km away as the crow flies, and in the past you could only travel by boats which took months. Now it's only an 11-hour flight to Paris. Anyway it is the furthest EU territory from Europe, and the only one in the southern hemisphere. 😀 #france #reunionisland #saintdenis #airport #lareunion #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 8, 2019 at 5:09am PDT

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Saint Denis, capital of Réunion Island, France. Statue of the French aviator Roland Garros, born here in 1888, then became a famous WW1 fighter pilot. He was killed in a dogfight in 1918, just before the war ended. The French Open Tennis tournament is named after him, so too the main airport of Réunion Island. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #airport #rolandgarros #saintdenis #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 8, 2019 at 8:08am PDT

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Saint Denis, Réunion Island. Saint Denis, the capital of La Réunion, was founded in the mid-17th century. Without the palm trees, humidity and the surrounding (Indian) ocean, this place could have easily been passed as a provincial town in France itself. Mind-boggling considering France is 9000km away as the crow flies, and in the past you could only travel by boats which took months. Anyway it is the furthest EU territory from Europe, and the only one in the southern hemisphere. 😀 #france #reunionisland #saintdenis #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 4, 2019 at 8:24am PDT

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Réunion Island, France (Western Indian Ocean). The whole island is volcanic, and the central part is a huge national park to protect remnants of ancient volcanoes, plus two existing ones – the highly active Piton de la Fournaise (2,632m) and dormant Piton de Neiges (3,071m). A Unesco World Heritage Site. We drove our cute rental Citroën car to La Fournaise, aware that the volcano could erupt at any time. There was ample warning. 😂 #france #lareunion #reunionisland #volcano #nationalpark #unescoworldheritagesite #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 5, 2019 at 7:32am PDT

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Volcano La Fournaise on Réunion Island. We drove along Route de Volcan and reached the Plaine de Sables, a plateau of volcanic rocks and ashes from continuous eruptions of La Fournaise, our destination at the end of the road. Quite an experience crossing the plateau with its totally amazing landscape, said to be similar to that of Mars. 😅 #france #lareunion #reunionisland #pitondelafournaise #lafournaise #volcano #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 6, 2019 at 3:25am PDT

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Volcano La Fournaise on Réunion Island. After parking our car at a rather nice visitor area, we trekked into the caldera of volcano Piton de la Fournaise at the southeastern corner of Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean – it's one of the most active volcanoes in the world, with on average 2 eruptions per year. Technically the volcano is still erupting but since it's a shield volcano the eruptions are mainly lava flows. Unfortunately when we visited it was well-behaved! Piton de la Fournaise, 2600m high, shield volcano, about 500k years old, impressive caldera, but still considered youthful. A Unesco World Heritage Site. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #lafournaise #pitondelafournaise #volcano #shield #caldera #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 6, 2019 at 3:46am PDT

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Volcan La Fournaise, La Réunion, France. Trekking in the caldera of volcano Piton de la Fournaise (Peak of the Furnace) in the Indian Ocean territory of France. A shield volcano, one of the most active in the world. Most recent eruption in August 2019. 🌋 #france #reunionisland #lareunion #pitondelafournaise #lafournaise #volcano #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 7, 2019 at 9:14pm PDT

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Volcan Piton de la Fournaise, Réunion Island, France. Trekking in the lava field inside the caldera of shield volcano Piton de la Fournaise on Réunion Island. One of the most active volcanoes in the world. Fortunately the ongoing lava eruptions are happening on the other side of the peak, to the southeast. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #pitondelafournaise #lafournaise #volcano #lava #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 7, 2019 at 10:59pm PDT

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Saint Pierre, Réunion Island, France. Sunset at the marina of Saint Pierre, a beautiful small town in southwestern Réunion Island in western Indian Ocean. Madagascar is 700km that way. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #sunset #saintpierre #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 8, 2019 at 3:56am PDT

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Cilaos in central Réunion Island. This is a delightful small town set inside an ancient caldera (a huge volcanic crater), at the foot of a dormant one. Nice pleasant climate at 1200m above sea level, in the middle of the thick forest. The church Église Notre-Dame-des-Neiges was right at the end of the main road as we drove into town. It had been a long 90min drive from the coast where we stayed, along a 40km narrow winding road, said to have 400 bends and two one-way tunnels. I simply didn't count the bends. 😂 #france #lareunion #reunionisland #cilaos #caldera #church #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 9, 2019 at 1:59am PDT

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Cilaos in central Réunion Island. In the middle of the forested Réunion, in the caldera of a long-gone ancient volcano, Cilaos was founded in the mid-19th century. It was initially settled by slaves who had escaped from the coastal sugarcane plantations. Now Cilaos is a very pleasant hill station, at 1200m, but only reachable via a 40km narrow winding road from the coast. A very scenic drive with hundreds of bends and a couple of narrow one-way tunnels. By the way, I think sometimes Cilaos looks like Machu Picchu. 😂 #france #lareunion #reunionisland #cilaos #caldera #volcano #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 9, 2019 at 4:09am PDT

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Cilaos in central Réunion Island. The whole town is like inside a bowl, in reality inside a huge caldera, the remnant of an ancient volcano which violently blew its top several hundred thousand years ago! The mountain range at the back is actually part of the wall of the caldera. A Unesco World Heritage Site. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #cilaos #caldera #volcano #unescoworldheritagesite #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 9, 2019 at 8:14am PDT

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Cilaos in central Réunion Island. Father and son resting along the main street of Cilaos town. Beautiful landscaping all around. 🤩 #france #lareunion #reunionisland #cilaos #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 10, 2019 at 1:35am PDT

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Saint Louis, Réunion Island. Wherever there are French people, there is pétanque. Can virtually be played anywhere with flat surface, this group is having fun along the valley leading out of the Cilaos caldera. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #cilaos #petanque #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 10, 2019 at 1:25am PDT

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Saint Louis, Réunion Island. There's a mosque in the town of Saint Louis in southwestern Réunion. Just close to our place, so it was handy for Friday prayer. There are less than 30k moslems out of the 900k population of Réunion Island. Most are descendants of migrants who arrived in the mid-19th century, mainly from South Asia. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #saintlouis #mosque #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 10, 2019 at 6:39am PDT

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Beautiful lagoon at the beachfront of Saint Louis in southwestern Réunion Island. The sun was setting behind me as I faced the thick clouds over the huge mountains in the centre of the island. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #saintlouis #lagoon #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 12:18am PDT

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Saint Pierre, Réunion Island. In all my travels, this spot at the marina of the town of Saint Pierre in southwestern Réunion, is one of the best places to watch the sunset. (See the 4 pics.) The fiery red orb slowly sinking into the horizon of the Indian Ocean is always a spectacle to behold. The nearest land that way is Madagascar, about 700km away. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #saintpierre #sunset #indianocean #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 10, 2019 at 7:07am PDT

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Saint Pierre, Réunion Island. Two more sunset pics at Saint Pierre in southwestern Réunion, one of the best places to watch the sunset. The fiery red orb slowly sinking into the horizon of the Indian Ocean is always a sight to behold. The nearest land that way is Madagascar, about 700km away. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #saintpierre #sunset #indianocean #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 10, 2019 at 7:12am PDT

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More sunset pics from Réunion Island, this time from the lagoon at Saint Louis. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #sunset #saintlouis #lagoon

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 12:27am PDT

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Saint Pierre, southwestern Réunion Island. My sundown buddy at the marina of Saint Pierre, taking a breather after all the excitement, as the tide comes in. 😝 #france #lareunion #reunionisland #saintpierre #sunset #indianocean

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 10, 2019 at 7:26am PDT

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Southern Réunion Island (four pics). We drove along the road hugging the southern coastline of Réunion, the only road in this part of the island. The oceanfront here is rugged, made up of volcanic rocks. Go that way 5000km and you'd hit Antarctica. How desolate! #france #lareunion #reunionisland #saintphilippe #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 12:49am PDT

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Saint Philippe in southeastern Réunion Island. When you live in the shadow of a menacing volcano like La Fournaise, you have to have a sense of humour. La Fournaise is one of the world's most active, and is still technically erupting now. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #lafournaise #pitondelafournaise #volcano

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 12:33am PDT

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Saint Philippe, southeastern Réunion Island. (3 pics) In the Saint Philippe area in southeastern Réunion Island, there's lava flow right to the ocean, from an eruption in 1986 at La Fournaise, only 10km away. The shield volcano has been erupting nonstop for centuries, latest eruption in August 2019.😝 #france #lareunion #reunionisland #saintphilippe #volcano #lafournaise #pitondelafournaise #lava #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 2:13am PDT

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Southeastern Réunion Island. Lava flow from the La Fournaise eruption of 2007. This one also went right to the water, crossing the N2 highway. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #volcano #lafournaise #pitondelafournaise #lava #reuniontourisme

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 2:17am PDT

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Saint Benoît, east coast of Réunion Island. (2 pics.) Taking a breather at the spot where just north of here, some debris of MH370 were found – the Malaysia Airlines B777 which went missing in March 2014. They discovered the bits along one of the stony beaches in the area. By the way the plane is still missing, with 239 people onboard. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #saintbenoit #beach

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 3:48am PDT

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Roland Garros Airport at Saint Denis, Réunion Island. We were flying back to Mauritius (with Air Austral B777) while this Corsair International B747 prepared to return to Paris Orly, an 11-hour flight. #france #lareunion #reunionisland #airport #rolandgarros #saintdenis #corsair

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 4:47am PDT

> The End

#reunionisland

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