Cleone - CLEONE in La Reunion

 

And if you don't believe me, then perhaps you should read William Dalrymple's book, the Age of Kali.  It's just as he describes it in the brief chapter he devotes to it.  On the coast, it's like the French Riviera.  Chic shops full of the un-necessary tat that people buy when they are on holiday, friendly restaruants serving (because Reunion is not just French, but a part of France itself) good food and drinkable wine at reasonable prices, beaches with windsurfers and bikini-clad girls topping up their nearly all-over tans, and everyone driving like mad on the wrong (right) side of the road. 

Get away from all of this (and it's not difficult) and there is another wonderful and more fascinating part of it.  Three huge extinct volcanos dominate the interior, rising to over 3000 metres (about 10,000 feet).  Inside the vast craters of these three are surprisingly large areas of steep, rugged wilderness country.  Only two of the three are accessible by road, to get to the mountain villages dotted around the third requires a stout pair of boots and strong calves for the walk.  All goods are carried in by mule, or these days maybe by quad bikes or, for the wealthy, by helicopter.  And the roads that wind their way up and down and eventually into the other two are dangerously spectacular.  Apparently there are over 400 hairpin bends leading to the village of Cilaos where we stayed in a very pretty hotel for a night; a figure that is easily beliveable. 

20 kilometers took us a good hour of skillful and demanding driving, with our already knackered minibus grinding upwards in low gear.  But once there, it was a wonderful place to be.  Surrounded on all sides by very steep rocky mountains, the air was fresh (at least during the morning; every day at around lunch time, the cloud formed around the peaks, and by mid afternoon a rain shower or two was normal).  There were small vinyards, every kind of flower you could imagine grew in abundance, from Birds of Paradise to thick clusters of roses, and the evocative tang of wood-smoke took me straight back to 1978 and the foot-hills of Nepal.  To remind us that this is geologially still a young land, in the South West corner of the island there is another volcano, smaller than its older brothers but still active - spoiled by our volcano visit in Tana (Vanuatu) we did not bother to go there, but there are many postcards available to prove the claims!

 

Up in the hills the villages people either live the simple life of previous generations, or they are well-to-do with second homes or they are providing for the, hopefully expanding, tourist trade.  Bicycles, quad bikes, microlite flights and coach trips are readily available, and all are good value and provide the spectacular views promised in the brochures. Politically, the country is a department of France.  It's not a Dependency like the Marquesas or French Polynesia, with its own arcane rules and prohibitive prices, it's a full-blown part of the EU.  European faces are commonplace, but they don't have the usual French hang-up about talking English, and they are quite happy to assume that visitors may not be fluent in French, to forgive them for it, and to exercise their own English on the visitor.  The Mayor of Le Port (an original name for the town around the main port, don't you think?) told us that La Reunion hopes to be self-sufficient in energy in 25 years time or so (how, one wonders.  The present generation of diesel generators will presumably be replaced mainly by hydro-electric plants - there is no tide to speak of, and wind turbines cannot provide guaranteed power).  The island might well be nearly self-sufficient in food already - it's wonderfully fertile and can produce every plant variety from tropical to temporate.  The policy is to attract more visitors to bring in currency, but for some reason even the French find that Mauritius is cheaper to get to and provides better value.  But they are working very hard to change this, and we enjoyed two great parties, with speeches from the local mayor and other dignatories, and a royal welcome from the Harbour Authorities, Customs and the Yacht Club. 

 

If you sampled the World ARC crews you would be in no doubt of their views.  La Reunion wins hands down over Mauritius.  It is much more beautiful, much more interesting and a much better place for an extended visit.  It ranks up there with the best (Marquesas, Tuamotus and Vaunatu for my money), and you'd better put it on your own list of must visit places straight away!