Madagascar-bound, flying from Australia?
Lucky you!
You’ll be even luckier if you spend some days on Réunion Island, en route; if the natural world is more your world than “resort world”, Réunion and Madagascar are infinitely more rewarding Indian Ocean island destinations than is Mauritius.
All photos were taken through a helicopter’s window on the morning of 8 May 2018; there are two more images here.
The featured image shows Dolomieu Crater, the largest crater on the lava field of the same name.
Dolomieu lava field is 400 metres deep and sits inside the caldera of Piton de la Fournaise (literally, “Furnace Peak”).
One of the world’s most active volcanoes; Piton de la Fournaise mostly erupts “Hawaiian style”, and even has its own blog – in French, but lavishly illustrated and regularly updated to show what the volcano is currently doing.
Its summit is modest in relation to the plateau it has created, but substantial in relation to the Indian Ocean, whose waves are not far away but are a full 2,632 metres “below”.
In one respect only does Réunion resemble Australia; in both places most people live near the coast, but especially revere “their” territory’s sparsely-populated interior.
The very island is a relatively “young”, volcanic creation; its primary builder a shield volcano that emerged from the ocean a couple of million years ago.
Inactive these past 20,000 years, and currently eroding rather than rising, that volcano’s summit – Piton Des Neiges – is 3,069 metres above the sea, the Indian Ocean’s highest peak.
The island is variously stark, and incredibly lush.
La Fournaise’s lava field may present as “desolate”, but in 1993 the nearby Baril 1600 rain gauge measured rainfall of just over 3,000 mm in 48 hours – the highest 48 hour “soaking” ever “reliably” measured anywhere on earth! (as detailed here)
In other words, in those 48 hours one place in Réunion “enjoyed” nearly five-and-a-half times as much rain as Adelaide experiences in an average year.
As it happens, the island was enduring an almost freakishly dry period when we were there, but to Australian eyes much of the land looked prodigiously well-watered; its interior – Réunion’s so-called “cirques” – does not at all resemble our Outback.
If you get to Réunion, do not economise, helicopter-wise; choose the longest flight option!
Coming soon on Pelican Yoga: more from Madagascar…lemurs, especially.