Reunion island hiking and the kindness of stranger's

Start of the GR R2 hiking trail in La Providence St Dennis.

 After Madagascar I had a almost 2 weeks spare before I needed to head across to Gabon for my next big adventure.

The original plan had been to visit Sierra Leone and do the marathon at the end of the month. However this proved problematic for 2 main reasons. Firstly it was a logistical nightmare to get from Madagascar to Sierra Leone. I would have had to catch a flight with at least 4-5 connectios and lasting almost 36 hours but secondly and probably more importantly it would have added a little red flag to my passport and seriously restricted the my ability to visit lots of other African countries including Gabon due to the number of Ebola restrictions still in place despite being given the all clear by the WHO.

So I needed a plan B and Reunion island became that. I had always liked the look of the island and Madagascar is fairly close so it should be easy to hop across for a quick visit.

Reunion island is well known for it's hiking trails and it's very active volcano. So exploring both of these had to be top of the list.

After arriving at Roland Garros airport in the north part of the island in the city of St Dennis just after midnight I headed straight to the hotel and checked in for the night to get some rest.

In the morning I sorted my bags and stored spare kit for my return in the hotels storage room. After breakfast and armed with my trails map I set of for the forest of La Providence only a short 10-15 minute walk from my hotel and the start point of the GR R2 hiking trail which connects all over the island.

Setting of on the first day was a long hard uphill slog. The trail started at 50 meters above sea level and my plan for the day had been to reach either the Gite (mountain hostel / refuge) or the summit of La Roche Ecrite which stood in at 1963 Meters and 2277 Meters respectively and was a good 5-7 hours hike away.

The summit of La Roche Ecrite 2277 Meters 

 I don't really know what I had been expecting but the trails were definitely not easy going. Lots of steep sections lose rocks and tree roots protruding from the ground. They were really fun but you definitely needed to pay attention which was hard with all the beautiful views and wildlife about.

After about five and half hours I reached the Gite at La Roche Ecrite. The light was still good so I filled up water and decided to push on to the summit perhaps another hour and half away. I was glad I did arriving just before sunset I was completely alone and able to enjoy the beautiful sunset at the summit with just the sounds of the birds in the background.

Sunset at the summit of La Roche Ecrite 2277 Meters 

 After sitting and enjoying the views I thought I better set up camp for the night I had a quick scout around and found a nice natural hollow under some bushes easily big enough to accommodate my little one man tent and provide me some extra shelter if the weather turned. That first night was a little cold and I was definitely glad of the extra layers and down jacket I had packed in to the bag. I quickly packed down at first light and enjoyed the sunrise before heading off as if I'd never been there.

The trail started of with a steep downhill section and there were several sections that required climbing down a ladder or scrambling down so ropes or cables fixed in to the side of the mountain. I was glad for the early start as the temperatures soon rose and it became even harder going on the steep narrow section but I had descended almost 1000 meters by then and was almost at the bottom of the worst section.

I pushed on thought the day and made good progress across the ground. I passed through a few small towns and was able to stock up on water and supplies but decided it was to early to stop for the day being only 14:00 and continued to push on. Potentially aiming for the Gite at Caverne Dufour.

The trails began to get very steep and narrow again and very hard after an already long day of hiking. I began to regret my decision to push on and thought how nice it would be right now to be relaxing in some accommodation back at the town but oh well the decision was to late to change now and with light fading I needed to push on. Head torch on I made slow progress up the still steep and winding path. Upon reaching the top of the path where it flattened out and seeing a sign informing me it was atleast another hours walk to the Gite.
I spotted some good open ground so decided to set up camp for the night and continue in the morning.

Piton Des Neiges summit 3070 metres 

After a good night's rest I was glad I made the decision to camp when I did as the path soon became steep and narrow again in the morning.

Upon reaching the Gite where I was able to get some breakfast and a hot coffee I saw a aid station being set up for runners. Intrigued I enquired as to what was happening and found out a trail race to the summit of a nearby mountain (Piton Des Neiges) was about to pass by and the front runners should be coming through shortly. So I headed up the path to watch.
These guys were awesome the front runners were storming up the steep rocky Mountain trails that I was finding hard just walking up albeit I did have a fairly heavy backpack on.

After spending a little to much time watching the race and climbing to the summit of Piton Des Neiges I needed to continue to push on towards the east and the volcano.

After another long day I made it to the town of Bourg Murat just before dark and was able to find a Gite on the edge of the town to spend the night just as the weather turned and the heaves opened.

In the morning another early start and with the rain still pouring down and the heavy mist I set off on the long hike up to the volcano.

After about 6 hours of hard wet muddy uphill hiking I reached Pas de Bellecombe (2311 metres) sitting just on the outer of the main volcano crater.
Sadly the weather had not improved and the high winds and poor visibility would mean any further attempts to continue higher up to the crater rim were not possible. I headed over to the volcano Gite to see if they had a bed available for the night and hopefully the weather might improve in the morning. Sadly they were fully booked and camping is not permitted anywhere on or near the volcano.
Sitting in the coffee shop at the top hoping the weather would clear enough to make the summit but again sadly it didn't.

View from Pas de Bellecombe 

Mini volcano in left of picture

 It was approaching 14:00 and I was still faced with the 5-6 hike back down to the town to find some accommodation for the night.
I decided to stick to the road instead of the trail on the way down and hopefully the slightly flatter and dryer ground would be quicker.
Cars were starting the descent from the cafe also as the road on went one way back to Bourg Murat I decided I would see if it was possible to hitch a ride.
So the next car that passed I stuck my arm out and they stopped thankfully there English was better than my poor French and they kindly offered to give me a lift.

Upon reaching Bourg Murat they asked if I wanted to be dropped in the town or carry on further with them. I had a slight niggle in my leg I think I jarred it on the way up to the volcano after slipping on the wet path and with Gabon coming up soon and not feeling like another long hike up to try the volcano again in the morning I asked if they could drop me at the costal town of St Pierre on the south coast.

I could rest up for a few days before easily grabbing a bus back to St Dennis.

So my time in Reunion is at the end and I'm back in St Dennis ready to head back to South Africa and then onwards to Gabon for my next awesome adventure. Whilst I'm slightly sad I didn't get to experience the volcano summit I have definitely enjoyed my time on Reunion

St Pierre on the south coast of Reunion 

How I ended up on the west coast of Madagascar

How I came to find myself on the west coast of Madagascar. 

I hadn't planned to visit the west coast. Don't get me wrong it's not because I didn't want to it was just more of a time and money issue. 

Upon completion of my expedition in the eastern parts of Madagascar where I summited Pic Boby the 2nd highest peak in Madagascar and then over the next 10 days walked and paddled a further 210 Km to finish up on the east coast of Madagascar just south of a town called Manakara.

Over the following 2 days together with the 5 great new people I had the pleasure of completing this awesome challenge with (3 Brits and 2 Americans) not forgetting our amazing local raft guides Joe & Mi set about making our way back to Antananarivo. 

The first day was to be fairly easy breaking us back in to the finest roads Africa and Madagascar could throw at us.  Just a mere 6 hour drive to another town were we could enjoy a hot shower good food and prepare for the back breaking 11 hour ride ahead of us the next day.

For those of you who have traveled in Africa before and are familiar with the stands of roads you come across I'm sure you can appreciate why this was not going to be a fun journey. For those of you less familiar with African road standards. Let's just say tarmac / paved roads are a luxury here and even when you do get one gaping vehicle sized pot holes are very common. 

You will probably come to hear the phrase "African massage" when driving in Africa.  

This is not like any other massage you have ever experienced in your life. It refers to the bouncing of the vehicle throwing you around as you hit all the holes in the road and infact probably only serves to make you need a real massage or a chiropractor after you journey than you did before but TIA as they say.

Upon enduring the long bumpy journey back to Antananarivo it was time to have one last meal and drink with the team before everyone went there separate ways. Home for most people or onwards in my case. 

Later that night I awoke soaked in sweat and suffering from what I can only be describe as a severe case of food poisoning. I have always been very lucky up to this point whist travelling and I suppose the odds where inevitable that I had to get ill at some point during all my travels but I would not wish this discomfort on anyone. 

After a long night of severe vomiting and diarrhoea combined with alternating fevers and cold shakes and passing out on the bathroom floor I thankfully appeared to be over the worst of it.

The next couple of days were not great but thankfully nothing as bad as I experienced on that first night. 

So here I was sat in my now what appeared to be very empty hotel. Not assigning any blame but probably the very same hotel that gave me the food poisoning in the first place with 4 whole days to kill before my flight to Reunion. 

I was alone bored and slightly fed up and for the first time ever during my travels I actually questioned why I choose to travel to all these faraway places and take all these long trips. How I wished I could just be at home in my own bed recovering. 

So I decided I needed to give myself a boost also would be right to come all the way to Madagascar without visiting The Avenue of the Baobabs. So I packed my bags and went in search of a 4x4 and English speaking driver. 

It wasn't long before I came across a guy who spoke good English and drove a Ford everest 4x4. I've personally never heard of that model before but it seemed okay and we agreed on a price of 50 Euros a day plus fuel. 

Fuel prices in Madagascar are relatively cheap and costs between 45 pence and 55 pence per litre. So we set of on the 500KM journey to the west coast. 

The avenue of the baobabs 

Lemurs 

So I find myself sat in a hotel just on the beach in a town called Morondava.

This morning I visited the avenue of the baobabs (picture above) I plan to visit again early tomorrow morning for sunrise.


I also got to see some more lemurs.

Before checking in to my hotel and relaxing on the beach before enjoying the sunset with a nice cold beer (THB) Three Horses Beer that's one of the beer brands here in Madagascar.

Morondava beach 

Happy to be fully recovered and days like this remind me why I love to travel and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sunset on the beach