Indian Ocean Island Hopping
October 19th, 2022 - (G) Reunion Island
We spent nearly all of the 18th in transit to greet Reunion island with the sunrise. Unfortunately, we failed miserably to sleep while in transit. So after arriving and working out data services with our Airalo e-sim (if you are a traveler or aspiring traveler and haven’t looked into e-sims for data services yet, Airalo is one of the best, but do some digging for the specific location you plan to visit to be certain you’ll have coverage) we caught our ride to our B&B.
Reunion is a mountainous island with phenomenal hiking, solid beaches, and a comfortable standard of living. There’s something for everyone on this little island, just be aware that it is predominately French-speaking. We caught some great views as we wound up tight little roads towards our destination. Upon arrival, we were welcomed by the pair of ladies that operated the B&B and they even provided us with a complimentary breakfast! After breakfast, all that travel caught up with us, and no amount of coffee could fend off the desire for a snooze. Fortunately, though our room was not yet prepared, since we had arrived so early we expected it would not be, there were very comfortable hammock chairs with stunning views of a forested valley below. We both fell fast asleep within a minute of sitting in them.
Passing the morning sleeping in the shady comfort of hammock chairs, we were gently awoken by our hostess in the early afternoon. The room was now prepared, so after a mighty yawn and a stretch, we hopped out of our hammocks and found our room. It was a small bungalow attached to the side of the kitchen and dining area. Quaint but comfortable. We dropped our packs inside and feeling somewhat refreshed, decided to go for a walk.
Unfortunately, the weather had different plans for us as just as we prepared to set off on a hike down through the valley, it began to rain. While we did have rain gear, we decided to let the rain simply pass and spent the remainder of the afternoon listening to the rain and resting a bit more.
When the rain finally subsided, it was late afternoon. We struck out with a different purpose than just hiking this time. Snacks are a must for T, so we were on a mission to the grocery store for snacks. Along the way, we spotted what may be my favorite vending machine of all time. A taco & burrito vending machine! Directly, next to this was a pizza vending if that’s your preference. Not wanting to waste the opportunity to test the quality of these taco/burrito products, I quickly ordered a taco. While the vending machine worked its magic, it also provided a little video game to pass the time. Before I could claim victory, a taco plopped out from the machine. It was surprisingly high quality all things considered, but unsurprisingly I would not recommend them over the real deal.
After T and I devoured the taco, we continued to the grocery store, retrieved snacks, and returned to our bungalow just before dark. We had only planned to have one day in Reunion as part of a long layover that aligned well with our flights. However, Reunion is large enough to warrant spending a minimum of a week hiking the mountains and hanging at the beaches. Additionally, renting a car is also advisable.
October 20th, 2022 - (T) Nosy Be, Madagascar
If you decide to go to Madagascar, you need at least a week on the main island and need to either rent a car or book a tour (I recommend the latter). Also, you should bring Euros or Dollars with you to the airport to exchange because you might not be able to access an ATM, and you should exchange it back before you leave because you may not be able to afterward.
We goofed when planning Madagascar. We got a bit overzealous with how many countries we were going to visit in a short amount of time and overlooked just how massive the main island is. So, we ended up moving the time we were going to be on the main island over to Mauritius and decided to be beach bums for about a week on Nosy Be and Mauritius. When adventure presents itself, however, we seldom turn it down. More on that in a bit.
We took a late morning flight to Nosy Be and arrived by early afternoon. It was easy to obtain a visa on arrival and we didn’t have any issues at customs. Our driver was waiting for us as planned and we drove about 30-45 minutes to our destination, over quite a few hills, and around many turns.
G and I have never seen the level of poverty anywhere else compared to what we saw in Madagascar. The majority of houses we passed by in the villages were literally houses made out of sticks, many of them only had one room. Severe weather can easily level them and then they have to be rebuilt. Our van shared the road with a cow-and-buggy here and there. People worked in the fields with hand tools. I did not take any photos of the houses because I feel it’s disrespectful to showcase poverty. The people are rich in their own way, living on a stunning island, taking care of their land, and being close to family and friends. Poverty doesn’t always equate to despair.
In the middle of the drive, our driver pulled over and plucked some bright yellow petals from a tree. He instructed us to put them in our hands, rub them together, and smell them. We did, and a lovely fresh, floral, peppery aroma arose from the Ylang-Ylang. I had never smelled this scent before and that is the smell I remember when I think of Nosy Be.
The main roads were in great condition. After a while, we turned off the main road onto a dirt road and went up a big hill. The descent revealed a beautiful shoreline and Anjiamarango Beach Resort. This is the perfect place if you’re looking for a laid-back, beautiful but modest beach resort. The owner, Philippe, is French and has lived there for 18 years. He employs a good number of locals and everyone is so friendly. Philippe greeted us and went over all of the different activities we could choose from. It was during this conversation we found out that whale sharks made their appearance a couple of weeks ago and we could go swimming with them if we’d like. Um, we weren’t about to pass that up! They happen to be G’s favorite marine animal. Dolphins were mine before but it might be whale sharks now.
G and I played a game of pool and drank some rum while we waited for our bungalow to be ready. (G won). The Malagasy rum is the best I’ve ever had. It has strong notes of vanilla and the vanilla really is better in Madagascar. All other vanilla now tastes a little muted. Soon enough, our bungalow was ready and we settled in. A few months of traveling with a backpack will put a few knots in your back, so we decided to go for the $20 massages. My knees had been bothering me since the West Highland Way Hike. I don’t know what powers my masseuse had, but my left knee has been completely pain-free after the massage. $20 well spent! We enjoyed our beachfront views for the rest of the afternoon until evening graced us with a sunset over the water. After sunset, we decided to have one more glass of rum and eat dinner at the lodge. We had an early start the next day, so we returned to the bungalow and went to bed early.
October 21st, 2022 (T) - Swimming with Whale Sharks!
We woke up early, ate breakfast, and waited near reception for the whole crew. There were some other travelers joining us on our excursion: a friendly couple from France who are nurses and live in Reunion and a father-son duo from London with Colombian roots. We got our flippers and our snorkel gear and boarded the small boat with our two local guides. I imagined a short ride but we spent about 2 hours boating around Nosy Be then out into the deep water, where we could see the main island in the distance.
Out in the deep water, a school of tuna fish flapped in a big circle, much to the seagulls’ delight. A swordfish jumped out of the water! G and I had never seen a marlin before. It was really cool to see one in person. G had never seen a whale, and we were lucky to see a whale surface as well on our search for whale sharks.
Whale sharks. Are they whales or are they sharks? They’re sharks, but with the temperament of what you would expect from a whale, and they eat plankton. They are truly gentle giants. Only swimming at 3 mph (5 kph), they go about their day grazing and are not aggressive. They visit Madagascar by Nosy Be from October-December. Other tour boats on the search for our shark friends gave us good ideas for where we should go. Our guides spotted one! We all quickly put on our snorkel gear and fins and gently got in the water (they get scared if you jump in. You would too if some strange creature all of a sudden dropped down from the sky right in front of you!) G was the last one to get it and, unfortunately, he didn’t see it.
The tour wasn’t over yet. We continued our search for another one. This time, our guides were the first to see one. Everyone let G go first so he would have a chance to see it, and, wow, we really lucked out. There was a magnificent whale shark mosying right up to the boat. I slowly lowered myself into the water next and, bam! Whale shark literally right in front of my face! Maybe 6 inches away. I could’ve touched it if I wanted to, but I was respectful of him and hurried out of his way. I didn’t seem to scare him because he just continued his swimming. Fortunately, I had the Go-Pro and got some amazing footage. Our French friends also got a great clip of it.
We didn’t plan on swimming with whale sharks. We didn’t even know they visited Nosy Be. But, we are so happy they did and this is by far one of the most exciting things we’ve ever had the opportunity to do. We said goodbye to the whale shark and began our ride to another island for lunch, stopping to swim with sea turtles on the way.
Our guides found a big sea turtle with ease, close to the shore. It was swimming by itself, also eating lunch from the looks of it. At first, I thought this turtle kind of looked like a snapping turtle based on its shell and tail shapes but after getting closer, it was clearly a friendly sea turtle. We swam with it for a while and then let it continue eating its lunch as we left to go eat ours.
We ate some delicious seafood for lunch and had fun conversations about where we were from and other places we’d traveled. After eating, we played a game of dominos and then G and I sat on the shore watching the waves. We returned to the boat and made the trip back which took about an hour.
When we returned to our accommodations, G and I changed for dinner and watched the sunset. Then we went to dinner where we saw the French couple again. We exchanged information and let them in on our traveling expeditions. It would’ve been nice to have had a few more days with them. Hopefully, someday we will meet them in Reunion or some other part of the world for another adventure together.
G and I enjoyed one last glass of rum and returned to the bungalow to pack for our trip to Mauritius the following day.
October 22nd, 2022 (T) - Bonjour, Maurice
We woke up early, ate a quick breakfast, and were on our way to the airport.
Another important thing to know if you go to Madagascar is if you try to book a flight with a local airline, you will probably need to pay with a French-issued credit card. And you may even need to pay from a French IP address. Fortunately, one of our friends was able to help us out with this, and we didn’t run into any issues in the airport. We flew to the capital where we had a long layover and then boarded a plane to Mauritius (Maurice in French). We arrived after dark, took a taxi to our hotel which took about an hour, checked in, and Netflix and chilled for the evening.
The relaxing part of our island hopping began.
October 23rd, 2022 (G) - Bummin’ on the Beaches
Upon waking, we enjoyed breakfast from the hotel’s restaurant and then scoped out the rest of the property. The beach was beautiful with a reef in the distance that brought out every shade of blue and turquoise from the water.
After exploring a little bit the weather seemed to threaten rain so we returned to our room and worked on the blog some. Later that evening we went to the rooftop bar to try some of the local rum and after a light meal returned to our room for the evening.
October 24rd, 2022 (G) - Bummin’ Continued…
We slept in late, and once again enjoyed a nice breakfast, then changed and found a spot on the beach. We hung out or swam in the water through the day until once again the weather seemed to threaten rain. So, we left the beach and instead hit the gym. After a workout, we spent the remainder of the day relaxing in our room as the weather had become overcast.
October 25th, 2022 (G) - Bummin’ Continued…
This was the final day at our first location, due to the changes we had made to our original plan, we ended up booking separate places while in Mauritius. Fortunately, we were a short 10-minute walk down the beach from the first location to the second. So after packing up our things we set out down the beach and arrived shortly at our second hotel.
They seemed a bit perplexed at first since we arrived on foot, from the beach, instead of by car at the front gate. After a moment or two they had us checked in and while we waited for our room to be prepared, offered us a cocktail from a repurposed sugarcane refinement machine. It was an intriguing contraption. After receiving our welcome drink and lulling about in the lobby for a short while we were guided to our room where we once again did a whole lot of nothing for the rest of the day. Venturing forth only to lay about the beach and sunbath before dinner.
October 26th, 2022 (G) - Farewell, Mauritius!
We packed our things after a splendid breakfast and made the return journey to the airport. Now, I know what some of you may be thinking, “how could we possibly go to Mauritius and not visit the underwater waterfall?” the truth is that we considered a visit while we were there. However, after having traveled constantly for the previous three weeks, and reviewing the amount of time (you can get an okay view of it by hiking up a mountain but this takes a full day and requires long car rides on both ends) and money (a good view of the underwater waterfall requires a helicopter or plane ride) required to visit them, we decided that we really just needed a break.
So hopeful we may catch a glimpse of it from the plane to Dubai, we left Mauritius with plenty of unfulfilled adventure. We sadly did not see the view from the plane so it seems a perfect excuse to make a return trip in the future.
October 27th, 2022 (G) - Onward to the Pyramids!
Upon arriving in Dubai, we checked into the lounge just after midnight and found a spot to try to get some rest. It was more difficult than anticipated but eventually, we found a nice booth and both slept a fair amount before catching our next flight to Cairo!
