Treasured Reunion Island Is France’s Ocean Oasis

ST. DENIS, Reunion Island —  Born of still-active volcanoes, home to pirates, fueled on superstitions and now canvassed for buried treasure, Reunion Island is not your ordinary vacation spot.

Off the east coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, Reunion is a destination more suited for the adventurous soul. Nothing about the 4,553-square-mile French island (about the size of Connecticut) is mundane.

Even the geography is dramatic: craggy volcanoes (one of which is still active), primitive rain forests with more than 600 species of trees and flowers, majestic waterfalls thundering down hundreds of feet of rock wall, hidden mountain villages accessible only by foot or helicopter and carved beaches offering sugar-white sand.

Years under French rule have given the islanders a reverence for excellent food and wine. The Chinese, who were imported to till the sugar plantations, added their hard work and colorful, noisy celebrations.

The Africans, who came as slaves, offered hypnotic dances, percussion music and a relaxed life style. The Indians, also imported as sugar laborers, contributed a craftsmanship to the arts and mysticism through their exotic rituals.

A little less than three centuries ago, weary pirates limped to the lush shores of the small island in search of fresh water and food. Not long after that, sailors from France, Portugal, the Netherlands and England were using Reunion as an oasis in the midst of the Indian Ocean.

It was the French who governed the small colony of island settlers and the French who remain today.

Reunion is the Hawaii of 60 years ago, without the high-rise hotels, bus loads of tourists and theme parks.

Its airport in St. Denis is about a third the size of Burbank’s. Beaches are still uncrowded and the calm, warm waters are alive with giant blue marlin, yellow-fin tuna, dorado, sailfish and striped marlin.

Perfectly formed waves are dotted with a few surfers, and rivers and lagoons are the site of some of the best water-skiing areas in the Indian Ocean.

Underwater, an array of tropical fish thread their way through exotic corals and marine life. The clear waters around the island are some of the best-kept secrets in the diving world.

The mountains of Reunion are home to tales of buried treasure, ghosts, witchcraft and religious fire walkers.

Bibique, a 54-year-old treasure hunter, claims that the island still secretes millions of dollars in buried treasure, and he intends to find it.

Bibique so far has uncovered more than 100 gold coins, that originated from the ransacked boat Mogul, attacked by pirates in 1695. He is on a quest for a large cache of diamonds worth about $7 million.

Buried treasure isn’t the only ghost. According to residents, Reunion has more than its share of walking, creaking and moaning spirits.

One of the more famous is Madam Marie Anne Desbassyns, a plantation owner who left the island in the 17th Century but who occasionally returns for a visit.

“Oui, I have heard Madam Desbassyns in the family chapel,” said the caretaker of the historic Maison de Villele Musee Historique. “Many times I hear someone walking in the church, but when I look up no one was there. Yet the sound of footsteps continued.”

The Maison de Villele Musee Historique is open to the public: house, gardens and chapel. A small donation is requested.

Purveyors of witchcraft, tucked away in the mountain villages, guarantee that their spells work. For a fee, a sorcerer will gladly cast a spell.

“Often when you drive through small towns in the hills, you will see in the middle of the road a bamboo plate with offerings such as a dead hen, some coconut and perhaps a few bananas,” said John Conan, a schoolteacher, actor and sports organizer.

“It is the result of some sort of witchcraft ceremony placed on the road at night. The first person to come along in the morning and cross the road will take on the fate of whomever paid the witch.

“This is very serious and often people refuse to drive on the mountain roads in the morning in fear of coming across something like this.”

Every January and July a select group of Hindus abstain from sex for 15 days to prepare for the elaborate religious ceremony of walking on hot coals. These devout Hindus rise early and form an elaborate procession, complete with gaudily decorated carts carrying statues of deities, through the village streets to the temple. There a pit filled with hot coals has been prepared.

The fire-walking ceremonies used to be performed before the opening of the sugar-cane season to ensure a successful harvest. The same ceremony, which has been performed for thousands of years, is repeated today.

To the beat of drums, a high priest takes a curved sword and severs the head of a kid goat. The beheaded body is carried through the frenzied crowds, encouraged by the high-pitched chanting of Hindu women.

Suddenly the drums cease. One by one the fire walkers, decorated with colorful tropical flowers on their heads and garlands of flowers around their neck, walk barefoot and unhurried across 18 feet of white-hot embers.

Quiet Lodges

For the visitor not interested in buried treasure, talking to ghosts or walking on coals, Reunion also offers a quiet vacation in its remote mountain lodges. Up winding mountain roads, in the cool bracing air 5,000 feet high, Francois Javel runs the small Relais Des Cimes hotel in the village of Hell-Bourg.

The hotel has seven bedrooms, 15 bungalows and a restored eight-room Creole house. Javel’s family has been offering lodging, food and stories about the Reunion mountain people for two generations.

A room for two at Javel’s hotel (which includes breakfast and probably his mother’s homemade cake late in the evening) is about 255 to 320 francs ($47 to $59 U.S.) a night.

For the health conscious, the mineral water hot springs of the mountain village of Cilaos rival those of any U.S. health spa.

The grand old Hotel Du Cirque, which is a perfectly restored building from the turn of the century, and the Hotel De Thermes, which offers all the mud baths you can stand, draw tourists who want quiet and relaxation.

Rates at these hotels vary from 205 to 500 francs.

If sun, surf, sand and ocean activities are on your vacation agenda, the place to go is St. Gilles-les-Bains, where small hotels offer accommodations, swimming pools, complimentary breakfast and other resort-type amenities for 225 to 535 francs.

Good food and drink are considered sacred rights in Reunion. When the first bottle of the season’s Beaujolais Nouveau is opened in Paris it is also being opened in the restaurants in Reunion. St. Gilles, the heart of the white-sand beach area, is touted by many to feature the best restaurants on the island.

For fresh fish and seafood, try Le St. Gilles restaurant overlooking St. Gilles’ small harbor. The menu ranges from mahi-mahi mousse to fresh fish in an orange-ginger sauce.

A superb meal for two with wine will set you back about $100. Reservations are a must.

For a more cabaret atmosphere, Piccolo, on the main street in St. Gilles, offers lunch and dinner featuring pizzas (complete with a spicy chili sauce), pastas and local fish delicacies such as stuffed squid and fish kebab.

A pasta and pizza lunch with wine, of course, and strong French espresso averages about $20 for two. Dinner is about $30 for two.

For an experience in Creole cooking, visit the Restaurant La Bourdonnais, 14 Rue Admiral Lacaze, in St. Denis. Housed in a restored old Creole home, this is where the decision makers of Reunion lunch and where lovers rendezvous for dinner.

Choose from either spicy Creole curries or gourmet French cuisine. Don’t leave without trying the souffle au combava, a light lime souffle.

Prices are high: Lunch for two with wine can easily add up to $100, and dinner can be double that. Without a reservation you can’t get seated.

The local brew is rum, concocted from sugar-cane-based molasses to local fruits. The islanders call this liquid libation “punch.”

Downed before meals or served in a large bowl at parties with slices of lemon an a block of ice as the only mixer, Reunion punch is sipped in moderation even by the most experienced drinkers.

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There are essentially two ways to get to Reunion: Air France flies daily from Los Angeles over the pole to Paris, with a connection from Paris to Reunion.

The other alternative is to go west. Singapore Airlines flies twice a week from Los Angeles (with a plane change in Singapore) to the nearby island of Mauritius. Commuter connections from Mauritius to Reunion in Boeing 737 aircraft (either Air France or Air Mauritius) have scheduled flights that run nearly every hour for the 80-mile trip.

For information on hotels, recreational activities and other information, contact the Department of Tourism, 10 Sarda Garriga Place, 97400, St. Denis, Reunion Island.

For information on island sporting events, contact Albert Charles Cachera, 38 Blvd. Roland Garros, 97434, St. Gilles-les-Bains, Reunion Island.

Immigration clearance is much easier if you obtain a visa before you board the plane. Contact the French Embassy.

For more information, also contact the French Government Tourist Office, 9454 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 303, Beverly Hills 90212, (213) 271-6665 or (213) 272-2661.