Reunion (French: RĂ©union ) is a French overseas territory located in the midst of the Indian Ocean, east of the island of Madagascar.
Cities
Other destinations
Understand
The Portuguese discovered the uninhabited island in 1513. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, French immigration supplemented by influxes of Africans, Chinese, Malays, and Malabar Indians gave the island its ethnic mix. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 cost the island its importance as a stopover on the East Indies trade route.
Although remote from mainland France (France métropolitaine), Réunion nonetheless officially forms an integral part of the Republic, representing its own département.
Get in
Passport and Visa
Reunion is an integral part of France so it has the same rules as France, which you can get from France's page.
By plane
The main airport is Roland Garros international Airport located near Saint-Denis (RUN). Companies flying to Reunion are Air France, Air Austral, Corsair and Air Mauritius.
You'd better take a cheap flight to Paris and then buy a ticket starting from Paris. Indeed, it can be a lot more expensive to have a ticket from your home town which includes the flight to Reunion Island.
By boat
You can travel by boat between Mauritius and Reunion islands.
Get around
By bus
Intercity bus travel around the island is served by Car Jaune ("Yellow Bus", buses are easily recognizable by their yellow color). There are 13 lines. Apart from these buses there are also local buses. Most of lines operate between 6am and 6pm. You can get schedules and details on their official website. Click on "Plans et tarifs" for a map of the network.
By car
There is one main road around the island (74km of it is four-lane) and another road from Saint-Pierre to Saint-Benoit through the inner part of the island.
Due to the high number of cars, traffic jams often occur so you should avoid travelling during peak times.
Because of the volcano, road is sometimes closed on the east side. Because of the rain (mostly between December and March), the four-lane between La Possession and Saint-Denis is "basculée", that is switched to a two-lane road.
Roads are well maintained.
Talk
French is the official language of Reunion, although Creole is widely spoken. Everyone understands French but few people understand English.
English speakers meet every Monday at 7:30pm (including during holidays) at Chez Francky in Rue de la Compagnie in Saint-Denis.
See also: French phrasebook, French/Creole dictionnary
Buy
Reunion is part of the Eurozone, so as in many other European Union countries the currency used is the euro (symbol: €).
It is compulsory, for the large majority of businesses, to post prices in windows. Hotels and restaurants must have their rates visible from outside.
Most shops accept international credit cards (Visa and Mastercard) but most of them require a minimum amount for credit cards payments (usually €15).
There is a good number of ATM (called "gabier") which don't charge you for using them.
Shops
Most shops are closed on Sunday.
Most of supermarkets are opened from 9:00am to 8:00pm, Monday to Saturday. Some of them are opened on Sunday morning.
You can find traditional objects in some shops but it's often easier and cheaper to go to a market (marché). The market in Saint-Paul is famous and you'll also find fruits and vegetables: it gathers on Friday morning and afternoon and on Saturday morning.
It's a good place where to buy African traditional objects, such as Oware.
Gifts
Here are some ideas for gifts:
Eat
Thanks to its history, Reunionese cuisine is a mix between different cultures: French, Indian, Chinese...
Typical dishes are cari and rougail which are a meat or a fish cooked in a sauce and eaten with rice.
Sleep
There are many possible accommodation types in reunion: Ordinary hotels; privately run Gîtes d'Étape; Gîtes de Montagne are mountain cabins or lodges located in the central areas appropriate and operated by Maison de la Montagne; youth hostels are operated by Auberge de jeunesse de la réunion (Official site).
There are five youth hostels at RĂ©union Island ; Hell Bourg, Bernica, Entre Deux, Saint Denis and Cilaos.
Specific hotels
House rentals Reunion Island
"Clin d'Oeil de l'Océan" is situated at Etang Saint Leu near "Saint Gilles les bains"
Work
For European people coming from an EU country, working in Reunion is allowed without a visa or work permit. If you're from outside the EU, you will probably need a work permit. Check with the French Embassy in your country. Do not forget, though, that the unemployment rate is high. If you work in the health sector (doctor, nurse), it will be much easier.
Voluntary service: Volontariat Civil Ă l'Aide Technique (VCAT). Conditions: you must be French or from another EU-member state or a country belonging to the European Economic Area. You must be over 18 and under 28 years old (inclusive). You must not have had your civic rights revoked by a court or have been convicted of certain offences. VCAT
Stay safe
Reunion is fairly safe. You must, however, respect some simple principles:
Most of crimes are family-related and linked with alcoholic behaviors.
Stay healthy
WARNING: Reunion is currently experiencing an epidemic of Chikungunya virus.
As of April 6th, 2006, 230,000 people have been infected, which amounts to 29% of the population. The epidemic is on the decline, but travelers should still take precaution against mosquito bites.
Caution should be taken when spending time in the sun.
Sanitary and medical facilities in Reunion are very good.
Health care in Reunion is controlled by a state-owned organization (Sécurité Sociale).
The major hospital is in Saint-Denis but there are various others in important cities. There are doctors in almost every village.
Tap water is usually safe for consumption. Public sources of water are unsafe if labeled with "Eau non potable" (Water not drinkable).
Visitors from European Union should bring an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) - obtained in their own country before departure. The E111 form is no longer valid. Ask for details at your local health care organization.
Emergency phone numbers
Cyclones
During the cyclonic season (November to April), you should check cyclone warnings shown in newspapers or broadcast by the radio or TV. There is three state of warning:
Contact
Phones
Country code: 262
Dialing within Reunion: all numbers have 10 digits. Landlines begin by 0262 and mobile phones by 0692.
Dialing to Reunion: international prefix + 262 + phone number without the first 0 (this leads to dial twice 262 which is normal). If you dial from France, just use the 10 digits number.
Dialing from Reunion: the international prefix is 00.
Calling to a mobile phone is more expensive than to a landline. Number beginning by 0800 are free phone. Number beginning by 089 are premium-rate.
Few foreign mobile phone companies offer international roaming to Reunion so double-check before leaving. Your company should provide specific roaming to Reunion since it has deferent mobile phone companies than in mainland France.
Alternatively, you should be able to get a Pay-as-you-go SIM card from various locations. There are two companies offering wireless services: SRR and Orange RĂ©union.
Post
Post offices are found in all cities.
Letter boxes are colored in yellow.
Rates
Less than 20g (postcard, letter with one or two pages in a regular envelop) :
The basic stamp for regular mail is red with the head of "Marianne" (the Republic logo). It does not carry its value and can therefore be used even after a price increase. It is sold in all Post Offices, Bureaux de Tabacs (Tobacco sellers identified by a red lozenge) and postcard vendors. The latter may also carry other common stamps.
In most Post Offices you will find an automatic machine (yellow) with a scale and a screen. Just put your mail on the scale, tell the machine (French or English) the destination, pay the indicated amount and the machine will deliver a printed stamp.
Parcels
Chronopost, UPS and DHL offer parcel services.
RĂ©union, (French: ĂŽle de la RĂ©union or La RĂ©union, formerly ĂŽle Bourbon), is an island, located in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar, about 200 km (130 miles) south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.
Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas départements of France. Like the other overseas departments, Réunion is also one of the twenty-six regions of France (being an overseas region) and an integral part of the Republic with the same status as those situated on the European mainland.
Réunion is an outermost region of the European Union, and thus the currency used is the euro. In fact, due to its location in a time zone to the east of Europe, Réunion was the first region in the world to use the euro, and the first ever purchase using the euro occurred at 12.01 a.m., when regional council president Paul Vergès bought a bag of lychees at a Saint-Denis market.
History
Arab sailors formerly called the island Adna Al Maghribain (“Western Island”). The Portuguese were the first Europeans to visit, finding it uninhabited in 1513, and naming it Santa Apollonia, after Saint Apollonia.
The island was then occupied by France and administered from Port Louis, Mauritius. Although the French flag was hoisted by François Cauche in 1638, Santa Apollonia was officially claimed by Jacques Pronis of France in 1642, when he deported a dozen French mutineers to the island from Madagascar. The convicts were returned to France several years later, and in 1649, the island was named Île Bourbon after the royal house.
“Réunion” was the name given to the island in 1793 by a decree of the Convention with the fall of the House of Bourbon in France, and the name commemorates the union of revolutionaries from Marseille with the National Guard in Paris, which took place on August 10, 1792. In 1801, the island was renamed "Île Bonaparte," after Napoleon Bonaparte. The island was taken by the British navy led by Commodore Josias Rowley in 1810, who used the old name of “Bourbon”. When it was restored to France by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the island retained the name of "Bourbon" until 1848, when the fall of the restored Bourbons during the revolutions during that year meant that the island became “Réunion” once again.
From the 17th to the 19th centuries, French immigration supplemented by influxes of Africans, Chinese, Malays, and Indians gave the island its ethnic mix. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 cost the island its importance as a stopover on the East Indies trade route.
Réunion became a département d'outre-mer (overseas department) of France on March 19, 1946.
Between 15 and 16 March 1952, Cilaos at the centre of RĂ©union received 1,869.9 mm (73.6 in) of rainfall. This is the greatest 24-hour precipitation total ever recorded on earth. The island also holds the record for most rainfall in 72 hours, 3,929 mm (154.7 in) at Commerson's Crater in March, 2007.
In 2005 and 2006 RĂ©union was hit by a crippling epidemic of chikungunya, a disease spread by mosquitoes. According to the BBC News, 255,000 people on RĂ©union had contracted the disease as of 26 April 2006. The disease also spread to Madagascar and to mainland France through airline travel. The disease led to more than 200 deaths on RĂ©union. The French government under Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin sent an emergency aid package worth 36 million euros ($42.8M U.S. dollars) and deployed approximately five hundred French troops in an effort to eradicate mosquitoes. Chikungunya means "that which bends" in the Makonde language of the Tanzania/Mozambique border region where it was first identified. It can cause dehydration, extreme pain and high fevers and in some rare cases can be fatal. There is no known cure.
Administrative divisions
Administratively, Réunion is divided into 4 arrondissements, 24 communes, and 47 cantons. It is a French overseas département as well as a French region. The low number of communes, compared to French metropolitan departments of similar size and population, is unique; most Réunionnaises communes encompass several localities, sometimes separated by significant distances. Réunion is part of the Indian Ocean Commission.
Geography
The island is 63 kilometres (39 miles) long; 45 kilometres (28 miles ) wide; and covers 2512 square kilometres (970 square miles). It is similar to the island Hawaii insofar as both are located above hotspots in the Earth's crust.
The Piton de la Fournaise, a shield volcano on the eastern end of RĂ©union Island, rises more than 2611 metres (8565 feet) above sea level and is sometimes called a sister to Hawaiian volcanoes because of the similarity of climate and volcanic nature. It has erupted more than 100 times since 1640 and is under constant monitoring. It most recently erupted on 4 April 2007. The lava flow from this eruption has been estimated at 3 million m3 (about 4 million cubic yards) per day. The Piton de la Fournaise is created by a hotspot volcano, which also created the Piton des Neiges and the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues.
The Piton des Neiges volcano, the highest point on the island at 3070 metres (10,069 feet) above sea level, is north west of the Piton de la Fournaise. Collapsed calderas and canyons are south west of the mountain. Like Mauna Kea on the big island of Hawaii, the Piton des Neiges is extinct. Despite its name, snow (French: neige) practically never falls on the summit.
The slopes of both volcanoes are heavily forested. Cultivated land and cities like the capital city of Saint-Denis are concentrated on the surrounding coastal lowlands.
RĂ©union also has three calderas: the Cirque de Salazie, the Cirque de Cilaos and the Cirque de Mafate. The latter is accessible only by foot or helicopter.
Economy
Sugar is the chief agricultural product and export. Tourism is also an important source of income. As of 2005, they earned a PPP per capita annual GDP of some $6,200. However, while this is exceptionally high compared with its neighbours in Madagascar and the African continent, it is only 20% of the $29,600 per capita GDP of France as a whole. The island is highly dependent on aid from continental France.
Demographics
RĂ©union contains most of the same ethnic populations as Mauritius: Indian (including Tamil), Vietnamese, African, Malagasy, Chinese and ethnic French - but in different proportions. Creoles, of mixed origins, make up the majority of the population. Whites make up approximately one-quarter of the population, Indians make up 21% and people of Chinese or Vietnamese ancestry most of the remainder.
While Gujarati and Tamil people make up the majority of the Indo-RĂ©unionnaise people, people of Hindi, Urdu, Bhojpuri and other origins form the remainder of the population
Reunion is very similar in culture, ethnic makeup, language and traditions to Mauritius and the Seychelles.
Historical population
Religion
The predominant religion is Roman Catholicism (86% of the population in 1995), with Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism also represented.
Public health
RĂ©union is currently experiencing an epidemic of Chikungunya virus. As of 2006-04-06, 230,000 people have been infected (29% of the population).
Culture
Réunionese culture is a blend (métissage) of European, African, Tamil, Indian, Chinese and insular traditions.
The most widely spoken language, RĂ©union Creole, derives from French, with many idiosyncrasies. RĂ©union Creole is now taught in some schools. However, an official orthography has yet to be agreed upon.
Local food and music blend influences from Africa, India, China and Europe.
Wildlife
Miscellaneous topics
External links
Government
Overviews
Tourism
Fauna and flora
Other
