We flew from Kinshasa to Port Louis via Johannesburg.

The flight was pretty good but tough especially the overnight part from Kinshasa.

We arrived in Port Louis without issues. The rented car was ready. We drove without too much difficulty to our first place.

We had a nice view of the sea at Villa Anakao. The breakfast was included but not incredible. Dinner was a bit overpriced and not great. The staff was mostly friendly. The owner also has a Villa Anakao in Ivory Coast. There were a lot of rocks in that part of the island, Pointe aux Sables and not much to do. Pricing was pretty reasonable.

The next day, we took a walk to the waterfront and visited a great aquarium, Odysseo. A very well maintained and educational place for all ages to learn about the ocean and the damage plastics are doing to it, not to mention climate change.

While on a walk in the area, we passed an American army band singing Bruno Mars songs. Impressive but surprisingly that it was the US army!

We checked out the local food and souvenir market. The place was safe but a bit dirty. Everyone seemed busy but friendly! We walked around the city but after 4 everything closed so there isn’t much to see!

We stayed a couple more days in the north before flying to St Denis on the island of Reunion. Only 1 hour away!

Reunion was a much rougher place surprisingly. Even if the roads and airport seemed better, the place didn’t seem keen to welcome tourists.

We drove around a lot. Hikes were hard to find and very far. Indeed, the island is much bigger than Mauritius.

We had some tougher weather too. Rain and sunshine kept coming and going.

The terrain is also much more varied and mountainous.

We almost missed out on a great coffee plantation and botanical garden called “Le Domaine Du Café Grillé”. The guide Laurent was very knowledgeable on plants and extremely friendly.

We visited a turtle conservation center that also reminded us of the damage plastics are causing. All the turtles they had rescued had large quantities of microplastics in their stomachs.

We also checked out a volcano museum called “Cité du Volcan”. The place was great but parts of it seemed stuck in the 90s, especially the 4 min Brendan Fraser 4D video to the centre of the earth. Some of the museum’s TVs and panels were broken.

We stayed in a dodgy part of the island called Étang Salé where seemingly drunk and homeless people roamed the streets in the dark. Our evening walk wasn’t too pleasant in that area.

Saint Pierre was a nice town with a few more tourists, mostly French ones from the “Métropole”.

On the beach, we surprisingly came across an originally Algerian pastry selling lady!

It is a very diverse island but seemed to be struggling economically and not as touristic as Mauritius.

We flew back to Mauritius 3 days later without having done a single hike. We should have planned better and spent more time there.

The rest of the trip went rather well. I was able to squeeze in a fun round of golf at L’Heritage Château course (not the Links, as they had a local competition that day) thanks to a friend! An amazing course and experience! They apparently have a great seaside resort too!

We checked out the kite surfing bay near the underwater waterfall near La Morne! A very impressive sport!

We stayed in an old colonial house with three rooms on a sugarcane plantation called “Auberge de St Aubin“. Tragically, the owner of the place had died in a motorcycle accident a few days before we arrived. He was the heir of a successful family that owned the estate as well as tea plantations (Bois Chéri) and other businesses. He was also a very well known politician.

We did a sugar tasting, a rhum tasting and a vanilla plantation tour all in that domain! The food (breakfast and dinner) was included but not incredible.

According to local news websites, the owners were under financial difficulty and the group was under receivership by a local bank.

On the last day, we saw an incredible beach called Blue Bay with the bluest water I have ever seen! Highly recommended!

If you stay too long in DRC, you forget that there is a wonderful beautiful world out there when you’re in the Gombe and Kinshasa world. Dirt, filth, chaos isn’t everywhere thank goodness… But the DRC has its charm and there are also many beautiful things to see here! Sadly, it is a lot harder to find or access but that makes it even more beautiful!

Maybe someday, the DRC will get tourism right 🙂

All in all, it was a great trip. I highly recommend visiting these two islands but spend more time in Reunion if you like hiking more than tanning. And get ready to drive fast like the locals!

See some pictures below.