Reunion Island

The Bathing Melodrama of Reunion


Danger: chains
Lifeguard brings a bather dragged by the strong currents off Boucan Canot. Lifeguard interventions are permanent at Boucan Canot.
safe rest
Bathers converse in a coastal area protected from waves and sharks by a barrier of rocks.
Boucan Canoe
Boucan Canot beach, the most famous in Réunion also due to the frequent shark attacks that have already occurred there.
RIP Elio
A memorial honors and remembers Elio Canestri, a promising surfer who, at just thirteen, succumbed to a shark attack.
Safe rest II
Bathers relax in one of the rare areas of Réunion, protected from sharks by a barrier reef.
fierce Indian
A strong wave stirs bathers on the edge of the Boucan Canot sand, a beach that, in addition to the currents and sharks that forced the installation and maintenance of a protective net, is hit by a violent swell.
A risky surf
Surfers and bodyboarders hit the waves at Boucan Canot, close to where Elio Canestri was victimized by a shark.
Bathers vs Indian Ocean
Bathers enjoy themselves on the shores of the Indian Ocean at Boucan Canot.
Not all tropical coastlines are pleasurable and refreshing retreats. Beaten by violent surf, undermined by treacherous currents and, worse, the scene of the most frequent shark attacks on the face of the Earth, that of the Reunion Island he fails to grant his bathers the peace and delight they crave from him.

Projected from the bottom of the seas as one of so many massive eruptions of lava that the climate has shaped and made lush, the Reunion Island it has edges and coastlines almost always abrupt and abrupt. We pointed to Boucan Canot, one of the most famous.

This is what the residents of the capital Saint-Denis complain about, desiring to escape in line with the isolation and routine that, despite the name, the island that welcomed them imposes on them. Thomas was born in Versailles.

He left the refinement and proximity of the Parisian metropolis in search of adventure and a career as a sunnier and more paid teacher in the southern confines of the European Union. As always happens, the plan only partially worked out as expected.

In social and cultural terms, little Saint-Denis kept him corsetted, somewhat depressed. Thomas was counting on the beach to revive his spirits.

He boasted to us and advised us on Boucan Canot as the mecca of sand, water, salt and melanin he had become accustomed to wandering.

Bathers vs Indian Ocean

Bathers enjoy themselves on the shores of the Indian Ocean at Boucan Canot.

It completely omitted the dark side that we would discover.

Beach Day in Boucan Canot

The day has come for us to go south. Boucan Canot stood out from the map and continued to stimulate our memory. We didn't take long to target it.

We took the road that connected Saint-Denis to Saint-Paul.

It only took a few hundred meters to realize how extreme and demanding the Reunion Island.

In part of this route, the coast was so steep and craggy that it had never allowed a route, however narrow. Surrendered to the evidence, the French-speaking authorities erected a viaduct over the sea.

Even so, the road sequence of this viaduct was a road submissive to the cliff, over which, all too often, huge boulders precipitated.

Only strong steel nets prevented these time bombs from causing more serious damage. The attenuated drama was the long lines of traffic with no escape.

When we set out on the road, however, everything goes for the best. We didn't stop at Saint-Paul.

Boucan Canot, a few kilometers away. It appears to us as an unexpected deviation from the coastal road.

Boucan Canot: a frantic beach

We parked. We pass in front of the watchtower at the top of the beach, inhabited by lifeguards always at the ready.

From there, we contemplate it in a panoramic format, between the indented row of coconut trees and that of the surf.

Charged clouds that fly over it thicken the light.

The beach of ,Boucan Canot, Reunion Island

Boucan Canot beach, the most famous in Réunion also due to the frequent shark attacks that have already occurred there.

They darken the golden sand, unburdened and shaped by a thousand feet. As long as it was, the beach was far from pineapple.

An obvious thirst for the freshness spread by the surf made most of the vacationers concentrate by the seashore.

We also settled there. We quickly examined the profile of the vacancies. Warm from the sultry day, we join a crowd of bathers already in the water.

A slab of rock covered with stones complicated the inaugural amphibious steps. The force of the waves breaking on the beach further aggravated the vulnerability of those trying to dive.

Finally, we got inside.

In a flash, we find ourselves in a kind of marine washing machine tub.

Surf at Boucan Canot beach, Réunion Island

A strong wave stirs bathers on the edge of the Boucan Canot sand, a beach that, in addition to currents and sharks – which forced the installation and maintenance of a protective net – is hit by a violent swell.

Waves and Currents, in addition to Sharks

Driven by a storm southwards in the Indian Ocean, the waves arrived without a definite pattern of vigor.

They burst further ahead or further back and surprised bathers who thus found themselves confused and dragged into the rocky area and the beach and bumping into each other.

For those who, like us, had decided to step out safely from the surf and run out of foot, the outlook was not much better.

Intermittent currents caught some of the more reckless adventurers off guard and pulled them out to sea.

In such a way and so often that the lifeguards had already given up on getting in and out of the water. They remained, in strategic positions, over large longboards.

They rescued, one after the other, the bathers in distress.

Bather rescue in Boucan Canot, Reunion Island

Lifeguard brings a bather dragged by the strong currents off Boucan Canot. Lifeguard interventions are permanent at Boucan Canot.

Despite all the swell and respective commotion, more than used to the violence of the Portuguese sea, we splashed, dived under the surf and just didn't catch rides from the waves because they would end up, painful, on that rocky and stony slab that had made it difficult for us to enter .

We refreshed ourselves as we deserved, already aware that that incursion into the rebellious sea of ​​Boucan Canot had been, in itself, an enormous benefit.

The Plague of the Bull Sharks

Due to the successive fatal accidents that took place there, due to the realistic and painful perspective of repeating themselves, Boucan Canot spends a good part of the time confined to baths. The culprits have long been the same: the bull sharks that plow through the waters around the island, eager to feast on vulnerable meat.

Na Reunion Island, attacks on bathers are repeated more than on the vast Australian coast, which is probably the hottest as far as the subject is concerned. So much so that, in statistical terms, this French-speaking island is the place most likely to hit the face of the Earth.

From 2010 to 2016 alone, the island was the scene of 19 attacks with tragic consequences, 16% of the 491 registered worldwide. Of these 19, eight were deadly. In Boucan Canot and surroundings, there were two registered in 2011 alone. One in 2015 and the last on this beach in 2016.

Memorial to young Elio Canestri, victim of shark attack, Boucan Canot, Reunion Island

A memorial honors and remembers Elio Canestri, a promising surfer who, at just thirteen, succumbed to a shark attack.

The 2015 incident killed Elio Canestri, a youth surf champion admired by the local surfing community but not only.

Elio was thirteen years old. He succumbed to the onslaught of a shark that started by biting him in the belly, dragged him away from the board and devoured him as if it were a small seal.

In August 2016, 21-year-old Laurent Chardard was surfing with friends when another shark injured him so badly in an arm and foot that the wounds required amputation.

The Oblivion of Past Events by Group Psychology

In these two cases, as in almost all, the young surfers were thrilled with the huge, well-formed waves that hit the coast.

The fact that they surf in groups of teenagers makes them ignore past events and the official ban on surfing on most of the island's coastline. As well as the respective warnings from the authorities – and think that nothing will happen to you.

The various tragedies forced the Francophone authorities in Réunion to provide the most popular beaches with anti-shark nets, as happened in Boucan Canot and/or other protective systems.

Still, in some situations, surfers ventured into places not protected by these nets.

Surfers and bodyboarders, Boucan Canot, Reunion Island

Surfers and bodyboarders hit the waves at Boucan Canot, close to where Elio Canestri was victimized by a shark.

In others, sharks entered through cracks generated between checks carried out by divers, or over nets that, from time to time, the massive waves lower.

Theories and More Theories

Between periods of mourning for attacks, the inexplicably dynamic surfing and bodyboarding economy of Boucan Canot and the island in general suffers.

Surf shops and schools and even beachfront hotels and resorts close their doors. After a while, the memory fades. The hammocks are patched or replaced and the teenagers regain their usual unconsciousness. Sharks do not forgive the slightest slip and cause new victims.

It remains to be seen for sure what makes Réunion, compared to other parts of the world, such a high number of shark attacks.

When we lived with the island's residents, we didn't hide the curiosity that, as outsiders but not only bathers, the topic aroused us. We tried to clarify ourselves only to reach the conclusion that only theories abound.

They told us about old slaughterhouses on the outskirts of the capital Saint-Denis that used to dump the blood and even carcasses of animals into the sea and thus attracted huge shoals of sharks, mainly the most abundant and active bull sharks there.

They mentioned to us the guilt of the Chinese fishing fleets which, with their huge trawlers, made the usual prey of sharks scarce.

These have increased since the island banned its fishing in 1999, as shark meat was found to contain high levels of the ciguatera toxin, produced by a small plankton organism that eventually accumulates in the flesh of super-predators that The Reunion Island before consuming and exporting.

Environmentalists vs. Surfers, the Confrontation at the Edge of Drama

Whatever the reason, the ferocious bull sharks have proliferated and are used to making up for the lack of food with humans who get by, especially surfers and bodyboarders.

As well as the reason for the drama, the measures to be taken beyond the fallible networks and complementary protection systems aroused an international controversy. Hundreds of articles in the press dubbed the island “the island of sharks”, “shark aquarium”, “the shark attack capital of the world”, etc., etc.

They incited more and more opponents of a newly formed feud. On the one hand are the environmentalists who argue that sharks patrol the sea around the Reunion Island for millennia and that it is surfers and bathers who must respect the natural logic of their existence.

Protected beach from sharks by reef, Reunion Island

Bathers relax in one of the rare areas of Réunion, protected from sharks by a barrier reef.

On the other, the world surfing community that shivers with the island's tragedies but defends the surfers' right to surf there without risking their lives.

Kelly Slater's Media Intervention

In 2017, Kelly Slater, eleven-time world surfing champion, reacted to the attack earlier this year with a post on her Instagram page: “Honestly, I'm not going to be popular for saying this but we need to carry out a serious slaughter in the Reunion Island and it should happen every day….”

“If everyone had this attack ratio, no one would use the ocean and literally millions of people would die this way.”

As expected, the post globalized the conflict once and for all. Many fans were disillusioned with Slater when they saw that he was sacrificing his usual environmental posture because, on the other hand, they were surfers.

Environmentalists argue that authorities should bet on more efficient networks and on raising awareness among surfers.

But, above all, in the recovery of coral ecosystems off the island, devastated by trawling overfishing. Boucan Canot has recently received new networks and protection systems.

Since 2016 it has not suffered attacks. the last one, in the Reunion Island, it took place just over a year ago and its bathers and surfers will have forgotten. Given the improbability of the island getting rid of the sharks that surround it, it remains to be seen how long.

Bathers, Reunion Island

Bathers converse in a coastal area protected from waves and sharks by a barrier of rocks.

More information about this French island in the Indian Ocean on the website of Reunion Tourism

Cilaos, Reunion Island

Refuge under the roof of the Indian Ocean

Cilaos appears in one of the old green boilers on the island of Réunion. It was initially inhabited by outlaw slaves who believed they were safe at that end of the world. Once made accessible, nor did the remote location of the crater prevent the shelter of a village that is now peculiar and flattered.
Piton de la Fournaise, Reunion Island

The Turbulent Volcano of Réunion

At 2632m, the Piton de la Fournaise, Réunion's only eruptive volcano, occupies almost half of this island we explored, mountains up, mountains down. It is one of the most active and unpredictable volcanoes in the Indian Ocean and on Earth.
Residents walk along the trail that runs through plantations above the UP4
City
Gurué, Mozambique, Part 1

Through the Mozambican Lands of Tea

The Portuguese founded Gurué in the 1930th century and, from XNUMX onwards, flooded it with camellia sinensis the foothills of the Namuli Mountains. Later, they renamed it Vila Junqueiro, in honor of its main promoter. With the independence of Mozambique and the civil war, the town regressed. It continues to stand out for the lush green imposing mountains and teak landscapes.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beach
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
Juvenile lions on a sandy arm of the Shire River
safari
Liwonde National Park, Malawi

The Prodigious Resuscitation of Liwonde NP

For a long time, widespread neglect and widespread poaching had plagued this wildlife reserve. In 2015, African Parks stepped in. Soon, also benefiting from the abundant water of Lake Malombe and the Shire River, Liwonde National Park became one of the most vibrant and lush parks in Malawi.
Faithful in front of the gompa The gompa Kag Chode Thupten Samphel Ling.
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit 15th - Kagbeni, Nepal

At the Gates of the Former Kingdom of Upper Mustang

Before the 1992th century, Kagbeni was already a crossroads of trade routes at the confluence of two rivers and two mountain ranges, where medieval kings collected taxes. Today, it is part of the famous Annapurna Circuit. When hikers arrive, they know that, higher up, there is a domain that, until XNUMX, prohibited entry to outsiders.
shadow vs light
Architecture & Design
Kyoto, Japan

The Kyoto Temple Reborn from the Ashes

The Golden Pavilion has been spared destruction several times throughout history, including that of US-dropped bombs, but it did not withstand the mental disturbance of Hayashi Yoken. When we admired him, he looked like never before.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Aventura
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
Parade and Pomp
Ceremonies and Festivities
Saint Petersburg, Russia

When the Russian Navy Stations in Saint Petersburg

Russia dedicates the last Sunday of July to its naval forces. On that day, a crowd visits large boats moored on the Neva River as alcohol-drenched sailors seize the city.
Bonaire, island, Netherlands Antilles, ABC, Caribbean, Rincon
Cities
Rincon, Bonaire

The Pioneering Corner of the Netherlands Antilles

Shortly after Columbus' arrival in the Americas, the Castilians discovered a Caribbean island they called Brazil. Afraid of the pirate threat, they hid their first village in a valley. One century after, the Dutch took over this island and renamed it Bonaire. They didn't erase the unpretentious name of the trailblazer colony: Rincon.
young saleswoman, nation, bread, uzbekistan
Lunch time
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
Culture
Apia, Western Samoa

Fia Fia – High Rotation Polynesian Folklore

From New Zealand to Easter Island and from here to Hawaii, there are many variations of Polynesian dances. Fia Fia's Samoan nights, in particular, are enlivened by one of the more fast-paced styles.
combat arbiter, cockfighting, philippines
Sport
Philippines

When Only Cock Fights Wake Up the Philippines

Banned in much of the First World, cockfighting thrives in the Philippines where they move millions of people and pesos. Despite its eternal problems, it is the sabong that most stimulates the nation.
kings canyon, red centre, heart, australia
Traveling
Red Center, Australia

Australia's Broken Heart

The Red Center is home to some of Australia's must-see natural landmarks. We are impressed by the grandeur of the scenarios but also by the renewed incompatibility of its two civilizations.
Tabatô, Guinea Bissau, tabanca Mandingo musicians. Baidi
Ethnic
Tabato, Guinea Bissau

The Tabanca of Mandinga Poets Musicians

In 1870, a community of traveling Mandingo musicians settled next to the current city of Bafatá. From the Tabatô they founded, their culture and, in particular, their prodigious balaphonists, dazzle the world.
Sunset, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio

days like so many others

History
napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s – Old-Fashioned Car Tour

In a city rebuilt in Art Deco and with an atmosphere of the "crazy years" and beyond, the adequate means of transportation are the elegant classic automobiles of that era. In Napier, they are everywhere.
Coconut picker in Unawatuna, Sri Lanka
Islands
Unawatuna to Tongalle, Sri Lanka

Along the Tropical South of Old Ceylon

We left the Galle fortress behind. From Unawatuna to Tangale, the south of Sri Lanka is made up of beaches with golden sand and coconut groves attracted by the coolness of the Indian Ocean. Once the scene of conflict between local and colonial powers, this coast has long been shared by backpackers from the four corners of the world.
coast, fjord, Seydisfjordur, Iceland
Winter White
Seydisfjordur, Iceland

From the Art of Fishing to the Fishing of Art

When shipowners from Reykjavik bought the Seydisfjordur fishing fleet, the village had to adapt. Today, it captures Dieter Roth's art disciples and other bohemian and creative souls.
Kukenam reward
Literature
Mount Roraima, Venezuela

Time Travel to the Lost World of Mount Roraima

At the top of Mount Roraima, there are extraterrestrial scenarios that have resisted millions of years of erosion. Conan Doyle created, in "The Lost World", a fiction inspired by the place but never got to step on it.
Asian buffalo herd, Maguri Beel, Assam, India
Nature
Maguri Bill, India

A Wetland in the Far East of India

The Maguri Bill occupies an amphibious area in the Assamese vicinity of the river Brahmaputra. It is praised as an incredible habitat especially for birds. When we navigate it in gondola mode, we are faced with much (but much) more life than just the asada.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Serengeti, Great Savannah Migration, Tanzania, wildebeest on river
Natural Parks
Serengeti NP, Tanzania

The Great Migration of the Endless Savanna

In these prairies that the Masai people say syringet (run forever), millions of wildebeests and other herbivores chase the rains. For predators, their arrival and that of the monsoon are the same salvation.
Nelson Dockyards, Antigua Docks,
UNESCO World Heritage
English Harbor, four days in Antigua

Nelson's Dockyard: The Former Naval Base and Abode of the Admiral

In the XNUMXth century, as the English disputed control of the Caribbean and the sugar trade with their colonial rivals, they took over the island of Antigua. There they came across a jagged cove they called English Harbour. They made it a strategic port that also housed the idolized naval officer.
aggie gray, Samoa, South Pacific, Marlon Brando Fale
Characters
Apia, Western Samoa

The Host of the South Pacific

She sold burguês to GI's in World War II and opened a hotel that hosted Marlon Brando and Gary Cooper. Aggie Gray passed away in 2. Her legacy lives on in the South Pacific.
Glass Bottom Boats, Kabira Bay, Ishigaki
Beaches
Ishigaki, Japan

The Exotic Japanese Tropics

Ishigaki is one of the last islands in the stepping stone that stretches between Honshu and Taiwan. Ishigakijima is home to some of the most amazing beaches and coastal scenery in these parts of the Pacific Ocean. More and more Japanese who visit them enjoy them with little or no bathing.
Prayer flags in Ghyaru, Nepal
Religion
Annapurna Circuit: 4th – Upper Banana to Ngawal, Nepal

From Nightmare to Dazzle

Unbeknownst to us, we are faced with an ascent that leads us to despair. We pulled our strength as far as possible and reached Ghyaru where we felt closer than ever to the Annapurnas. The rest of the way to Ngawal felt like a kind of extension of the reward.
Chepe Express, Chihuahua Al Pacifico Railway
On Rails
Creel to Los Mochis, Mexico

The Barrancas del Cobre & the CHEPE Iron Horse

The Sierra Madre Occidental's relief turned the dream into a construction nightmare that lasted six decades. In 1961, at last, the prodigious Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad was opened. Its 643km cross some of the most dramatic scenery in Mexico.
Buffaloes, Marajo Island, Brazil, Soure police buffaloes
Society
Marajó Island, Brazil

The Buffalo Island

A vessel that transported buffaloes from the India it will have sunk at the mouth of the Amazon River. Today, the island of Marajó that hosted them has one of the largest herds in the world and Brazil is no longer without these bovine animals.
the projectionist
Daily life
Sainte-Luce, Martinique

The Nostalgic Projectionist

From 1954 to 1983, Gérard Pierre screened many of the famous films arriving in Martinique. 30 years after the closing of the room in which he worked, it was still difficult for this nostalgic native to change his reel.
Maria Jacarés, Pantanal Brazil
Wildlife
Miranda, Brazil

Maria dos Jacarés: the Pantanal shelters such Creatures

Eurides Fátima de Barros was born in the interior of the Miranda region. 38 years ago, he settled in a small business on the side of BR262 that crosses the Pantanal and gained an affinity with the alligators that lived on his doorstep. Disgusted that once upon a time the creatures were being slaughtered there, she began to take care of them. Now known as Maria dos Jacarés, she named each of the animals after a soccer player or coach. It also makes sure they recognize your calls.
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.