If you want to go for your second honeymoon, I recommend coming to Reunion Island because of the magic that hovers around it.
The Island has a tropical environment, making it a piece of paradise in the Indian Ocean.
Vacationers to the Island have the feel of France.
Reunion Island is situated between Madagascar and Mauritius.
The Island has blue waters and flourishing tropical vegetation.
However, does Reunion Island have sharks?
Yes, the island has sharks, but I will come to that soon.
How to Visit Reunion Island
You will find the highest number of domestic flight routes on Reunion Island.
Entering the Island is entering France officially, although the distance from there to France is about 9000 kilometers.
The flight will still be a domestic flight, notwithstanding the distance.
The flight time is above 11 hours.
This makes flying Sydney to Perth a joyride.
Saint-Denis is the capital of Reunion Island, the largest French city outside France.
About 158,139 people live in the city.
This is why Saint-Denis is ranked the 21st largest French city and the largest of all french cities located outside France.
You will see beautiful French colonial architecture in Saint-Denis, and many flourishing gardens.
Saint-Denis can perfectly compete with Singapore as a green, clean, and well-kept island city.
Even as odd as the name may sound, Hell-Bourg is rated as one of the most beautiful villages in France, although it is not located inside France.
The Most Charming Village in France
Les Plus Beaux Villages de France means “the most beautiful villages of France”.
It is an organization established in 1982 which compiles and ranks the country’s most beautiful villages.
For any village to make it to this list it must have a population of below 2000, and not less than two national heritage sites.
The only village outside mainland France that was able to qualify for this list is Hell-Bourg, located in the caldera of Cirque de Salazie.
The excellent scenery of the village made possible by the Cirque de Salazie, its beautiful green vegetation, and the beautiful heritage architecture it got when it was a spa town qualified it to this list.
Does Reunion Island have sharks?
Reunion Island is a French territory that is located in the Indian Ocean.
The Island has many gorgeous waterfalls, and you will find the best rum on it.
It has ideal beaches with warm water.
However, a new podcast has it that the Island records the highest number of shark attacks in the world.
The Island can be rated as the shark capital of the world, but focusing your mind on that caution will make you miss out on all the good features you will enjoy on it.
Its beauty notwithstanding, there have been many sad reports of shark attacks on the beaches of the Island in recent years.
This gave it the name “The Shark Capital of the World.”
The Reunion Island government placed an embargo on swimming and surfing along the coast.
Water activities are only allowed in lagoons and places protected by an anti-shark net.
However, these protective measures could not encourage a lot of vacationers to visit the beautiful tropical Island.
If you are looking for a place you will have a tropical vacation, do not be in a hurry to judge Reunion Island.
The small Island has one of the best landscapes in the world.
Its beautiful landscapes earned it the name ” a country of land, sea, and sky””.
These beautiful sits and other unique excursions will thrill you handsomely.
History of Reunion Island
Before the coming of the Portuguese in1513, not much was known about Reunion Island.
France occupied and claimed ownership of the Island in the 1640s.
They changed its name to “Ile Bourbon”.
In the 18th century, the Island’s name was changed to Reunion.
That was when it started prospering alongside its neighboring Island, Mauritius.
Its prosperity resulted from its strategic location on the shipping routes between Europe and Asia.
Slaves were brought in from Africa to work in the Sugar plantations, and this formed the base of the Island’s economy.
The Island celebrities 20th of December every year to mark the end of the slave trade on December 20, 1848.
After the end of the slave trade, however, some slave merchants continued to bring in indentured workers from other places, mainly from South India.
Reunion Island remained a French colony until 1946, the year French authorities granted it the status of “Overseas Department”.
Today the Island has attained the status of a full-fledged member of the European Union.
Why are there so many shark attacks in Réunion?
The Island’s tropical location is the reason behind the frequent shark attacks in its waters.
The location of the Island is known as the “shark highway” between Australia and
South Africa.
These are two countries that have a lot of sharks in their waters.
Although there are records of shark attacks in Australia and South Africa, they can not be compared to the recent records of shark attacks in Reunion.
For some years now, scientists are carrying out studies on the phenomenon, but they have not been able to establish why the record of shark attacks is high in Reunion.
There was a swimming and surfing embargo on all the island’s beaches by the authorities in 2013, except the lagoons and areas protected by shark nets.
There has been a record of 11 deaths from shark attacks on the 20-mile coastline of Reunion Island since 2011.
According to the record, eight people have been maimed.
Although Reunion Island is a very beautiful tropical island outside France, it does not have many nice hotels.
The only five-star resort you will see on the island today is the Lux Saint Gilles, which belongs to the Mauritian hotel and resort chain, Lux.
The hotel is located on the western side of the island.
The biggest swimming pool on the Island in this hotel is located on a protected lagoon.
FAQs
Can you swim in the ocean on Reunion Island?
You are not allowed to swim or engage in any other water sports within a perimeter of about 300 m along the Reunion Island coastlines.
There is a coral reef that protects the Island lagoons.
What type of sharks is at Reunion Island?
There is a belief that the Reunion Island coastline is home to many two-meter bull sharks.
What island is surrounded by sharks?
Reunion Island is now popular for its frequent cases of shark attacks, which led to the banning of swimming and surfing outside the coral lagoons.
