The tiny rugged volcanic island of Rodrigues is a haven for hikers and nature lovers, a place where time seems to slow, if not stop altogether, and a place where residents lead a tranquil unhurried life, away from the hectic modern world.The island has some lovely coastal and mountain walks and is covered in coconut palms, casuarina trees and pink-flowered bushes known as vieilles filles (spinsters). But even with a varied landscape of rocky hillsides, white sand beaches and a large lagoon speckled with desert islets, Rodrigues is not the average tourist’s idea of paradise; a rocky coast, scrubby pastures and harsh winds give it a sobering edge. It is an island that requires a little patience and time to love.
Stay a while and you’ll quickly find that a large part of Rodrigues’ charm is due to its shy yet welcoming inhabitants and their simple way of life, one that is focused on family, farming and fishing and is unfazed by modern technology.
The women of Rodrigues play an important role in the economy of the island, looking after large families, cultivating plots of land and raising livestock. Many also tackle the arduous job of octopus fishing in the island’s large lagoon, but decades of trampling through the lagoon have destroyed the delicate coral reefs, leading to smaller and scarcer octopi and serious damage to the environment.
Unfortunately, Rodrigues has dealt with extinction before. Several hundred years ago Rodrigues Island boasted one of the world's highest densities of giant land tortoises. French Protestant refugee Francois Leguat arrived on the island in 1691 and described the tortoises as so numerous “that sometimes you see two or three thousand in a flock; so that you may go a hundred paces on their backs … without setting foot to ground”. When humans arrived in number with the French India Company in the 18th century, the tortoise was prized for its ability to survive in the holds of ships without any food or water, supplying a great deal of flesh and a cure for scurvy, not to mention barrels of oil. This pillage went on for 60 years and the last two tortoises were found in a valley in 1802; they are now extinct.
Rodrigues is one of the Mascarene Islands (along with Mauritius and Reunion) and a dependency of Mauritius. It is located 560 km east of Mauritius, in the middle of the Indian Ocean and is surrounded by a self-seeding coral reef. Estimated to be one to four million years old, Rodrigues developed a unique environment with many indigenous species: 42 varieties of trees; two birds, the Rodrigues fody (Foudia flavicans) and the Rodrigues warbler (Acrocephalus rodericana); and a species of coral (Acropora rodriguensis).
French photographer Romuald Vareuse, who has lived on nearby Reunion Island since 1986, spent several days on Rodrigues Island recently and put together a lovely and sensitive “day in the life” panorama travelogue of his short stay. He has kindly translated his original French version, available on his website, Panoramas Reunion, into English for VRMag readers, below.
Vareuse used a Canon 1dsMkII with a "naked" Nikkor 10.5, all handheld without tripod or monopod. He postprocessed raw to 16 bits, stitched with Ptmac and tweaked with Photoshop. Web pages were created with Pleinpot using the eolas-patent patch written by Francis Gorg/DIV.
Rodrigues Stats
Location: Indian Ocean, 560 km east of Mauritius
Size: 18 km x 8 km, 108 sq km inside a 220 sq km lagoon. The island is of volcanic origin and its highest point is Mount Limon, at 1600 ft.
Climate: Tropical, 28 to 35°C during the southern summer (from November to April), risks of cyclones from January to March. More pleasant in winter, 16 to 27°C (from June to September).
Population: 37.000
Language: Creole, French, English
History: The island was known by the Portuguese in the15th century, explored by the Dutch in 1601, inhabited at the end of the 17th century by the French, then conquered by the English in the 18th century.
Economy: Fishing, agriculture, handicrafts, and tourism
Getting there: By plane, 1.5 hours from Mauritius or 2 hours from Réunion Island. Thirty-six hours by boat from Mauritius.
Accommodation: Cottages, self-catering or otherwise, are of good quality for the price and a way to meet people. Most offer sea sail and airport transfers.Rates begin from 35 euros a bedroom for two people with breakfast, 10 euros for a meal.
Related Articles:
- AN INTERVIEW WITH AERIAL VR PHOTOGRAPHER ROMUALD VAREUSE
