Reunion Island - where wreckage from missing plane was found

Reunion Island is east of Africa and Madagascar
Australia is far to the east
Google Earth map

National and local news have broken the story that the airplane part found on Reunion Island was, indeed, from the long-missing Malaysian flight 370 (see story in The Seattle Times).

Shoreline photographer Marc Weinberg was on Reunion in 2012.

It is a remote island and most people have never heard of it. We traveled there in February 2012.  It is a beautiful and well maintained island since France has been willing to provide significant funding for infrastructure, unlike other island that sought their independence and are without money to keep things running well.

Nez le Boeuf
Photo copyright Marc Weinberg

One beautiful place we visited was Nez le Boeuf, where people live in a beautiful valley which was carved out by the molten lava pouring from the volcano.

Piton de la Fournaise
Photo copyright Marc Weinberg

We drove from the port city of St. Denis into the mountains of Reunion Island. Piton de la Fournaise is said to be the world's most active volcano dating back 500,000 years. 2010 was an especially active year with many eruptions. The largest and longest was on December 9, 2010 and lasted 2 days. If you look at that image closely you can see people walking around the rim of the opening within the caldera. This image was taken from Pas de Bellecombe at 7,582 feet above sea level.

Floor of the volcano
Photo copyright Marc Weinberg