Indian Ocean Trip
Plan made in the late 1990s.
Day one. Leave St. Louis for Europe. Probably London.
Day two. London or Paris airport. Get plane for Mahé, the main island of the Seychelles. A round-trip flying arrangement from St. Louis to the Indian Ocean should cost about $1800 per person (or less). One can fly to the Seychelles and return from Reunion or Mauritius. One may even be able to add a few days in Europe or England on the way to or from the Indian Ocean.
Day three. Arrive on Mahé Island and go to Victoria, the capital of the Seychelles.
Days four, five, six, seven, and eight:
See the Seychelles from day three to eight, with six nights there. Quite possibly spend a couple of these days going to Silhouette or Praslin or La Digue, the three outlying islands all about 30 miles from Mahé. The main attractions are coral reefs and beaches, but Mahé is large enough to have some cultural attractions and forests in which you can take lovely hikes.
Day nine. Fly Air Australia or other airline in the morning to Mayotte, the one Comoro Island that remains part of France. The one-way fare is about $380, but if you are flying the same airline all over these islands there probably could be some total price for which this leg of the journey would be considerably less expensive. Flight times might be for leaving Seychelles at 8:30 and arriving in Mayotte (Dzaoudzi) at 9:40 a.m.
Day ten and eleven in Mayotte. This gives you three nights and two full days in Mayotte.
Day twelve. Fly from Dzaoudzi, Mayotte to St. Denis De La Reunion. The one way fare is about $300 all alone. You might leave at 1:00 and arrive at 4:00 in the afternoon.
Day thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen in Reunion. Three full days and four nights in Reunion may be enough. Most of the interior is volcanic and barren. There are, however, some forests and geraniums. You might spend a nights of days twelve and fifteen in St. Denis, with nights thirteen and fourteen on the south or east coast of the island.
Day sixteen. Fly from St. Denis, Reunion to Antananarivo, Madagascar. One way tickets are about $290 and leave at 11:45, arriving at 12:15 p.m.
Days 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 can be spent in Madagascar. This gives you a full week of days and eight nights in Madagascar. Much of what is left of the forest can be seen near the capital. Also, the road network is poor, so although a week may not seem like much time, it does give you time to see all that is easily accessable. The conditions and standards in Madagascar aren’t too high, so a week may be enough.
Day 24. Fly from Antananarivo to Mauritius. One way might be $315. The flight could take about two hours if you fly directly without stopping again in Reunion.
Day 25, 26, and 27 on Mauritius. Three full days and four nights on Mauritius to enjoy the southern part of the island and nature preserves.
Day 28. Fly to Rodrigues Island. It’s $112 round-trip and the flight takes about an hour.
Day 29 and 30 on Rodrigues. Two full days and three nights is enough on this tiny, remote island.
Day 31. Return to Mauritius.
Day 32, 33, and 34. three more full days and four nights to enjoy Port Louis and the north side of the island.
Day 35. Fly from Mauritius to Europe.
Day 36. Fly from Europe to St. Louis.
Five weeks.
Air Fare: Highest possible per person is:
$1,800 for round-trip to Indian Ocean.
$380 for SEZ to DZA
$302 DZA to RUN
$290 RUN to TNR
$315 TNR to MRU
$112 round trip MRU to RRG
$3,200 per person for all flights (a very high estimate).
32 nights in hotels. Resorts in the Indian Island nations are cheap. The most expensive places aside from the international hotels will cost about $50 per night at most. So, for two people this works out to about $1,600 for all lodging. Usually this will include breakfast, and sometimes also dinner.
Food is also fairly inexpensive in the Indian Ocean Island nations. A food buget of $15 per day per person will allow you to eat at the best places when you aren’t eating meals included with your lodging costs. Food buget of $1000.
You will want to take tours and hire private transportation to get around the islands while you are visiting. Allow $50 per day for this (this is assuming you hire the most expensive private cars with drivers when you need to get around). You won’t need such transportation every day, but if we include all the extra expenses and souvineers, a $50 per day allowance should cover every transportation and various additional costs beyond flights, food, and lodging. $1,600.
So, if you do everything in the most expensive way, two people can do this five week adventure to the Indian Ocean Islands for $10,600. If I were taking the trip, and staying in second-class hotels, and eating cheaper food, and using public transportation, and hunting around for the cheapest flights, I believe I could do this trip for two at a cost under $7,000, but that is assuming a drastic reduction in flight costs down to something like $2,400 per person for the whole trip.
Seychelles 6 nights and 5 full days.
Comoros (Mayotte) 3 nights and 2 full days.
Reunion 4 nights and 3 full days
Madagascar 8 nights and 7 full days
Mauritius 8 nights and 6 full days
Rodriguez 3 nights and 2 full days
25 days without any flying. After arriving in the Indian Ocean most flights are about 2 hours.