Ankit Bhatia’s Impromptu Excursion: Diversity and Flamboyance of Reunion Island

Ankit Bhatia's long-term plan has seen many steep turns over the years for him to achieve his ultimate goal. From travels in Dubai to Africa, Ankit Bhatia popularly known as Ankit Bhatia Films on Instagram has also launched two online courses and a few online products to facilitate the art of filmmaking and cinematography among aspiring cinematographers. This time Ankit Bhatia boarded his flight for a completely new experience on Reunion Island. The island is a French Department in the Indian Ocean that is acknowledged for its volcanic, rainforested interior, coral reefs, and beaches.

A very interesting thing about Reunion is that the Island is a territory of France that lies in Africa on very close grounds to Mauritius while having a European culture. In the words of Ankit, "Reunion has everything that a traveler looks for. Like in India we enrich the diversity of Kashmir, Ladakh, and North-Eastern states, Reunion in its own cultural and scenic ways renders to its diversity." Reunion has the world's most active volcano, with about 40 waterfalls in a span of 100kms, and beaches where the temperature is moderate while it's 1 degree at the volcano in the morning.

The loved team of Ankit Bhatia Films had no plan for this trip and thus, it was an impromptu journey that helped Ankit understand how to plan and execute things in a different country without any prior planning. Being someone who needs every little detail sorted before his journey, Ankit encountered a new self on this unplanned journey.

As soon as the team of Ankit Bhatia Films reached Reunion, the first step they took was to book a car and then get a wifi connection for searching for a suitable stay. It was during this traveling in the car, getting the wifi, and booking a stay that they started reading blogs about Reunion which helped them along their stay. Ankit found the traffic system of Reunion very flaunting as there are no red lights except those at the airport as driveways are their means of traffic management along with different lanes are marked for those driving speedily and with ease.

Adding to this was Ankit's experience of his stay as they stayed not in hotels but in apartments where they had plenty of time to interact with the locals. A major issue there was language as all locals spoke French so communication was through Google Translator. Then Ankit also experienced his first ever helicopter ride in Reunion and there he saw waterfalls that couldn't have been reached even after severe treks. He felt serenity when he stood on mountain tops and saw clouds floating at the bottom with a distant view of the beach. This was expressed by Ankit as the most beautiful and calm place that he has been and he said that "I would like to take my partner or parents to the Reunion and show them how a small island can have such mesmerizing and serene locations." He also shared how even after being a magnificent island, most spots were not crowded which gave them ample amount of time as well as space to shoot the locations at their best.

Ankit exclaims this trip to be not just a normal journey but a journey where he learned to explore the places without a perfect itinerary or preplanned arrangements. Rather, he experienced what can be said as an impromptu jaunt that made him feel and connect to a different level with himself as well as with Reunion Island.