What these photos show
The images in this gallery come from flights operated out of Saint-Leu. All three launch sites worked by the school Air Lagon can be recognised. Les Colimaçons, at 800 metres, gives the most frequent view: sugar cane fields in the foreground, the Mascarins botanical conservatory on the left, and the lagoon with its coral barrier beyond, off the shore of Saint-Leu. The private site, at 1,600 metres, opens onto the primary forest and the whole west coast. The Maïdo, at 2,200 metres, frames the cirque of Mafate and the Piton des Neiges. Landing is photographed at the water's edge, a few hundred metres from Kélonia. The low reef shots come from passes flown before touchdown. Some images date from outings of the school Air Lagon on other sites across La Réunion, away from Saint-Leu.
How the photos are taken
Flight photos and videos are taken by the instructor, on a pole, during the flight. The option costs twenty euros and attaches to every package, from the Vol Découverte to the Vol du Maïdo. It is decided at the briefing, on the strip of Les Colimaçons, or later at launch. The media is handed over on return to the landing area, beside the lagoon. No personal gear is needed, and the passenger holds nothing in flight: the hands stay free to take the risers if the instructor offers, above Kélonia as above the Maïdo. The images on this page give a faithful idea of the framing obtained above Saint-Leu, with no particular retouching. The instructor frames while flying, which explains the low angles. No drone footage is used on the flights out of Saint-Leu, at Les Colimaçons or elsewhere.
Light through the flying day
Light changes a great deal with the launch hour, and the gallery images show it. Morning slots give calm air and clean colours over the lagoon of Saint-Leu, with the relief of Les Colimaçons still in shadow. Around midday, the overhead sun lights the seabed and makes the reef drop-offs very readable from straight above. Late afternoon flights produce a low light that draws the shadows out over the cane fields and gilds the heights of the Maïdo. Nine daily slots leave room to choose. Passengers who come for the images generally prefer the earliest and the latest. The Maïdo demands an early departure, the relief of Mafate and the Piton des Neiges often clouding over after midday. Kélonia stays visible from almost every frame taken above Saint-Leu, whatever the hour.
Why the lagoon is turquoise
The colour of the lagoon comes from its depth and its floor. Inside the reef the water barely exceeds two metres over pale sand, which gives the turquoise seen on most images taken by the instructors of the school Air Lagon. Beyond the barrier the bottom drops away sharply and the shade turns deep blue within a few metres. That limit draws the crisp line visible on views from Les Colimaçons and the private altitude site. Coral heads appear as dark patches inside the lagoon, between Kélonia and the pass. In clear weather the contrast carries as far as the surroundings of Kélonia and south of the town. From Les Colimaçons the barrier reads along its whole length, from Kélonia down to the south. The Maïdo and the Mascarins close the horizon inland, above the slopes of Saint-Leu.
Landmarks on the ground
Several ground landmarks recur across this gallery. Kélonia, the sea turtle study centre, borders the meeting point at the north entrance of Saint-Leu. The Mascarins botanical conservatory occupies the heights, close to the launch strip of Les Colimaçons. Sugar cane fields cover the middle slopes and shift in tone with the cutting season, from green to bare earth. The landing area lies between the beach and the coast road, below the slopes of Les Colimaçons. From the Maïdo the framing swings inland: the rampart, the cirque of Mafate and the Piton des Neiges replace the coastline and the lagoon of Saint-Leu entirely. Those Maïdo views stay a minority in the gallery of the school Air Lagon, that launch accounting for only a share of the flights out of Saint-Leu and Les Colimaçons.