Top Indian Ocean Islands Drone Videos

Former Drone Video of the Week Winner dronesantana007 brings us this magnificent aerial video from the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean.  The video was filmed over Maafushi, which is part of the Kaafu Atoll group of over 100 islands, nine of which are inhabited.  Located about 16 mi. (around 25 km) south of the Maldives capital city of Malé, Maafushi covers just a few dozen acres and is home to about 3k permanent residents.  Heavily damaged in the 2004 Tsunami, the island has emerged as a popular vacation destination.   

Top AirVuz contributor ristypics brings us this fantastic travel video from Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean.  Located about 400 mi (around 640 km) east of the large African island of Madagascar, Réunion is part of the Mascarene Islands, which also include the island nation of Mauritius.  Filmed with a DJI Mavic Pro 3 drone, the video will take you over the island's spectacular coastline, interior rainforests, its very active volcano, and its migrant whales.  This video was a Drone Video of the Week Finalist.   

Following a series of suicide bombings in early 2019, the South Asian island nation of Sri Lanka imposed a total ban on drones out of concern that UAV's could potentially be weaponized. Contributor DigitalTravelCouple visited the country before the ban went into effect, and created this stunning video using a DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone. The video features footage of some of the top sights of this tropical paradise, including the Nine Arches Bridge, Diyaluma Falls, and more. This video was a DVOW winner in December 2019.  

Madagascar is an Indian Ocean island nation off the coast of East Africa.  The country consists of the main island plus many small islands.  The main island of Madagascar is enormous; covering 587k square km (227k square mi) it is the fourth largest island in the world by land area.  Once part of the French Empire, it's been independent since 1960.  Contributor Zerodrone created this spectacular aerial tour of the island, which includes bird's eye views of the capital city Tana and the beach of Anakao.

Multiple DVOW Finalist Hayden Kast does it again with this fantastic piece from the Seychelles, an island nation of the western Indian Ocean.  The video features footage of Mahé, Praslin, and La Digue, three of the 42 granitic islands which make up the archipelago.  Mahé is the largest of the Seychelles by land area, and its population accounts for about 75% of the island's roughly 100k permanent residents.  Praslin is the second-largest island; it lies about 27 mi. (around 44 km) northeast of Mahé, with La Digue just to its east.   

Contributor and pilot Exclusive Aerials used a DJI Phantom 4 Professional drone to great effect in this stunning video of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius.  With spectacular mountains, pristine beaches, and breathtakingly blue waters, you will get a bird's eye view of this tropical paradise, which lies far off the coast of eastern Africa and consists of four main islands.  Once a French and later a British colonial possession, Mauritius has been an independent country since 1968.

AirVuz contributor Robin Puskas used a DJI Phantom 4 drone to create this stunning video of the island of Mauritius, located in the western Indian Ocean off the coast of eastern Africa.  The country, which has been independent since the late 1960's, consists of three islands - the main island plus two outlying ones.  While many drone videos of Mauritius focus on the island's amazing beaches, the focus of this video is the island's interior, a place filled with lush green rainforests and thundering waterfalls. 

Zanzibar is a tropical Indian Ocean island archipelago consisting of two main islands and many small islets.  It is part of the nation of the Tanzania, although it has semi-autonomous status.  Content creator and pilot Al used a DJI Mavic Pro drone to capture the sights of Zanzibar from an aerial perspective.  Prepare to be amazed by the bird's eye views of this magical tropical island paradise just a few km/mi off the coast of mainland Africa, which has been inhabited by humans for 20,000 years.

In this third installment of contributor Maurice Mbui's "Kenya on Air" series, you'll get an aerial view of one of the country's Indian Ocean island territories.  Lamu Island is part of the eponymously named archipelago which lies off the northern part of the Kenya coast.  Accessible from the mainland by boat, Lamu has no roads.  It main town, also called Lamu, lies on its northeastern shore.  The islands had been part of Zanzibar but became part of Kenya when the country gained independence in 1963.

Le Morne is a peninsula on the island of Mauritius, which sits to the east of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.  With its lush rainforests and rich wildlife, the area has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage natural site.  In this aerial video, drone pilot Christian Cuvelier shows some amazing filming skills, particularly with respect to capturing moving targets such as windsurfers, catamarans, and speedboats.  Independent since 1962, Mauritius is a former colony of various European countries.

Multiple Drone Video of the Week Winner Lucaputzer brings us this excellent drone video from the Indian Ocean island of Socotra.  Part of the nation of Yemen, Socotra lies near the southern entrance to the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, the northwestern inlet of the world's third-largest ocean.  While it's part of (Asian) Yemen, the island is actually closer to Somalia, and it's considered to be geographically part of Africa.  The island covers an area of about 1.4k square mi. or around 3.6k square km.  

Shot with his DJI Mavic 2 Pro, top content creator and pilot hamzamuj takes us on a magical journey through the South Asian island nation of Sri Lanka. This Drone Video of the Week Nominee features the port city of Trincomalee; the small towns of Ella, Buttala, Hatton and Demodara; Yala National Park and Kumbuk River; Nuwara Eliya, the city nestled in the hills of tea country; the ancient rock fortress of Sigiriya; the famous railway line Nine Arches Bridge; and the holy mountain Adam's Peak. 

Content creator and drone pilot Sandrine Hecq is one of the top travel vloggers; and she has created a huge following for her videos which mix drone and ground camera footage of exotic spots.  In this video, she takes us high above the Cinnamon Hakuraa Huraa Resort in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.  Long piers are lined with romantic huts that hover over the crystalline sea, where visitors relax and enjoy the tropical views including dolphins. This remote island paradise is quite the sight from above.

Pemba is an island which is part of Tanzania's Zanzibar archipelago in the Indian Ocean.  It lies north and a bit east of the larger island of Unguja, off the northernmost part of the mainland coast.  Home to some of the best fishing waters in the Indian Ocean, Pemba is also known for its hilly terrain and significant agricultural cultivation.  In this drone video by Hofcut, you'll get a nice aerial tour of the area around the Manta Resort, which is located near the tip of a peninsula on the northern end of the island.  

There are numerous spots to explore in the Indian Ocean nation of Sri Lanka, but if we could only choose ten it would look something like this. Contributor Tjantrnkaproductions was nominated for a Drone Video of the Week Award for this stunning travel video taken across the tropical paradise of Sri Lanka, the nation which was once known as Ceylon during its days as part of the British Empire. This video is nominated for the 2nd Annual Drone Video Awards in the People & Lifestyle category. 

If you want to see why the Maldives has become an up-and-coming destination for international travelers, check out this fantastic piece from top contributor pilot Followmypath.  It was filmed over several (unnamed) islands in this Indian Ocean archipelago nation, which is spread out over 26 atolls covering a vast stretch of the sea. With fewer than 400k permanent residents (of which over a third live in the capital), many of the hundreds of islands and islets which make up the country are virtually or entirely uninhabited.   

Equipped with the new DJI Osmo Pocket, a DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone, and tickets to Seychelles, drone influencer Merr Watson takes us away on an unforgettable adventure in this tropical paradise in the western Indian Ocean which consists of 115 separate islands.  As she and her companion explore the beaches, rainforests, markets, and tourist attractions, she uses her DJI gear to its full potential to demonstrate how it can capture all the beauty of a destination from a range of perspectives.  

Drink in these stunning aerial views of Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, compliments of contributor VolcaDrone Productions.  Located about 950 km (around 600 mi.) east of the large island of Madagascar, Réunion is an overseas department of France.  Dominated by two volcanoes - the active Piton de la Fournaise in the east and the inactive Piton des Neiges in the center - the island has a land area of about 1k square mi. (around 2.5k square km) and a full-time resident population of around 868k.