Reunion Island Piton Traverse

Reunion Island, France · France

Challenging7 daysAfrica~£1,500 est.

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Overview

Reunion crams an improbable amount of vertical into one Indian Ocean island: three collapsed cirques - Cilaos, Salazie and roadless Mafate - walled by kilometre-high cliffs, crowned by Piton des Neiges at 3,071m, the Indian Ocean's highest point, with Piton de la Fournaise, one of the world's most active volcanoes, smoking away to the south-east. The traverse links them on the GR R1 and GR R2: down into Mafate, where supplies arrive by helicopter and the ilet hamlets feel a century away, then the pre-dawn scramble up Piton des Neiges to watch sunrise over a sea of cloud, and finally the lunar Plaine des Sables to la Fournaise's lava fields. Only la Fournaise is active - des Neiges has slept for millennia - and eruption closures are managed by the prefecture, so check bulletins before committing to the crater walk. Cloud is the daily variable: summits are clear at dawn and drowned by mid-morning, so alpine starts are the rule. Mountain gites must be booked ahead (Mafate especially) and the May to October dry season is the window. Around £1,500 covers a week of gites, meals and transfers; it is France, so your EHIC/GHIC works and the wine in Cilaos is properly good.