Dos d'Ane - Cap Noir - Roche Verre Bouteille

Dos D’Ane is a small village in a mini cirque in the hills above La Possession. It's the starting point for three major paths. These are the Dos d’Ane wall, a path that begins after the church and takes you through Mafate by descending into Deux Bras, the Grand Coin path which goes to Roche Ecrite or Plaine d’Affouches via the Dos d’Ane ridge, and the Piton Grand Bazar path which takes you more directly to Plaine d’Affouches. This path was once used to to carry supplies from Saint-Denis. After the war bags of maize weighing 30 kilos were transported on men's backs. It's a really lovely place, but the clouds build up there very quickly. It's better to climb to the ridge before 10am so as not to miss the magnificent viewpoints over the cirque of Mafate. This loop from Roche Verre Bouteille is a small walk which will take you via Cap Noir, a promontory opening up to spectacular panoramic views over the cirque of Mafate. First you follow the edge of la Rivière des Galets rampart with impressive views over the deep valley. On the other side, the canalisation des Orangers can be made out lower down on the opposite rampart like a horizontal line. Spend some time at the kiosk on Cap Noir where an orientation table will help you to identify the different places in front of you. You can admire the Bras des Merles valley between the Aurère ridge to right and the Marianne ridge to the left. The path which bears the same name descends to the bottom of this valley and is now open. An NFO panel will also give you some information about the settlement of Mafate. The path continues and then climbs in the direction of the ridge with several sections of well secured metal ladders before reaching Roche Verre Bouteille. This vertical rock looks like a bottle inlaid with translucent yellowish green colour crystals or olivines. Moving across this portion of the Dos d'Ane ridge is impressive, but can be done quite safely. You can see the cirque of Mafate on one side and Dos d'Ane on the other and further away the cities of La Possession and Le Port.

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