A hiking expedition to the village of Mafate | Île de la Réunion Tourisme

1st step: Cirque of Mafate

We walked for around three hours along the magnificent trails and very steep footpaths, to reach the Cirque of Mafate, right at the centre of Reunion Island. As I take in the view, my heart is beating to the rhythm of the wind all around, and I breathe in deeply and try to catch my breath after the exhilarating walk up here.

Mafate is one of the most unique places in the world, and is known as an island within Reunion Island. There are only 800 inhabitants in this cirque, spread across three small villages that can only be reached on foot. There are no roads to the cirque and the locals have to walk four or four and a half hours, or take a helicopter when they want to leave their village. Provisions are delivered every week by helicopter and in emergencies, inhabitants are air-lifted out.

Today is a Monday and as we reach the departure point for the hike, a young teacher was making her way back to the cirque, where she teaches throughout the week. She was very fit and we had hardly started walking and she had already disappeared from sight at the bottom of the footpath. On Friday afternoons she comes back to the departure point and gets picked up to spend her weekends on the coast. Doctors and other specialists follow the same routine.

1st step: Cirque of Mafate

We walked for around three hours along the magnificent trails and very steep footpaths, to reach the Cirque of Mafate, right at the centre of Reunion Island. As I take in the view, my heart is beating to the rhythm of the wind all around, and I breathe in deeply and try to catch my breath after the exhilarating walk up here.

Mafate is one of the most unique places in the world, and is known as an island within Reunion Island. There are only 800 inhabitants in this cirque, spread across three small villages that can only be reached on foot. There are no roads to the cirque and the locals have to walk four or four and a half hours, or take a helicopter when they want to leave their village. Provisions are delivered every week by helicopter and in emergencies, inhabitants are air-lifted out.

Today is a Monday and as we reach the departure point for the hike, a young teacher was making her way back to the cirque, where she teaches throughout the week. She was very fit and we had hardly started walking and she had already disappeared from sight at the bottom of the footpath. On Friday afternoons she comes back to the departure point and gets picked up to spend her weekends on the coast. Doctors and other specialists follow the same routine.

A break to try some local and traditional food

We stop for lunch in a small family-run restaurant in Cayenne, one of the three villages of Mafate. Most of the people who live in Mafate work for the national park or in the tourism industry. They offer accommodation or catering services to the many tourists who come hiking in the cirque. Those looking for a hiking expedition enjoy walking here at the weekend, spending a night in a gîte and exploring the region.

The food is delicious and traditional: big bowls of steaming rice, beans, duck and sausage rougail (a delicious dish made from pieces of Créole sausage cooked in a sauce of diced tomatoes, green mango chunks, crushed ginger, chopped onions and chilis) are lined up on the table in front of us. We pile the food onto our plates, all the walking has worked up quite an appetite. We make a toast with our Dodo beers: To the morning’s activities! Cats rub themselves up against our legs and try to jump onto our laps to get a taste of our food. For this little village with only 30 inhabitants, there appears to be a cat for every person.

3rd step, the descent: exploring new horizons

There are different hiking trips available in Mafate, with varied levels of experience required. We didn’t have much time (and honestly, not much energy left), so we decided to make our way back down on the back of a pick-up truck, to a place along the Rivière des Galets (the river of the locals), from where we would only have to walk for another two and a half hours. For the more motivated hikers, there’s an eight-hour walk to the superb summit of Maido (a breath-taking view over the whole of the Cirque of Mafate).

If we’d have had more time, I’d have loved to spend a few days exploring the region and to get to know the locals a bit better. The views here are breath-taking and wherever you look, you’ll want to take a photo.

First helicopter ride

We didn’t spend much time in Mafate, but it was a great experience. In the distance, we can hear the noise of the helicopter coming to pick us up, it arrives and lands with ease and precision so we can climb aboard. I’ve always wanted to go on one of these incredible contraptions and I duck down as we step aboard, my heart beating fast once again. When I’m on a helicopter, I always feel like I’m in an action film and as we take off, I look over towards Mafate and think about all the great memories and magnificent landscapes, and I feel so happy.