Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE CIRQUES
No amount of hyperbole could ever communicate the astonishingly guileless beauty of the
island's heart and soul. Knitted together like a three-leaf clover, the Cirques of Cilaos,
Salazie and Mafate are different in spirit from the rest of the island - more inward-looking,
more secretive, more austere. Quintessentially Réunionnais. The fast-paced and hedonistic
coastal life seems light years away. The few roads daring to traverse the gorges and ranges
are more crooked than a politician, winding in and out of tortuous valleys.
The whole island was once the dome of a vast prehistoric shield volcano, centred on
Piton des Neiges, but the collapse of subterranean lava chambers formed the starting point
for the creation of the Cirques. Millions of years of rainfall and erosion did the rest, scour-
ing out the amphitheatres that are visible today.
