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View into the Cirque de Mafate from before the lookout
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Susan's ankle is now out of the brace so needing exercise the group decided to walk one of the trails overlooking the Cirque de Mafate. This is a circular walk commencing at a popular picnic spot above the village of Dos d'Ane and taking in viewpoints at Cap Noir and La Roche Verre Bouteille.
The path descends to the first viewpoint at Cap Noir, above
the Rivière des Galets, which drains the cirque, and provides the access to the communities living there. These can only be reached on foot, or by helicopter.
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| More rugged scenery in the Cirque de Mafate |
From the Cap Noir viewpoint the path hugs the cliff with precipitous drops on the outside - Richard took one look and opted out while the others carried on up and down ladders and were rewarded with stunning scenery and some challenging walking via the second viewpoint at La Roche Verre Bouteille
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| Riviere de Galets |
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| On the path |
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| Near the end of the walk |
The Maido
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| The cloud comes in |
Apart from by helicopter the other easy view into the Cirque de Mafate is from the Maido, at the top of a near vertical cliff falling into the Cirque from an altitude of 2170 m. As the clouds tend to roll in from the east during the morning the recommendation is to get there by 0700. On our first attempt we arrived just after 0800 to discover that the recommendation had some foundation as the clouds had just got up to the level of the viewpoint.
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| Blue sky behind us |
We got a couple of glimpses of the view but not much.
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| Looking south from the viewpoint |
On our second attempt we gave up before getting to the top.
Finally, by leaving the boat at 0600, we arrived at 0715 and were rewarded by some excellent, if hazy, views of the whole Cirque, with the third cirque, Salazie, shrouded in cloud to the east. The picnic breakfast tasted so so good.
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| and looking north |
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| The viewpoint |
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| Looking across Rivière des Galets towards La Roche Verre Bouteille |
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| Looking east across towards Salazie and cloud spilling over the pass |
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