Le Cirque De Mafate Day1

Last week-end we went to le cirque de mafate, it is an amazing place that you must deserve. To enjoy this place you have to go on a 4 hour hike on the way in and a 6 hour hike on the way out.


Piton Carre

To reach the start of the trail leading inside le cirque you have to ride a 4x4 in the bed of la rivière des galets. In this time of year the river is very small so the drivers can bring the hikers to the beginning of the track but during the raining season the river gets stronger and carries anything that goes in it. The 4x4 are all pickup trucks which are normally forbidden to take anyone in their rear cargo but everybody does it. There is a watchman at the entrance to the river and to avoid getting caught you just need to drop some people along the river, they will walk to the dirt track while the driver goes through the official access where the watchman will gladly stay under his tree instead of writing down the number of persons each driver is bringing in. Once inside we get the people left on the side and we go on our way.


Piton des Calumets

The hike in le cirque de mafate is not that difficult but you still have to walk for four hours. On the way you get to see the piton cabri, le piton carre, le piton maido and le piton des calumets. Just before lunch break we had to walk that really steep track, my poor body worked so much that I could feel my heart beat extremely strong. On the way we went through Cayenne, a small town where only 30 people live (5 families), on this place the electricity is only solar. The water comes through small pipes hidden under the dirt tracks and connected to huge plastic tanks in a higher location in le cirque. The families will shop together and use a chopper to bring the goods; the chopper brings what has been ordered and returns with the garbage, it can lift up to 800kg. The inhabitants are growing corn, beans and manioc, it is nice to see corn being grown at such a height.


Piton Maido

The last part leading to the cottage is very also steep, it feels like you have to really work to get to relax afterwards, I feel like I am losing the pounds I lost in Kiribati and got back since I have been here. The gite Pavillon is in the middle of nowhere, there are solar panels everywhere as well as batteries to store the energy. There is a shop and even a bakery where the owner makes his own bread; in the shop you can see that being in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean being disconnected, there is a satellite decoder, a credit card reader, the laptop has a 3G USB key for high speed internet access and if you are bored you can play a game on the Playstation 2. There is too much food for diner but it is so good that you just can’t stop eating, you feel like you won’t have space for breakfast in the morning but at least you know you will have the necessary strength to walk 6 hours.


Gite Pavillon


Piton Cabri