It took us three trips to La Reunion to go to "le Piton de la Fournaise". It is no wonder that the volcano is the first touristic place on the island, the area is truly amazing.
You have to know that one has to deserve the volcano, we woke up at 4:30 AM to meet some friends and get there as soon as possible. If you don’t like waking up early it is ok too, it is not mandatory to be up at the same time as chickens do to go see the volcano but the weather changes quickly out there and the clouds often come down quite quickly. Moreover the later you get there the more people there will be on the way to the top, you may think it is not that important but it truly isn’t the same thing when all is quiet next to the crater.
Before getting to "le Pas de Bellecombe" to start hiking you will drive through "la Plaine des Sables". I have to say that this area is quite amazing, I could say that it looks like you are on the moon but I have never been there. I can at least say that it is the most astonishing landscape I have ever seen, on first look you would think that the ground is dark but when looking closely you will see here and there some red and orange. This place deserves a short hike to fully enjoy its beauties.
I like the fact that you have to drive for 2 hours to know whether you can go hiking our not. Once we arrived at "le Pas de Bellecombe" we could see that "l’enclos" (the plain that leads to the volcano) was covered by the clouds but the volcano was not. It is funny to be walking in the clouds and see them disappear as we walk. Don’t expect to find a nice little track, don’t forget that once you have come down in "l’enclos" you will be walking on cooled volcanic rock; you will have to follow little white dots painted on the rock to reach your destination.
Things start to get serious when you start climbing the volcano, powdery rock replaces the hard volcanic rock and you feel like you are walking on sand; you will then walk on sharp rock and will have to be very careful not to trip. The walk is not too difficult but you always have to watch where you step. You will see truly unique landscapes on the way: some green here and there, cloud movement, secondary craters...
Getting to the crater is the reward, the picture speaks for itself. You are at 2450 meters above sea level, it is cold but you don’t care because you are so happy to be there. The picnic we ate up there was the best picnic I ever ate.
No need to tell you that the walk back is easier but this doesn’t prevent your knees from working hard. At the end of the hike, you will have to climb all the stairs you came down to get to "l’enclos", you will really love this.
These days the pressure is building up in the volcano and a volcanic eruption is to be expected, it would have been great to be able to witness that while we were on our hike.
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