Cilaos crater hike, Forêt du Grand Matarum GR R1 - Parc national de La Réunion

Piton des Neiges (3070 m.), view from Cilaos (1150 m.)

View of Cilaos village from GR R1. Indian Ocean horizon beyond the crater.

Hiking up the inside of the volcanic crater from the town of Cilaos on the GR R1 long-distance hiking route. This, the Forêt du Grand Matarum, is primal tropical forest, never harvested. But all the species have arrived from somewhere since the volcano went quiet so there’s a hotchpotch of trees and plants we know from Europe plus many from elsewhere.

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