La Reunion - Intro and Le Maido

Since last week we have been in La Reunion ..... 

We pay here in Euros and still enjoy a tropical climate, quite wonderful. The people are always cheerful, very helpful (the cardboard story) and extremely generous (the crepe story).

The island has beautiful beaches in the west. We are particularly interested in the interior of the island, the south and the west.

A great excursion is the drive in the car to the viewing platform of Le Maido (2200 meters high). The road from Le Guillaume takes about 1 hour in serpentine curves up. We reached the summit around 11:30 AM and the view is simply spectacular. Best sight over the cirque of Mafate, the villages, and the 3000-meter mountains (including Piton de Neiges). The thermals are sensational: within seconds, the clouds rise from the cirque, obstructing the view and spilling over the slopes of Maido towards the coast, then clear visibility again. This natural spectacle repeats itself over and over.

Around 12:30 PM we drove back. The first 3 kilometers down the road have endless picnic spots - the people in Reunion love this - and we still had wonderful views there. At kilometer 4, the weather suddenly changed, we found ourselves in a fog forest and could see only 10 meters, nothing more. At kilometer 6 we stopped at 'Table du Maido'. From the small parking lot to the entrance, we walked through a dense fog wall and got wet. We had a very good Creole meal there. Next door is a small souvenir shop where you can also buy the very popular geranium oil.

Our conclusion
Mega trip with breathtaking views and spectacular thermals, simply sensational!

Our tips
The sunrise is probably even better, but very touristy. This reminds me of the Ayers Rock scenario in Australia. Better as we started later and took the stark contrast to the fog forest with us - that really impressed us. And at 2200 meters high, remember sunscreen and headwear, absolutely!