Today the hunk. The main emblematic destination of La Reunion: the volcano.
When we talk about the volcano in La Reunion, it is the Piton de la Fournaise, the only one still active with an average of two to three eruptions a year. The lastest happend on July 13th 2018 ; it was modest and lasted only one day and the generated flow is clearly visible on the photos.
Wake up very early to be at the Pas de Bellecombe (starting hiking) around 6 am, before sunrise. By chance the weather is very clear and promises a splendid view. When we came back from the first views the cloud that clings traditionally to the piton every day or almost gave us a different insight with atmospheres of mists and rain quite wet. We have been able to test the watertightness of our equipment in situation: the balance is quite uneven … The advantage of this island is that by returning we leave this area soaked with a temperature between 5 and 10 degrees and a little hour later we end up on the coast with 28 degrees.
In the photos: the sunrise on the caldera called “l’enclos” with the Piton de la Fournaise which rises to 2632m. At the foot of the volcano there is the July flow markable by small traces of vapor lit by the sun at ground level. On the front the small crater is the Formica Leo (50m in diameter and 15m deep approximately). While descending in the caldera 150 m below since the Pas de Bellecombe (in the mist and the rain) one walks on this lava solidized solid which gives a rather chaotic landscape and where the vegetation begins to take back its rights (3 years after one begins to find lichens and mosses and after 20 years of small shrubs settle). The little mountain with the silhouettes of visitors / hikers is the Formica Leo. Finally, downhill we cross a part of the plains of the island with its meadows and cows, a new change of scenery …
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