Smart Travels: Plaines

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Sunday, 1 March 2015

Cité du volcan museum

The Cité du Volcan museum re-opened in August 2014 after several years of refurbishments. It tells you everything you need to know about Reunion's Piton de la Fournaise in particular, and volcanoes in general.

Exterior of the Cité du Volcan

It's located in Bourg-Murat, the small town where most of the eating and accommodation options are to be found nearest the volcano.

Exterior of the Cité du Volcan

Initially opened in November 1992, its existence is largely due to the French volcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft, who had studied La Fournaise closely. They both died in a pyroclastic flow in Japan in 1991.

Exterior of the Cité du Volcan

It used to be known as the Maison du Volcan until 2011 when it closed for refurbishment. It reopened on August 5th 2014.

multi-sensory lava tunnel, entrance to the Cité du volcan

Covering 6200m2, the new museum includes a 4D cinema, a 270°C auditorium screen, and has innovative and interactive features such as holographic projections, augmented reality, wide 'multitouch' surfaces, and audio-visual environments.

one of the exhibition rooms

In a bathyscaphe the colonisation of underwater lava flows is explained, including how a lava flow becomes a coral reef and the birth of living organisms.

one of the exhibition rooms

part of the Piton de la Fournaise timeline

A large part of the exhibition lets you explore Reunion island and its geological and geographical features, including the island's birth, more than 3 million years, up until the present day.

a copy of the first-ever map of Reunion

Other parts let you seen the human effect the volcano has had on the island, and explores the legends surrounding it.

exhibition room about the Volcano observatory

The Cité du Volcan is one of four museums operated by the Regional Museums of Reunion group. The others are Kelonia, Stella Matutina and the MADOI.

exhibition room about the Volcano observatory

The museum is open every day (apart from Christmas Day, New Year's Day and May 1st) from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm. The ticket office closes at 4:45 pm.

screen showing pictures of the most recent eruption.

Museum website (in French)

Related articles:

Monday, 11 June 2012

Weekend at Plaine des Palmistes

We were lucky enough to spend last weekend at the holiday house of some friends at the Plaine des Palmistes, a small town of 4000 inhabitants in Reunion's interior at about 1000m altitude.

large cross on the hillside, Bras des Calumets

At 1100-1200m we were actually a little higher than the main village, as we were in a hamlet called Bras des Calumets (which is actually not far from the start of my recent Piton Texor hike).

tree fern frond

The house we stayed in is surrounded by over 4500 m2 of land which is covered by lots of fruit trees and also some tea bushes.

tea flower (camellia sinensis)

Although I've had the chance to see tea cultivation in many parts of the world*, and have occasionally seen tea flowers, this was the first time I'd seen the seed pod of the tea bush.

the distinctively shaped tea seed pod

There was a period during its history when Reunion grew tea (1729-1960s), and occasionally small plantations can still be found dotted around the island, but I believe a combination of factors (cyclones and lack of profitability) put paid to it as a viable option for the island's agricultural future.

honeysuckle

There were a great many goyavier (strawberry guava) bushes as well, some of them obviously planted by the previous owners to make an orchard. It didn't take long to fill a pail to the brim with juicy red fruit.

Goyavier bush (strawberry guava; psidium cattleianum)

There were also some of the rarer lemon guava (goyavier blanc), not to be confused with the larger common guava.

lemon guava (psidium littorale var. littorale)

There were also many citrus trees - lemons and mandarin oranges. They prefer these higher altitudes to the coast.

lemons

sword lily/gladiolus

There were quite a few ginger lilies, but as this is not their season they were not flowering (see here for pictures of them flowering).

out-of-season Ginger lilies (hedychium gardnerianum)

Lots of brightly-coloured Torch lilies also grow in profusion in the garden.

Torch lilies (Kniphofia)

Usnea lichen grows well at this altitude too. It's very sensitive to air pollution, and under bad conditions it may grow no more than a few millimetres, if at all. Where the air is unpolluted, it can grow very long, like in the photo.

long strands of Usnea lichen

geranium

big toad

Hydrangea (aka hortensia)

I've always been fascinated by the water-repellent leaves of the taro plants (see here for a better photo of this 'lotus effect'). Our friends have planted several in their kitchen garden. A Reunion Creole proverb says "Comme (goutte d') eau sur feuille de songe", literally "like (a drop) of water on a taro leaf", meaning "it doesn't bother me".

Taro (colocasia esculenta)

slug on toadstool

Useful links:

Plaine des Palmistes on Runweb.com

Plaine des Palmistes on Lonely Planet's website.

Plaine des Palmistes in the Michelin guide.

* Mauritius, Seychelles, Laos, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia.

Monday, 28 May 2012

Plaine des Palmistes to Plaines des Cafres via Piton Textor

For this hike we started at Plaine des Palmistes at an altitude of just over 1300 metres at a car-park and picnic area called the 'Kiosques de Bras Piton'.

sign shortly after the start of the hike.

The weather was damp (later on we had rain) and the going was quite tough and muddy, with lots of tree roots strewing the path. Initially the forest is composed of cryptomeria trees, but later becomes the humid forest typical of so much of Reunion's mid-altitiude mountains.

part of the path

On this sort of hike tree roots can sometimes be helpful, acting almost like stairs, but at other times they can be quite treacherous and trip you over. You really need to watch your step.

Initially not too tough, the path rapidly became steeper, and over a distance of 5km until we reached Piton Textor we gained 840 metres in altitude.

part of the hike borders military land

regular white marks show you're on the right path

As we gained in altitude the weather became wetter and the vegetation sparser.

we passed through an area that burned 5 years ago

at over 2000m altitude, near Piton Textor

Due to the weather Piton Textor (2224m) was swathed in mist and clouds, but could nevertheless be identified thanks to the telecommunications tower on its summit.

Piton Textor at sunset (photo Wikipedia)

The Piton is quite an important landmark as the road to the volcano passes by its base, as does the GR2 (one of Reunion's most important hiking trails); our path leading up from Plaine des Palmistes; and another hiking path leading to/from Piton de l'Eau.

signboard near Piton Textor

From Piton Textor onwards we were following the GR2 path in the direction of Route Nationale 3, from where we would be picked up.

Fairly quickly once we left Piton Texor we found ourselves hiking along paths between fields of cattle.

The path passes by a place called Chalet des Patres, and we stopped for our picnic lunch here.

A few early arum lilies were flowering here - they're normally most plentiful in October.

arum lily (zantedeschia aethopica)

tree fern

This second part of the hike, from Piton Textor to Route Nationale 3 is longer - 8 km - but the slope is much gentler, as you only lose about 550m in altitude.

looking across the Plaines

clouds rolling in

We arrived happy, tired and a little damp! Altogether the hike was just over 13km long, and took us about 7 hours - including stops for lunch and some other breaks.