Wild South

The Wild South is the least populated, least touristy and rawest region of Réunion. It is the kingdom of Piton de la Fournaise (2,632 m), a near-permanently active shield volcano — an eruption every nine months on average — that regularly sculpts the south-east coast landscapes by pouring fluid lava flows into the Indian Ocean. It is also the land of Bourbon vanilla, whose under-forest plantations in Saint-Philippe produce one of the most prized vanillas in the world.

The region extends roughly from south of Saint-Pierre to Sainte-Rose, passing through the high plateaus of the Plaine des Cafres and the Plaine des Sables (lunar landscape at 2,360 m altitude, road of access to the volcano), the coast of lava flows between Saint-Philippe and Sainte-Rose (where you still cross today black lava fields from 1977, 1986, 2007), and the Anse des Cascades with its coconut trees and traditional fishing port.

The emblematic villages are Saint-Joseph (fishing port, coastal trail of Cap Méchant), Saint-Philippe (vanilla capital, primary forest of Mare Longue), Sainte-Rose (Notre-Dame des Laves, church miraculously spared by the 1977 flow), and Petite-Île with its wild bay. The Highlands are dotted with altitude villages — Bourg-Murat, the Plaine des Cafres, Bois Court — where you taste goat cheeses, péi foie gras and trout raised at altitude.

The Wild South is an experience apart: no postcard beach, no lagoon, no resort. But volcanic landscapes without equivalent in the world, an still intact Creole village life, and the unforgettable experience of treading black lava flows while in the distance, the plume of Piton de la Fournaise reminds us that the earth is alive here.