Set your alarm for around 3.30 am and set off at around 4 am: it takes an hour and a half from the holiday residence, heading up via Saint-Paul, Le Guillaume and the long Maïdo road, which winds its way through sugarcane fields, geranium plantations and then the tamarind forest.
You’ll arrive at the car park, at an altitude of 2,200 metres, and then the sky begins to lighten behind the Piton des Neiges.
The light glides slowly along the ridges, descending level by level, and the Mafate cirque reveals itself in its entirety, a thousand metres below: the hamlets clinging to the slopes, the first wisps of smoke rising from the huts, the Grand Bénare opposite, and the Rivière des Galets winding its way towards the ocean. It’s the sort of moment that, on its own, makes getting up at 3.30 am whilst on holiday worthwhile.
