The Valley of Takamaka

Takamaka is probably the most beautiful landscape on Réunion, and the hardest to see. Imagine an entire valley enclosed by cliffs several hundred meters high, where dozens of waterfalls cascade down from the ridges at the same time to converge in the Rivière des Marsouins, all covered by a nearly pristine primary forest. The problem is access; from the ground, you can only see a fraction of it.

The only way to see Takamaka in its entirety is from the sky, and Corail Hélicoptères offers two tours that fly over the valley: “Au Cœur des Cascades” (50 minutes) and “Excellence” (55 minutes). Both tours take in the three cirques—the Trou de Fer, the Cascade Blanche, and the Voile de la Mariée—as well as the Bélouve primary forest, Takamaka and its waterfalls, and the Grand Étang, before returning via the lagoon; the “Excellence” tour adds the Piton de la Fournaise and its craters outside the enclosure.