Le Grand Benare summit (2896m)

Start from the Maïdo car park (2186m). You will get there from Saint-Paul by using the road RF8 passing by "Guillaume" and "Petite France". Do not forget to glance at the Mafate circus from the belvedere before your start you tour !

At first, the trail is wide and little sloping. It goes south in the middle of shrubs with yellow flowers like gorses. After 1.5 hour, you will reach a crossroad : take left in the direction of the edge of the circus which you will reach 10 minutes later. The slope increases, but you will go along the circus edge all the time, and thus permanently benefit from an exceptional view. I advise you to start the trek early, before the arrival of the clouds !

From 2500m, beware the geological faults, sometimes very deep. Do not leave the trail.

The summit (2896m) is like an immense and comfortable platform, where each can easily picnic. The view over the whole island is amazing : the 3 circus, the summits of Le Gros Morne (2991m) and Le Piton des Neiges (3070m), and if you look a little bit further, you will see La Fournaise volcano and, all around, the Indian Ocean.

You will need about 3 hours to go up to the summit. You can go go back using the same trail, to enjoy the view. You can also go down directly to Glacire (2489m), which is cavern formerly used to make ice. From Glacire, you will need 1h to reach the car park.

Thus, for the whole trek, count about 6-7 hours.

• >Variant 2 :

If you have 2 cars, it is interesting to leave one on the RF9 road (forest road N°9), at the point (1719m) where starts the trail going up directly to Piton Rouge and to Petit Benare.

Then, the starting of your tour will still be at the Maïdo car park (2186m). After 1.5h walking, at the first crossroads (2420m), instead of turning left towards the edge of the circus, go straight away to La Glacire (2489m). From there, go east to the trail which joins the rampart (Le rempart - 2615m). Once you have reached the rampart, you will go along it to the Grand Benare summit (2896m).

Continue until the Petit Benare (2600m), then go down to the Piton Rouge summit (2403m). Do not go to Glacire ! But go down directly (South West) to the forest road where you have parked your first car (1719m). This trip has a little bit more various landscapes than the variant 1. It is also a little bit shorter. But anyway, you will have to count from 7 to 8 hours to do it !