Two days in the trip. James and I have arrived in advance to check out our different options: Which canyon, what wall, in which circus, and how to approach? And what better way than asking the help of some local guys?
For sure, I should be “a local’… but I have spent very little time on the Island since I left it twelve years ago, and my child’s eyes had quite a partial view… many wonders of my memories turned into pretty little bits of rock, but very few were actually wonders…
I hadn’t met “Bulon” before, despite his 25 years on the island. This quiet tanned man is a lover of nature and tranquility. He has been guiding people on the Island for almost forever, and specialized recently into naturalist expeditions. So when I ask him, randomly, “which is this plant”, Bulon always has not only a name, but as well a story!
The spider Nefilia Pipiles
Today we where hiking in the heart of a circus in the tropical forest. Endemic plants, endemic birds; the nature in this little place of the south hemisphere has a very unique story…I tried to challenge him with a few geological questions… We were in front of a great cliff, which… surely will be our goal this next days, and I pointed some obscure mineral deposits…
Long story short, I learned of one of the greatest natural wonders of the Island:
As everyone knows on the Island, everything is volcanic! The Island is a volcano, emerged from the deep Indian ocean, and today the highest peak is 3069m. “Piton des Neiges” is a sleeping volcano, as the hot-spot has moved a few kilometers more south, to become the “piton de la fournaise”, less high, but more threatening with breath taking eruptions every few years. The Piton des Neiges is surrounded by 3 giant depressions, the 3 circus, each 10’s of km’s across. The original volcano was much higher, but with giant empty cavities below the surface. One day these collapsed, in a huge catastrophic event, creating what is known today as Mafate, Salazie, and Cilaos.
As a result, today in the circus, some of the rocks at the surface are old magmatic chamber which after cooling down very slowly have form a very dense, very solid rock. After the constant weathering of thousands of years, the softer rock around these magmatic deposits has worn away, leaving the amazing walls and ridges we will soon get to try! 
A Papangue, endemic bird, let us come close… not too close!