How busy are Reunion's hiking paths and which are the most popular paths to hike? Between January and September 2017, about 23 hiking paths were equipped with "eco-counters" to find out the number of hikers who frequented them. Here, in descending order, are the four most popular paths and the number of "passings" during the nine-month period (bear in mind that a passing may be the same person walking there and back):
- Col des Boeufs (Mafate): 118,481
- Volcano caldera: 110,839
- Sentier de la Providence (Saint-Denis): 90,618
- Grand Bassin: 79,537
In total 921,058 passings were recorded for all paths during the study period. The twenty-three paths monitored were as follows: La Providence, Roche Ecrite, Deux Bras, Maïdo, Col des Bœufs, Hell-Bourg-Bélouve, Trou de Fer, Col du Taïbit, Le Bloc Cilaos (Piton des Neiges), Grand Bassin, Mare à Boue, Volcano caldera, Sentier des Citernes (Sainte-Rose), Rampes de la Montagne, Colorado, Pic Adam, Ilet Alcide, Sentier Augustave, Sentier Scout and Cascade Bras Rouge, Ilet à Guillaume-Fenêtre, Sentier des 3 sources (Saint-Joseph). Note that 'Sentier des Citernes' was the least used path, with only a few hundred hikers.
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| map showing the most popular paths and roads (source) |
ONF, the French Forestry Commission, also manages a number of forest roads, and out of the fifteen equipped with a counter the three most used were:
- Etang Salé: 387,067
- Volcano (at Piton Sec): 242,749
- Maïdo: 240,512
In total 2,081,092 passings were recorded for all forest roads during the study period. The fifteen counters were on the following forest roads: Mamode Camp, Maïdo-Petite France, Col des Bœufs in Salazie, Grand Etang, Petite Plaine-Bébour, Tévelave, the volcano at Piton Sec, Étang-Salé forest, Le Maïdo-Tamarin road junction, Les Makes, Volcano-Plaine des sables, Etang salé forest park road at golf course entrance, Anse des Cascades, Bélouve forest road, Piton Sec forest road.
By the way it's difficult to count the total number of paths in Reunion as many branch off from one another. ONF manages about 1,000km of paths on the island but estimates there are a total of 2,500km! About 75% of all hikers are locals (of course this information can't be collected for eco-counters, but presumably comes from visitor surveys). And while normal walking speed is ≈4km/hour, on these paths you should count ≈300 metres/hr going uphill and ≈400 metres/hr going downhill.
The source for these statistics can be found here and on pages 28-29 here.
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Aurère & the Sentier Augustave
Cayenne hikeHiking from Maïdo to Ilet Alcide
Grand Étang
Hellbourg to Belouve hike
Hike from Le Belier to Hell-Bourg
Hike Nez de Boeuf to Roche Plate (Rivière des Remparts)
Hike from Le Belier to Hell-Bourg
Hiking from Dos d'Ane to Plaine d'Affouches
Hiking Grande Chaloupe to La Redoute
Hiking in the shadow of the volcano
Hiking Piton des Neiges from Cilaos
Hiking the 3 cirques
Hiking the Canalisation des Orangers
Hiking to and from Ilet à Cordes
Maïdo & Petite France
Morne de St François & Le Brulé
Pic Adam
Plaine des Palmistes to Plaines des Cafres via Piton Textor
Trekking the volcano
The source for these statistics can be found here and on pages 28-29 here.
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