The route
From Saint-Louis, go through Les Makes, then the Makes forest road, the RF11, winds up to the Fenêtre car park at the end of the road. The viewpoint is a few steps from the car park, wheelchair accessible, with picnic shelters along the road. Clouds rise above 1,000 m almost every day: to see Cilaos, be there before 9 am.
From the viewpoint, go back to the road, walk down it for about a hundred metres, then a track on the right enters the forest, signed Piton du Petit Mapou and Camp Deux Mille. A path takes over and crosses the top of the Piton du Petit Mapou, at 1,942 m. It is named after the small-leaved mapou, an endemic tree whose wood was once split into shingles. The path keeps climbing through the cloud forest, a highland native forest of tree ferns, mapous and mahots covered in moss. The high point of the loop, a little above 2,100 m, is in the branle vert heath, before the La Scierie forest road (RF58).
Camp Deux Mille, at 2,010 m, is one of the forestry camps of the 1970s. Workers of the forestry service, then of the ONF, stayed there all week and went back down to the village at weekends. The ONF still looks after it, and it serves as a shelter for hikers. The way then goes down the RF58, then the Plateau Goyaves path, before climbing back up the road for about 800 m. A path then leads to Camp de la Scierie, under Japanese cedars planted in the 1950s: the ONF's first sawmill ran here until 1978. Carry on to Camp de Montplaisir, the low point of the loop, around 1,340 m. Before the tracks were built, forestry workers and geranium growers walked up here and slept in these camps during the week.
The end has to be earned: the Contrefort de la Scierie path climbs a wall of about 150 m, then joins the RF11, which you follow up to the car park.
Good to know
Until the end of the year, the ONF is logging part of the loop. From Monday to Friday, the La Scierie forest road (RF58) is closed to walkers until 31 December 2026, and the Montplaisir path until 30 October 2026. The full loop can therefore only be walked on Saturdays and Sundays. On weekdays, the out-and-back on the Camp Deux Mille path stays open. No drinking water point is known: carry all your water. Fires are banned outside the fitted spots, in a heath that has already burnt over thousands of hectares. RandoMafate shows the ONF trail closures and the forecast for the hike before you leave, keeps the map offline in a forest where tracks and paths keep crossing, and your close ones follow your outing on a simple web page.
Plan this hike in RandoMafate
The trail map offline, elevation to the metre, ONF closures and the weather for the day, and the people close to you told when you set off and when you are back.
RandoMafate
