News
Few days ago, members of Friends of Mauritian Wildlife participated in a very interesting hike to Piton Savanne in the Les Mares region in the Upper Plaines Wilhems. Accompanied by Lensley Etiennette, Friends Coordinator, and Giani Abajee, Flora Conservation Biologist, the participants enjoyed this quite easy hike even if the weather was inclement during most of the trip.
As usual, the atmosphere was pleasant and friendly. Smiles were seen on all the faces: most of the participating Friends were discovering a new place. To reach the summit of Piton Savanne, hikers must go through the path near Les Mares chase. The trail is quite straight forward for few kilometres until a spot where you need to go right in front upwards instead of continuing the path to the left which leads to Combo forest This ascending trail is the only tricky part of the hike which had been made harder with the continuous rain but the participants were able to reach the summit without too much difficulty.
Along the way, few endemic and native plants could be observed like the Bois de raisin (Bertiera zaluzania), Fangame (Stillingia lineata ssp. lineata), Mort aux rats (Cnestis glabra) and some Tambourisa species. They also had the chance to see the Pink Pigeon near the Pigeon Wood field station on their way to Piton Savanne’s summit. They learned as well few useful information about orchids from John Davy of the Royal Society of Arts and Science who joined us in the hike.
