La Plaine-des-Palmistes · RE

Forêt de Bébour

Forêt de Bébour is a vast primary cloud forest on the highlands of Réunion island, part of the UNESCO World Heritage core zone of Réunion National Park. Reached by a single forest road from La Plaine-des-Palmistes, it plunges the visitor into one of the Indian Ocean's most pristine montane forests — a world of gnarled trees wrapped in epiphytes, tree ferns rising like green umbrellas above the canopy, and an ever-present mist that gives everything an otherworldly glow. Since 1994, over 74% of the forest has been a protected biological reserve spanning from roughly 1,200 m up to the summit of Piton des Neiges at 3,070 m. It shelters more than 400 native vascular plant species, nearly 40% found nowhere else on Earth, and is threaded by waymarked trails that make this extraordinary biodiversity accessible to hikers of all levels.