Monday, April 7, 2014

Cirque de Mafate - Réunion Island

With this card from the Réunion Island, i'm only missing 2 french UNESCO sites. 
When i saw this card on Emerich albuns, i wasn't sure if it was from a UNESCO site but my hunch was correct. The card shows the Cirque de Mafate, which is a caldera formed from the collapse of the large shield volcano the Piton des Neiges. This volcano was the origin of two other cirques but only Mafate is entirety located within the perimeter defined as WHS. 
Pitons, cirques and remparts of Réunion Island were classified by UNESCO in 2010. 

Editions Clin D'Oil * © TAVERA ph. 
The Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island site coincides with the core zone of La Réunion National Park. The property covers more than 100,000 ha or 40 % of La Réunion, an island comprising two adjoining volcanic massifs located in the south-west of the Indian Ocean. Dominated by two towering volcanic peaks, massive walls and three cliff-rimmed cirques, the property includes a great variety of rugged terrain and impressive escarpments, forested gorges and basins creating a visually striking landscape. It is the natural habitat for a wide diversity of plants, presenting a high level of endemism. There are subtropical rainforests, cloud forests and heaths creating a remarkable and visually appealing mosaic of ecosystems and landscape features. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1317

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