Discovery of the lava tunnels - Flow 2004

Located in the heart of La Réunion National Park, Simon Bédoire takes you on an exploration of the lava tunnels created by the 2004 lava flow.

A fascinating adventure that combines unique volcanic formations with an awareness of the need to preserve this exceptional environment.

It's a fragile world, a fast-moving world, and we're just passing through. All we have to do is adapt. I suggest we explore the lava tunnels. We go for a stroll through the tunnel, and I call it exploration because we're exploring. We're all a bit like explorers. The outing is structured around two phases: time to explain and raise awareness of the environment, and time to make progress, observing ourselves as we move through the tunnel.

There are tunnels because there are eruptions. We need to understand why there's an eruption and where it starts. So, we can start from very far away, but already, if we start from the superficial magmatic reservoir, it's two kilometers underground. We sometimes see vitrified walls, stalactites that have formed in just a few minutes and are not growing. Just because they don't grow or evolve doesn't mean they should be broken. These formations won't change: if we come back in 300,000 years, they'll still be there, identical. I'm convinced that we have to preserve this environment.

I started the business in 2011, as soon as the brand was launched. We became interested because we're in the area, in the heart of the National Park, and I think that in terms of our values and what we transmit, we meet the criteria. We share our passion for nature and the environment. Where we are today, the lava will come back, that's a fact. But is it in two days, 10 years, 100 years or 1,000 years? We don't know. What we do know is that one day, the site will be destroyed. Unfortunately.

At the same time, new sites are being created. That's the magic of it. When we can no longer visit this tunnel, new tunnels will have formed. It's a perpetual restart.