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🥾 Hikes · Black River Gorges
Les Mares (Paille-en-Queue) trail
An easy, flat walk from Pétrin across the plateau heath and forest, with a waterfall detour: the park's gentlest trail.
🚗 From the villa45 min · 27.9 kmoff-peak estimate
⏱️ Time needed2–3 hnot counting the drive
🕓 Best time of day☀️ Morning
💰 PriceFree
🥾 Trail12.8 km · +198 mEasy · out and back · guide not needed
The Paille-en-Queue trail (named after the white-tailed tropicbird) crosses the high plateau between Pétrin and the Plaine Champagne road through heath, dwarf forest and marshy areas ('mares'). It's flat and easy, but can be muddy.
A quiet family walk; a detour leads to a waterfall on the Plaine Champagne side.
- Flat and easy
- Plateau heath and tropicbirds
- Waterfall detour
Trail map
Flat; muddy after rain.
Trail (easy)
Trail traced on OpenStreetMap paths: check the signs on the ground, and take the OSM or an offline map app (Organic Maps, maps.me) with you.
What to expect on this hike
MudHigh
ShadeSome
Exposure / vertigoLow
WaymarkingGood
ViewpointsAlong the way
RopesNone
- 📍 Where it starts
- At the Pétrin information centre (car park, toilets).
- 🧭 The route
- Flat paths across heath and forest on the plateau towards Plaine Champagne; turn back whenever you like.
- 🪨 Terrain
- Flat, muddy, sometimes waterlogged.
- 👁️ Views
- Wide views across the plateau heath.
- 🔁 Loop?
- No loop (back the same way).
- 🦟 Insects
- Mosquitoes near the marshes.
- 💧 Water
- No water.
- 👥 Crowds
- Very quiet: one of the least visited trails.
- 📶 Phone signal
- Patchy.
- 🎒 Bring
- Waterproof shoes · Mosquito repellent · Rain jacket · Water
- Pétrin
- Plaine Champagne end
Getting there
Driving route from the villa
🚗 By car: 45 min (27.9 km) off-peak. Pétrin information centre car park. Directions in Google Maps ↗
- 🚕 Taxi from the villa: about Rs 1,150–1,500 one way per car (agree the price first; a return trip with waiting time is often negotiable).