Climbing Le Morne Brabant

You start in the dark, at the foot of the mountain, and for the first stretch it is a forest track: shaded, steady, unremarkable, gaining height quietly. The light comes up through the trees. Somewhere above the halfway point the vegetation thins and you get your first look back down at the lagoon, and the colour of it from up here is the reason people carry cameras they will not use again all week.

Then the mountain changes. The upper section is steep, loose in places, and there are stretches where you use your hands. This is guided ground and the guiding is not a formality. Above it the summit opens into a plateau with the whole south-west corner laid out beneath you: the reef line, the underwater waterfall illusion where the sand runs off the shelf, kitesurfers the size of commas.

Le Morne is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and not for the view. This basalt block, with its caves and its cliffs and its single difficult approach, was a refuge. People who escaped slavery on the island sheltered up here, out of reach, for as long as they could. Mauritian tradition carries an account of what happened on the mountain at the moment slavery was abolished, and it is told here rather than written on a plaque. A good guide will tell it plainly, at the top, and then let it sit. You have seen this mountain from the beach all week. It looks entirely different with your hands on it.

Coming down takes longer than people expect and hurts more, and you will be back at the hotel by the time everybody else is at breakfast. Most of our travellers do this from the south-west coast, which is also where the dolphin boats go out and where the road up to Chamarel begins.

Good to know

• Start early. The mountain is exposed above the treeline and the heat of the day is not the time to be on it.
• Proper shoes with grip, not trainers you swim in. Two litres of water each, a hat, and something in your pocket to eat.
• Weather calls it off. Wet rock on the upper section is the reason a guide turns a group round, and it is the right call.
• The lower track to the viewpoint is a real option if the upper mountain is beyond you or the family is mixed.
• Guide fees, minimum ages, start times and group sizes are set by the operators and vary. We confirm yours in writing before you book.