Réunion

Réunion National Park (French: Parc national de La Réunion) is a National Park of France located on the island of Réunion, an overseas department in the western Indian Ocean. Established on 5 March 2007, the park protects the endemic ecosystems of Les Hauts, Réunion's mountainous interior, and covers around 42% of the island. Notable endemic species include the Réunion cuckooshrike and the Reunion Island day gecko. Plans for a park date back to 1985, and in a public survey in 2004, the communes of Réunion approved the creation of a national park. It officially came into existence in 2007. The park's volcanic landscape, including the Piton de la Fournaise, an active volcano, was designated a World Heritage Site in 2010, under the name "Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island" for its imposing rugged terrain and exceptional biodiversity. The park's mission, other than preserving landscape and biodiversity, is to share knowledge and welcome visitors, and to work together with local communes. It is a popular destination for hiking and mountaineering. Controversies have emerged over economic development in the park, notably the exploitation of geothermal power. In 2016, the Regional Council of Réunion had plans to downgrade the national park to a regional nature park to ease tourism development. This was contested by the park authorities and opposition politicians.

Grand Bassin – Le Dimitile Important Bird Area is a 3000 ha tract of land on the island of Réunion, a French territory in the western Indian Ocean.

Cilaos (French pronunciation: [silaɔs]) is a town and commune on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. It is located centrally on the island, in a caldera of altitude 1,214 m. The caldera (usually known as the 'Cirque') is also named for the community.

Réunion is an island in Southern Africa, in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. It is an overseas region of France. The total area of the island is 2,512 km², of which 10 km² is water. The island has a coastline of 207 km. The maritime claims of Réunion include an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles, and a territorial sea of 12 nautical miles (22 km). Reunion is geologically situated in the Somali plate.

The Col de Bellevue is a mountain pass on the RN3 road which runs across the Indian Ocean island of Réunion. At 1606 metres it is one of the highest road passes on the island, and lies between the villages of Bourg-Murat and La Plaine-des-Palmistes

Dimitile is a mountainous zone on the island of Réunion, located towards its southern end.

La Plaine-des-Palmistes (French pronunciation: [la plɛn de palmist]) is a commune in the French overseas department of Réunion.

Bourg-Murat is a village on the Plaine des Cafres on the French island of Réunion, lying north east of Le Tampon. It has a museum dedicated to the nearby Piton de la Fournaise volcano and is home to the Piton de la Fournaise Volcano Observatory.

The Piton de la Fournaise Volcano Observatory is a volcano observatory in the village of Bourg-Murat on the island of Réunion that monitors the Piton de la Fournaise shield volcano in the Indian Ocean. It is part of the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, a French governmental, non-profit research and higher education establishment located in Paris.

Rivière des Marsouins – Grand Étang Important Bird Area is an 1,800-hectare (6.9 sq mi) tract of land on the island of Réunion, a French territory in the western Indian Ocean.

Grand Étang (large pond in English) is the largest lake on the island of Réunion, a French territory in the western Indian Ocean. It lies in the commune of Saint-Benoît, close to La Plaine-des-Palmistes, in the eastern part of the island. Its inflow is a short creek from the waterfall Cascade Biberon of the Bras d'Annette creek. It was created by a lava flow acting as a natural dam afterwards. It does not have an outflow.

The Plaine des Cafres is a plateau on Réunion Island, one of the French volcanic islands in the Mascarene Archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean. It is part of the commune of Le Tampon. It is named after the Cafres, black slaves who hid in the area during and before the 18th century.