Cirque du Soleil

The interior of the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion contains a series of collapsed calderas known as “cirques”. They are the remnants of violent volcanic eruptions of aeons past and scar the island like giant pockmarks. The cirques are now forested hinterlands, inaccessible and uninhabitable to all but the hardiest. This image shows the Cirque de Mafate from its edge at Cap Noir, accessible after a toe-curling drive up to 1,150m above sea level. Mafate is even more remarkable because it has a permanent population, who live off-grid in tiny hamlets, without roads or mains electricity: either you walk in or you fly in.