Musicale stroll: reconnect with nature

Musicale stroll in Reunion

You like walking, music and you want to enjoy a moment of total reconnection with nature! Well follow us on this “musical stroll” activity that ends with a good Creole lunch!



Meet you at Sans-Souci forest (Maïdo)

We meet Alexis and Christophe, our guides for this morning hike like no other, early in the morning (7 or 8 a.m. in general), in the car park of the Sans Souci forest. The activity is done in several spots, but the forest of Sans Souci is a spot that lends itself perfectly to this morning walk / concert. Followed by a Creole lunch in a local institution, this Zarlor is a little suspended moment that feels good!

An atypical duo

Once the group is complete, we gather around Alexis and Christophe who introduce themselves and tell us a bit about the morning we are going to experience with them!

Alexis, mountain guide met Christophe, cellist and teacher at the conservatory, on the paths of our beautiful island. The alchemy immediately worked since it will soon be 5 years since they created this amazing musicale stroll duo. We won’t tell you more and we’ll let you follow in the footsteps of the King of Tamarins.

Music on!

So we begin our walk in the forest of Sans Souci. After only a few minutes, we land for the 1^st time of the day. Christophe warms up and gives us some keys so that we can immerse ourselves in the baroque music of Jean Sébastien Bach.

With an uninformed audience like us, Christophe demystifies or popularizes classical music and its sometimes somewhat “pompous” terms… suite in D major, sarabande, staccato… The goal is not to become an expert, far from it… But to give us some tools to better understand the music. Having done a few years of conservatory in Saint-Pierre, all that speaks to me well!

Music yes, but hiking too

Christophe is our musical guide throughout this morning, but Alexis is our hiking guide. And yes, there are 2 lively facets to this activity!

Alexis therefore takes time to make us aware of the environmental aspects of this journey, but also of good practices in general. National Park, Unesco World Heritage, invasive, native, exotic, endemic species… If you are not already a Nature professional, you can learn a lot about the Reunion island’s fauna and flora. And as much to say, as you can imagine, that interests us at least as much as music!

Full of knowledge…

On the road to the King of Tamarins, where we will have our well-deserved musical break concert, we are fed information and anecdotes, each more interesting and surprising than the next. Moreover, in this forest, geraniums were once cultivated and the small spaces in rubble stones half-covered with vegetation were in fact former still ovens! We have already hiked here to do the Ilet Alcide loop and we were wondering what it was. Thank you Alexis!

…towards the Roi des Tamarins

After a few small climbs, we arrive at the famous Roi des Tamarins, the dean of the area with its more than 400 years. It is in this magical place that Christophe will perform a suite by Jean Sébastien Bach for us.

We all sit around him and while Alexis offers us a small snack based on brioche and chocolate. It’s the moment when everyone enjoys this timeless moment in their own way. Admiring or taking a nap… we disconnect and it feels good! Amateur or not of classical music, difficult to say that we could remain insensitive to that.

Let’s go “chez Doudou”!

Once relaxed, it’s time to turn around, even if we could all have stayed here much longer enjoying this somewhat surreal atmosphere.

Stomachs starting to cry out, the return is faster than the outward journey! But our motivation is intact, so we continue in joy and good humor knowing that we will all finish this Zarlor in style at the restaurant “Chez Doudou”, a Maïdo institution. About 10/15 minutes below the forest on the way down the Maïdo road. We meet for a large convivial table where a great Creole meal awaits us to satisfy our stomachs emptied by this little morning walk.

Samoussas, donuts, buffet dishes and desserts… without forgetting the little juice or punch on arrival and the little digestive rum! Suffice to say that we end this morning on a good note. With full stomachs and stars in our eyes… and ears!

Musicale stroll, practical informations:

This Zarlor therefore includes the musical stroll with a mountain guide, Alexis Vincent and Christophe Boney, all-terrain cellist, followed by a lunch at Chez Doudou at Maïdo.

The price is 70€ per person.

From 7/8 a.m. to around 2/3 p.m.
For the walk, count about 4km return trip and 200 meters of elevation gain (at an altitude of 1,500 meters). Remember to take sneakers and water. Plus sunscreen and warm, rainy clothes just in case.

For all details about this activity and Book your Zarlor Musicale Stroll, it’s here (in french).

More information about our guides:
– Alexis Vincent (in french)
– Christophe Boney (in french)

And to find more articles about activities we can recommend, it’s here!