French Réunion: the postmen of the peaks

Rene-Claude and Cyril, the two postmen serving Mafate, French Reunion, walk 90 miles of paths to deliver mail to residents on routes that can last days

The Cirque de Mafate, one of three calderas on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, along with Cilaos and Salazie, is a valley more than 1,000 metres deep surrounded by huge cliffs and steep peaks which, for nearly two centuries, have been home to the descendants of the maroons", slaves who fled sugar cane plantations.

The community of 700 Mafatais lives here, almost self-sufficiently, amid palm, banana and filao trees. But there are only two ways to get to the cirque: by foot or by helicopter.