Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire

Where is the Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire?

The Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire is part of the Black River Range.

You will find it in: Mauritius.

Summit: 20.400° S, 57.470° E

The story behind it

The mountain stands in the southwest of Mauritius, above the deep valleys of Black River Gorges National Park. The whole island grew out of volcanoes, so the rock under the forest is old dark basalt, worn smooth by millions of years of rain. On the slopes grow ebony trees and plants that live nowhere else, and the rare pink pigeon and the Mauritius kestrel fly through the canopy. Walkers usually start near the road at Plaine Champagne and follow a muddy, root-covered path uphill for two to three hours, while long-tailed macaques watch from the branches. The French name means something like peak of the little black river, after the dark stream that cuts through the gorges below. From the top on a clear morning you can see the sea on two different sides of the island.

Find it on the globe

The Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.