Gorges created from volcanic fractures, like the bed of the Bras de Caverne river, make access to the centre of the island of Réunion difficult. Some sites were explored only recently, such as the “Trou de Fer,” a ravine of 820 feet (250 m) that was discovered in 1989. Because the island’s centre was protected from human encroachment, its tropical forests, with giant heather, ferns, and lichens, have been preserved, whereas the forests at low altitude have been converted to agricultural or urban use and have disappeared. More than 30 species of animals and plants, of which about two-thirds were endemic, have become extinct on the island in the past 400 years. Although blessed with great biological diversity, insular systems are generally more exposed to the risk of extinction of species than continents.

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