Wedged between two volcanoes, the Plaine des Cafres is a unique territory in Reunion Island. It owes its name to a group of runaway Cafre slaves who found this remote plain a good place to hide. From the 18th century onwards, they were joined by cattle breeders from the so-called "Petits blancs des Hauts", who came to settle there because of the cool, damp climate which offered plenty of pasture. The poverty of the inhabitants is great, so that the plain suffers for a long time from a pejorative image.
Later, in the 1970s, diversified and collective agriculture gradually gave way to a sector structured around specialised animal production. Technicians from metropolitan France helped to set up these new farming methods, based on the post-war metropolitan model. Today, most of the milk produced in Réunion Island comes from the Plaine des Cafres. Humid, regularly plunged into fog, and structured around cattle pastures, the Plaine offers panoramas that contrast with the tropical nature of the island. It is a real piece of Normandy in trompe l'oeil in the Indian Ocean.
The following series of images is part of a long term work, still in progress.
