Madeleine Falls

The Chutes de la Madeleine are a low wide waterfall on the Yaté plain in the Great South, where the river spreads over a rock lip and drops a few metres into a pool, and the reserve around it protects the maquis minier, the scrub that grows on New Caledonia's nickel-rich red soil and holds an extraordinary concentration of plants found nowhere else, including several primitive conifer species.

What you actually see

• The wide fall - the river spreading over a rock lip and dropping a few metres.
• The maquis minier - the scrub growing on the nickel-rich red soil.
• The endemic plants - species including primitive conifers found only here.
• The red earth - the ferralitic ground that gives the region its colour.

When to go

April to November is the dry cooler season. The falls run strongest after rain. Weekends bring visitors from Nouméa.

Honest expectations

The fall itself is low and modest; the vegetation is the real interest. There is little shade on the plain. Swimming is not permitted in parts of the reserve.

Nearby

Yaté Lake is east, and Nouméa is northwest.