Monts Koghis

The Monts Koghis rise sharply behind Nouméa, a mountain wall that from the city waterfront appears close enough to walk to in an hour and in reality takes a full day to explore properly, its slopes covered in dense humid forest that is one of the most biodiverse environments in New Caledonia and supports an extraordinary concentration of endemic plant and animal species found nowhere else on earth.

The main walking track ascends through gradually changing vegetation from lower secondary forest through to the cloud-level maquis scrub at the summit ridge, with panoramic views over the lagoon, the Coral Sea and the island of Lifou visible on clear days, the sweep of electric blue water and the dark smudge of the outer reef providing orientation that helps make sense of the scale.

The forest reserve was created in 1969 and protects a significant area of New Caledonia's unique humid forest, home to endemic birds including the crow-like rufflets and the flash of colour from the numerous honeyeaters and sunbirds that move through the canopy, making every section of the trail a potential birdwatching opportunity for those who move quietly.

At about the halfway point on the main trail, the landscape opens onto a ridge called La Crête, where a view north takes in the full sweep of the lagoon from Baie de Numèa to Île Maître, the water changing colour from turquoise to navy as it deepens toward the barrier reef, and on clear mornings this view alone justifies the early start.

The old sanatorium buildings at the lower access point are the most evocative feature of the Monts Koghis: begun in the 1890s as a Protestant mountain retreat for tuberculosis patients from Nouméa, they were abandoned by the 1930s when antibiotic treatment changed the course of the disease, and the jungle has been slowly reclaiming the stone walls, terraced gardens and arched doorways ever since.

Exploring the ruins involves a short detour off the main trail and requires careful footing on the overgrown paths, but the stone archways, terraced foundations and the roots of fig trees growing through walls make compelling photographic subjects and give the forest an additional layer of human history that purely natural environments lack, making you aware of how briefly humans occupied this landscape.

The trails are well marked with yellow paint and the round trip from the main trailhead to the summit and back takes four to six hours depending on fitness, making it a full-day excursion from Nouméa that is best combined with an early start and a packed lunch, and which rewards those who make the effort with one of the best panoramic views in the southern Pacific.

The Monts Koghis offer the most accessible and comprehensive mountain-forest hiking experience near Nouméa, with a well-marked trail to a panoramic summit.

The forest reserve protects one of New Caledonia's most biodiverse humid forest environments and provides habitat for endemic bird species.

The ruins of the nineteenth-century sanatorium add an unusual historical dimension to the natural landscape.