The hiking trail to Middleham Falls on the Caribbean island of Dominica is all wet leaves, slippery black stones and steps formed by tree roots. It could be a path in Middle Earth, shrouded, shady and green, fit for hobbits and fairies. Where sunlight pierced the canopy, rainbows formed in the mist, almost close enough to pierce. Here and there, hummingbirds drew nectar from huge flowers.
The goal that January day: a 200-foot forest waterfall that fills and refills small pools on the valley floor, where I could—as one does at Dominica’s secret hot pools and secluded waterfalls—discard my clothes, slip into water and commune with the hummingbirds like a fairy queen.
Dominica, 29 miles long and, at its widest, 16 miles wide, is one of the wildest islands in the Caribbean. A former British colony, it is located in the eastern Caribbean between Guadeloupe and Martinique. Many travelers are based in its capital, Roseau. Thanks in part to its rugged topography, bisected by a volcanic mountain range with conical Jurassic-like peaks, the island was the last Caribbean island to be colonized by Europeans.
Even today, reaching this tropical bastion, one of the New York Times’ 52 places to go in 2024, takes a taste for adventure, patience and a strong stomach. There are few direct flights from the United States, and once you land, the journey isn’t over. Driving around the island in a rental car – to lodges, hikes and snorkelling, and to visit local experts – usually involved long, restless walks along narrow concrete ribbons that broke up the mountain jungle last century with pick, shovel and wheelbarrow.
A place with ups and downs
The island attracts hikers who enjoy a challenge: Walking almost anywhere beyond the coast involves uphill or downhill. Boiling Lake, a flooded volcanic fumaro and popular attraction, is at the end of an arduous three-hour drive from the village of Laudat. The government is building a cable car, scheduled for completion at the end of this year, that will take visitors from near Laudat to the lake in just 15 minutes.
Even after the cable car opens, hikers will be able to choose from a network of mountain trails, including the 115-mile Waitukubuli National Trail, which crosses the entire island in 14 stages and takes six days to complete. (Waitukubuli is the native name of the island.)
Dominica, which calls itself the island of nature, has tried to protect its wild side. The route to Middleham Falls is one of dozens of marked and unmarked hiking trails around the 17,000-acre Morne Trois Pitons Volcanic National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Offshore, the government opened a new reserve for sperm whales, complementing a marine sanctuary that protects coral and reef animals. And the locals have joined the effort. For the past year, Simon Walsh, who runs Nature Island Dive, and his fellow divers have been painstakingly applying an amoxicillin caulk to corals showing signs of stony coral tissue loss disease, which has been spreading throughout the Caribbean for about a decade.
My partner and I snorkeled on the reef near the dive shop at Bubble Beach (so named for the tiny bubbles from volcanic springs rising from the sand) and easily spotted the white medicine that outlines the disease-ravaged spots.
Mr Walsh had plans to save some specimens from coral bleaching, a devastating phenomenon linked to climate change, by moving some into tanks to protect them from another summer of record water temperatures. But a tragic turn of events put that effort in jeopardy.
Mr Walsh has managed both coral rescue projects through a non-profit organization called REZDM. The organization, created after Hurricane Maria hit the island in 2017, received much of its funding from Daniel Langlois, a Canadian philanthropist who had built an off-grid resort near the town of Soufriere. Last November, Mr Langlois and his partner were murdered, a rare crime on a largely safe island. Police have charged the American owner of a neighboring property, who was allegedly fighting with Mr. Langlois over the use of a road through his property, and a Florida man with murder. Mr Walsh does not know whether the projects will continue to receive funding.
A garden wherever you go
Dominica receives up to 250 inches of rain annually, feeding crystal clear streams, waterfalls and thousands of acres of lush forest. Hurricanes like Category 5 Maria have ravaged and reshaped the island repeatedly over the centuries.
The upside to all this precipitation is the Eden ecosystem. Much of the island looks like an untamed garden. Spectacular flowers peek out from abundant greenery almost everywhere. Birds of paradise and other dazzling flowers grow like weeds. Grab a handful of tall grass on the side of the road, crush it and inhale lemongrass. Pick a berry from a tree and it could be one of half the cherry species. 20kg orbs of jackfruit, rock hard and encased in bright green skin resembling elephant skin, hang from branches.
Fantastic private gardens also grow many of these wild plants. Jungle Bay Resort in Soufriere claims to have 75 different tropical fruit trees in its garden, a number we doubted until its owner, Sam Raphael, gave us a 45-minute tour, allowing us to sample dozens of species. On the edge of Roseau, the entrance to the 40-acre Dominica Botanic Gardens, established in 1889, is marked by a tree whose branches, leafless when I visited, sprout large, fluffy yellow peony-like flowers—a gorgeous beauty with a whimsical name, buttercup tree.
At Papilote Wilderness Retreat, we were able to spend the night in a garden. Located a few hundred meters below Trafalgar Falls, a double cascade, Papillote is ahead of many of the other eco-friendly establishments on the island. Its owner, Anne Jno Baptiste, came from New York in 1961 and bought the land, including the 40-foot waterfall and steaming volcanic springs, to create a botanical garden. Now 94, she is modest about her garden and philosophical about the challenges. It has survived five major hurricanes. “We’ve had some landslides,” he says. “You see, everything changes. Life is like that. You just pick up the pieces.”
The bunker is a charmingly dilapidated landmark with a few simple rooms. Steps lead below Day-Glo orange and pink flowers and giant ferns to a secret garden. Twice a day, we wandered around and discovered what standing under a 40-foot waterfall does to sore shoulders, then soaked in a warm pool for a long time. Our accommodations also had a tub of hot volcanic water in the bathroom. Our room cost $130 a night (as in many places on the island, we paid in US dollars, which is about 2.7 East Caribbean dollars, the local currency).
Ambitious plans and growing fears
Historian Lennox Honychurch is among islanders concerned about government plans to expand and modernize tourism infrastructure. Like many Caribbean islands, Dominica is conflicted between the demands of moneyed snowbirds who want luxury accommodations and easier air access, and environmentalists and advocates of a limited, sustainable local economy who fear losing part of its “nature.” their island.
In addition to the cable car to Boiling Lake, builders are working on a large, new international airport about an hour’s drive from the capital, which is expected to be completed by 2027, according to Samuel Johnson, chief executive of International Airport Development. Dominica Company. And the government plans to welcome half a million cruise ship visitors annually. “Their dream is to have big, shiny hotels with marble lobbies,” Mr Honychurch said.
Denise Charles-Pemberton, the tourism minister, did not deny that she wanted more tourists and more direct flights. However, he insisted that the government also focused on protecting the environment. “We want our guests to be responsible, to understand that our vision is to be a great destination and when they come they have to respect nature,” he said.
At present, luxurious food and accommodation are available, but they are not the norm. Some luxury resorts serve good meals — but at prices that would raise eyebrows even in Miami or New York. The best food options in terms of taste, price and atmosphere are roadside shacks and kiosks with outdoor tables.
In Soufriere, we bought takeout chicken stew plates for about $5.90 each at the large, pastel blue Teachers Place hangar. We ate boiled fish ($15) on the terrace of the River Rock Cafe and Bar, with a stunning view of the Roseau River flowing through the forest. The best meal we had was chicken roti (about $4.80) at Vado’s HotSpot, a bright red roadside cargo container.
Soaking in stardust
One rainy afternoon after a day of hiking and snorkeling, we decided to check out the volcanic pools at Ti Kwen Glo Cho (patois for Coin de l’Eau Chaude, or “hot water corner” in French), a riverside lodge between two towering walls of greenery. For about $18.50 for the two of us, we entered and found our way to a series of steaming cement-lined pools nestled among low palm trees, ferns and birds of paradise.
We joined a group of other international guests in the larger pool and soon we were all cooking together like a global soup. We sat on the boil until we couldn’t take it anymore. Steam rose from bright red bodies wrapped around the edge of the pool, cooled by tiny raindrops. Drowsy, blissful, practically drugged, we lay prone as the sun dropped behind the mountain, the lurkers began to call out in the shadows, and the sky turned starry black. We are stardust, I thought, recalling the lyrics of Joni Mitchell’s song “Woodstock,” as I looked up at the sky.
Just a day later, back in the cold, gray Northeast winter, surrounded by traffic, fast food, and ATMs spitting out ears of dollars, I couldn’t help but think back to that magical sunset at Ti Kwen Glo Cho and finish the song’s verse: “And we must return to the garden.”
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