Firstly, Why Dominica?
Since Kelly had visited Dominica on a work trip, hiking was already on a to-do list. The green rainforests to the mountainous landscapes had already sparked a desire to return and spend more time in nature, walking and exploring the great outdoors. The famous Waitukubuli National Trail is a long-distance hiking trail that spans most of Dominica, crossing through villages and natural wonders like waterfalls and rainforests. Unfortunately, some parts of this magnificent trail were overgrown or damaged by Hurricane Maria passing in 2017.
We read and saw numerous pictures of the waterfalls and even knew about the amount of rain that fell in Dominica (not called rainforests for nothing) and thought it would be the only place we would visit where we would need a waterproof jacket. Someone had even said that it gets cold in the evenings and we may need to bring long sleeves.
Not all of our expectations turned out to be a reality.
Where is Dominica, and how do you get there?
It is located between the Islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Caribbean. It has a population of around 77,000, with the capital city Rosseau in the country’s southwest. The island’s size and the villages’ spread-out nature can make the island look calm and peaceful. Except for those near the bigger cities, the roads are relatively quiet. However, our visit being in October meant it was in Hurricane season and out of season for most tourists.
Direct daily flights into Dominica from Miami and International flights from Europe can also travel to Islands like Antigua, Barbados St Maarten. Visit Discover Dominica to find out more.
Located in the Caribbean Hurricane belt.
Like other Islands, Hurricane Maria damaged 90% of buildings in the area in 2017. Since then, the government has made great strides in ensuring Dominica will be as hurricane-resistant in the future as possible. Buildings had to be built more robustly, and people were educated about being more self-sufficient should the worse happen again. There are still parts of the island where you can see leftover damage. However, not as much as I thought. The people and the government have managed to repair most of the damage caused and bounce back as quickly as possible.
Getting around
Due to the mountainous and volcanic nature of the island, the roads venture up, down and around the nine volcanoes on the island. This provides amazing views and sometimes little surprises when the local taxis fly down on the wrong side of a tight road. That being said, the streets are all well-kept and free from litter and obstacles. Local taxis are plentiful, especially around larger villages and cities, and there is a regular bus service (minivans). We always hire a car. Therefore, while they didn’t appear to be as mental as in other Caribbean countries, we don’t have any first than knowledge of these services.
What can you do in Dominica?
Dominica is home to 9 live volcanoes, numerous waterfalls, lakes, 365 rivers, black beaches and a popular location for scuba diving and whale watching. If you have the time and energy, there is plenty to do. If all that sounds like too much effort, there are plenty of good restaurants and rum on the island to work yourself through, made even easier if you stay in a hotel.
We had sourced a list of places we wanted to visit from blog posts, guidebooks and even google. We opted for Airbnb as this gave us the flexibility and locations in different parts of the island that we were looking for.
We had read the usual “15 things to do in Dominica” and “30 things you must do in Dominica before you die” type posts. We didn’t cross as many off as we thought we would. “Great plans and all that”.
However, here are some activities we did and what we thought of them.
Hiking Trails & Waterfalls
We looked forward to hiking in national parks, rainforests, or along coastal paths. We had been practising and got back into it from our time Hiking in Antigua and all the trails we did there. But hiking in Dominica would be among the greenest countryside we had seen in some time, and as it turns out, some of the wettest.
Spanny Falls (4/5)
This is located off the Dr Nicholas Liverpool Highway, the main road that connects the east to the west of the country.
To access Spanny Falls, visit the shop next to the sign for Spanny Falls. Due to the location of the falls being on private property, there is a charge of EC $10 or US $5 each to help with maintenance etc. You then have a choice of walking from the shop up the path to the car park and the start of the trail or driving up the path to the car park.
See my Komoot map of our journey. Once on the path, it is a very easy hike to the falls. On our trip, we had the whole place to ourselves.
There is a second waterfall a bit further on, but it was too wet and muddy for us to try.
Jacko Falls (4/5)
Located further south on the same road as Spanny falls is Jako Falls. The parking is practically on the main road, and it’s a short walk to the actual falls down some steps. Another attraction on private land, therefore a payment of $10 each going to the lady owner, and you are off.
While only a short walk, it was a nice spot to have a picnic and get in the water. As expected, it was freezing but quite nice after a sweaty day. Another small site would get very crowded quickly, but we were lucky, and it was empty when we arrived.
Expectations – A nice hike to a Waterfall
Reality – The shortest walk to any waterfall. However, it was a peaceful place with a thundering waterfall.
Emerald Pool (2/5)
We were a bit disappointed with this one. This is a government-run location, meaning you need a pass to enter. This can be purchased as a day pass or a week pass. Unfortunately, season times mean that the normal sales offices at these locations are not open, and therefore if you turn up without one, there is no way of purchasing and the park rangers, that do sit there even if no one visits all day will check to see you have one.
This wasn’t the most disappointing, though. Although marked, we found that the walk was pretty short, and we expected more when we got to the pool. The weather made the water lose its famous emerald colour that would be brought out on a nice sunny day but still, with the drive to get there and the 5-minute walk. We quickly walked back to the car in search of something else.
This was another place where there were no visitors, which we were glad for, as it’s such a small loop that it wouldn’t take too many people to make it feel too busy.
Syndicate Trail and Waterfall (5/5)
This one is a favourite, but it is a drive to get to. The small access road to the site can offer some excitement in meeting traffic coming from the opposite direction, and the road is only one vehicle width in size and only a few passing areas.
However, when you get to the Trailhead, you enjoy a long walk around a well-marked path.
Here you will see all kinds of rainforest trees. Most have signs on their names, and the famous Sisserou Parrot lives here, but we saw nothing. 51 species live in these forests, and we could hear birds in the distance, but our timing was off, and there were no birds to see,
You can opt to walk to the waterfalls or drive, and for us, we drove, it’s a bit of a distance to walk from the Trail, and when you get there, there is only parking for about two cars without blocking the access road.
However, the walk to the waterfall was the best we had done, Another waterfall on private land sees you pay your entry fee at the entrance hut, and you are pointed to a path to follow.
This path leads downhill and to many streams that you have to cross to get to the waterfall, but you are rewarded by a very thunderous amount of water forced through a gap at the top of a ravine. It was once the natural spring that supplied water to the local area, but now it has become a tourist attraction.
Expectation – A slightly longer walk to a waterfall, where we could have a prepared snack and be amongst nature.
Reality – A fun walk through streams, over rocks, and opening through trees to reach a large, powerful waterfall, their craps scurry on the edges, and you can feel the power of the water hitting the pool below. We were lucky to take water shoes with us, so the crossings were easy on our soft feet—the water, when crossing, is about ankle-deep in parts—a really good walk. We felt we earnt our packed lunch at the end of it.
Cabrits National Park (4/5)
One thing we got used to travelling various islands is that if there is an old military fort, you can bet there is a trail that you can walk, by its nature always coastal, with ruins to photograph and explore on the way or enjoy the path that either takes you up to a viewpoint or across the land to something of interest.
The hike through the Cabrits National Park is no different. This is located in the Northwest of the island and is quite a large area to explore. Out of Season is very quiet, but the routes are easy to follow, and there is a museum and lots of information about the site.
Cabrits National Park
Black Sand Beaches (4/5)
While the East coast had its fair share of Sargassum, the west coast water was clear,
Dominica is not a place for white sands and crystal clear water, but that’s a pretty unfair statement. The amount of volcanic ash that travels down to the sea creates black sand, and while the water is crystal clear, it doesn’t have the usual turquoise colours the Caribbean is famed for.
Scuba diving and snorkelling is an area that excels. From the bubbling shores of Champagne beach in the south and other spots and natural shipwrecks along its coast, I’ve been told that the underwater world around Dominica is amazing.
Cooking with Daria (3/5)
For some reason, I wanted to do a cookery course. Why did I want to do it in Dominica? I’m not sure, but I think I wanted to learn some authentic Caribbean cooking, especially when we are travelling and can not always find a supermarket that sells us the food we are comfortable cooking.
After driving to her house, we were joined by another couple, and we proceeded to prepare and cook each item and then organise the feast on a table to enjoy what we had created.
The lesson was well-paced. We could all ask lots of questions, and there was nothing too complicated that, with a bit of practice, you could easily manage at any time.
Her husband joined us towards the end, and we talked about Dominica’s changes. Not a bad 3-hour lunch from start to finish.
Expectation – Looking for the chance to learn a variety of dishes, perhaps a start, main and dessert.
Reality – We cooked a main with a salad accompaniment, which was very tasty, but we would have liked to have leant more.
Learning about the Kalinago’s.
We stayed in Kalinago Territory/Carib Territory for a week. The Kalinago territory is around 3,700 acres. There are believed to be about 3000 Kalinagos. The area is rough and is undergoing new roads that should provide better access from north to south. However, it is some way away from finishing. The territory doesn’t get much from tourism; you can feel walking around and interacting with the locals. Apart from the pleasantries, there is no other conversation, and people keep to themselves. There is an effort to bring more tourists into the area, and the story is interesting and not well-known. Hotels and separate tours bring people to the KALINAGO BARANA AUTE, which means Kalinago Cultural Village by the sea, and it’s a place to listen and watch the community try and share their culture of how it used to be.
Aywasi Kalinago Retreat (3/5)
We stayed next door in the Aywasi Kalinago Retreat. A beautifully decorated building that was set high above the cliffs. A very peaceful place to watch the ocean. This was another building destroyed by Hurrican maria in 2007 and has been completely rebuilt.
It is open to the elements, so expect everything from birds, lizards, mosquitos and the odd cockroach.
Expectations – A relaxing, beautifully situated place to base our adventures from.
Reality – While it is a beautiful building in a relaxing, beautiful area of Dominica, It’s a long way from most of the locations of interest, like waterfalls, rainforest trails and even beaches. There are a few small shops in the area that provide the basics. Anything more and you will need to drive to the capital Roseau which is an hour away by car. There are no trails through the countryside, only walking along the roadside. Major work was being done on the roads, so frequent waiting for lorries to get out of the way and bouncing along uneven roads was normal. As beautiful and quiet as it was, it became unpractical for us after a few days. Maybe when the roads are fully finished, it will open up that side of the island more. However, it still won’t help the distance from everything else Dominica has to offer.
Final Thoughts:
Our overall experience with Dominica was a good one. The weather wasn’t always on our side, which meant some hikes were damp and muddy, but being British, I suppose we were used to that a bit. The evenings were humid, especially after it rained, and the days didn’t change the humidity level all that much. I used my waterproof coat probably once, but it was too hot quickly, so I just let myself get wet and naturally dry out.
The hikes were mostly short. We did find some good ones, but we were surprised that most attractions were just off the road, and there wasn’t much cause to spend a lot of time at these places. This meant that we visited a place, quickly walked around and then headed off to the next.
One thing to point out is that visiting any place out of season means that a lot of places are shut, or at least reduced facilities are available, which you have to deal with.
And another note is that Dominica was still rebuilding itself from Hurricane Maria in 2017, so some of the longer trails were damaged and not easily passable. A local guide would probably help in these situations, but we didn’t want to get a guide whenever we wanted to explore.
Dominica is a beautiful island that is different from other islands in the area and well worth a visit. Talking to a local guide, he tells us there is still a lot of work to get back to pre-Hurricane Maria levels, but the country is doing a great job.
If visiting and time are limited, we would say work out what you are most likely to do and look for a place close by. The roads circle the mountains; although it’s a relatively small island, it takes a long time to drive from one end to the other, and you don’t want to spend more time driving than enjoying the sights.