Tuesday 10 July 2007

Trafalgar Falls and Hot Springs

I don’t know anymore, how many times we have visited the Trafalgar Falls. I still remember the first time we came there, though. We were new on the island, hadn’t even got our own transport yet (yes, in Dominica you say transport, but it means car, or bus, or any kind of means of transport). We used to rent one and drive around like crazy, not being able to stop the demand of beautiful views and experiences. Then we came to Trafalgar, one Sunday afternoon, late enough for the crowd of the day to be on their way back home, greeting them along the trail. We got the hot springs and the waterfall views all for ourselves. We stayed until it got dark.

It is just a ten minutes drive from Roseau, you basically just take the Valley Road out of Roseau and drive until the road ends. But first it splits in two, where the right turn would take you to Wotten Waven, you take the left. Then it splits in two again, where the left would take you to Laudat, to the Freshwater Lake, the Boeri Lake, the Titou Gorge, the Rainforest Arial Tram and all that, even to the Boiling Lake if you continue long enough. You turn right and just goes straight, although through a lot of curves, until the road ends.

The walk up to the view platform is short and easy, not more than ten minutes, but just as you take your first steps on the path towards it you get the feeling of being in the middle of the rainforest. The green is lush, intense, the air is moist, full of oxygen, birds and insects fill the air with their peeps and chirps, humming and buzzing. The ground is soft and the giant ferns the path is made up of lets you walk on almost dry surface, its not slippery and you don’t get wet, the little streams crossing the path are easy to jump across. Almost anyone can make it to the platform.

We still come here a couple of times a month, and we still stay on the platform for a while, to catch our breath and to watch the two waterfalls cascade down the mountains, the left one, the Father and the larger (about 120 ft or 30 m.), the right one, the Mother. And to admire the immense, green mountain or enormous rock between them, where high up our son is convinced Totoro, the Lord of the Forest, lives.

The father fall has hot springs at its base, and to get down to them there is another ten, or maybe five, minutes of climbing down the rocks, the sign says “on your own risk”, but we have never really felt any risk, not even with a small boy jumping down the rocks. We just keep a steady grip around his waist.

Down there, the view of the mother waterfall from the big bold rocks is stunning, you can climb really close to it and jump around the rocks. I don’t know why, but I always feel like a strange figure in a cartoon, it is all to unreal maybe. In the beginning we always went down to jump around, nowadays we normally just get changed and soak our bodies in the hot water of any of the natural pools. Our favorite is the highest one, where the water is warmest, and where there also is a great little back massage waterfall coming down. The pools are as great for grown-ups as for little kids.

Last Friday we took another visiting friend up, and as always, we try to stay as late as possible, just a little later than you should.

I have difficulties finding all my clothes in the dusk, but finally get it and set off back, climbing the rocky path uphill with an almost-two clung to my waist. When we reach the platform again it is almost, almost dark. We sit down for a while, have a banana snack and wait just a little longer.

The trail back to the entrance and office building is dark, and there they are! We see a couple of them, then more, then more and all of a sudden – what we have been waiting for. The forest is filled up with thousands and thousands, if not millions, of fireflies. They are everywhere and the bush looks like a twinkling starry sky, it’s like rainforest’s New Years Eve, and we stop, just look, try to absorb it all.

Nowhere I have seen anything like this, it is fairy tail beauty, almost unreal. I have seen it several times now, but I don’t stop being totally amazed, feeling swept away into a dream.

If you ever get to the Trafalgar Falls, go late in the afternoon. That way you don’t have to share the place with the cruise ship crowd (no offence cruise shippers), and maybe, if you stay late enough, you get to see the fireflies parade.


How to get there: Head inland on the Valley Road towards Laudat, passing the Botanical Gardens. Don’t turn right towards Wotten Waven, just continue straight. Next time the road splits, turn right (to not end up in Laudat). You have to pass the little village of Trafalgar, do some turns and finally pass the Papillotte Wilderness Retreat (a great place for a Kubuli beer and sandwich after the falls) and the hydro-electric plants, and there you are!

8 comments:

Susanne R said...

Hej!

Jag läste Annas inlägg på Vagabonds Resesnacksidor. Det var tips om Dominica till en familj som skall på långresa i Karibien. Jag skrev att jag gärna vill ha kontakt med Anna då jag har lite frågor... :-)

Hoppas att Anna läser detta och kan maila mig på srittedal@spray.se?

Vänliga hälsningar
Susanne Rittedal Söderblom

PS Superfin blogg!
Ds

Anonymous said...

Great work.

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot for the posting. A very detailed and usefull description of a great place. Going to be there in 2 weeks

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