Volcanic Wonders
If you go to the inner lands, after 8 km. you’ll find Trafalgar Falls, (entrance fee), which can be bought also, at the travel, tourist, and car rental agencies; two spectacular water cascades, ten minute walk from the tropical gardens and the Papillote Wilderness Retreat inn. Here, many tourist guides will offer their services, but you will need one only if you’re going further than the lookout.

The falls are the beginning of the magnificent Morne Trois Pitons National Park, covering 6,800 has. of the central southern part of the island. Those strong enough can go on a tour to the heart of the park, where Boiling Lake is, which is 66m. wide, and the second largest of his kind in the world. Geologists have concluded that it is not a volcanic crater, but a floating smoke, where an opening releases hot gasses coming out of the melted lava lying on the depths of these waters. The hard long walk to the lake (more than 8 hours back and forth), starts at Titou Gorge, near the town of Laudat, at 10 km. northeast of Roseau. It’s a fascinating walk through a road that goes up and down, through the Valley of Desolation, a landscape with smoking chimneys and geysers, mud ponds, boiling water springs with blue, orange, black and yellow colors, before reaching the lake, a huge kettle with gray waters, giving you the impression of being on the moon.

The Birds from the Tropical Forest
Just north of the park, and close to the road taking to Castle Bruce, is Emerald Pool. In this beautiful pond, located at the heart of an exuberant tropical forest, you can enjoy a quiet meal. But if you prefer to cool off, then just stand behind the 12m. waterfall, or swim in the pond’s waters.

Those walking by the Central Forest Reserve, maybe will listen a sound like that of a sizzling door; it’s the nostalgic song of a lonely, red neck bird, known here as sifflé moutayn. Some think this thrush of happy aspect is a magic spirit, whose song tries to bring visitors into the forest.

Though Dominica can’t compete with Trinidad, regarding the diversity of birds, the truth is that there are 166 different species that would make an ornithology fan happy. So much diversity, within the boundaries of such a little island, reflects the extraordinary flora existing in Dominica.

An Island of Orchards and Gardens
Along history, the inhabitants in Dominica have had a very close link with the land, from the Amerindians, who brought fruit trees and vegetables from South America, which still grow in the island, to the cimarrones, that survived thanks to the orchards they planted in the forest, through to the Europeans, that confirmed that any plant in the world could grow in this fertile land. The uneven geography of Dominica makes that, almost each corner, has a different micro weather. There’s so much different flora that you wonder if you are not in the Garden of Eden.

The islander’s show, delighted, to visitors, their orchards and gardens, though you better phone them, previously. Very close to the Trafalgar Falls is the Papillote Wilderness Retreat (phone no. 448-2287, open daily), that for a reasonable price offers guided visits around the gardens with tropical flowers, surrounded by the jungle’s exuberant vegetation. According to Anne Jno Baptiste, who created this place, there is “ a collection mixing eatable plants with the wildest species”.

Nearby is D’Auchamps Estate (phone no. 448-3346, open daily, entrance fee). In this place, the Honychurch family has opened several roads through the dry forest that allow visitors to enjoy a small sample of the ever abundant and surprising vegetation that covers the island of Dominica.

Fortresses in an Unmatched Beauty Frame
In clear contrast with the exuberant, wet forests, with knotty trees, that grow in the mountains inside the island, where rain reaches 760 mm. yearly, in the Caribbean coast there are tropical dry woods, like the Cabrits National Park, located at 40 km. from Roseau, and very close to Portsmouth, the second city of the island. In the 100 has. of this national park, the landscape is full of laurels, mahogany trees, white cedars and palos campeches. Within the park, that limits with the Caribbean, are the ruins of Fort Shirley (open daily; entrance fee), a British fort built in the XVIII century, that at its time, was one of the most important military establishments in the Caribbean, with more than 50 different constructions, including powder horns, warehouses, and officer houses. During the colonial wars, could host up to 600 soldiers, and its purpose was to defend the north of the island as well as the Prince Rupert harbor, in the south. The Cabrits peninsula also has another attraction: its surrounded by a marine park, full of submarine life.

Nearby, just south of the Prince Rupert Harbor, the Indian River has its own history. On November 3^rd, 1493, Columbus first saw the island, while sailing next to this harbor; the Caribbean Indians, that lived next to the river, welcomed the European sailors, and offered them refuge, water, pine cone and yucca. If you want, you can go along this river on a canoe, through a tropical jungle full of mangrove swamps.