Americas

[Visited: September 2011]

By coincidence, I learned about the waterfall when reading a travel guide we borrowed in a lunch place on our way to the south of Dominica. Not only did it make me feel like it was something I definitely wanted to see, it also made me cautious about the undertaking, as it described the hike down as a difficult one with the highest degree of difficulty, with the recommendation of using a guide. So, when we finally arrived at the end of a narrow road at the top of a hill, I felt a little anxious about what our expedition. The surrounding landscape was as green as the rest of the island, rolling hills covered with dense vegetation, and in a distance, we could see the sea. The first stretch of the hike was an easy trail, and for a moment, I imagined that the information I had read was old, and that a new trail had been established. But when I noticed a strong rope tied to a tree, and a sudden drop just behind it, I knew that there was no way around it. We had to go down the cliffs the old fashioned way, and it was not going to be easy, if I had to believe the stories I had read.
At this point, I was alone, and was as cautious as I could be in order to prevent any mishap on the way down to Ravine Cyrique. In the background, coming from below: the sound of roaring waves; the sea was more or less right below me, even though I could not see it. The roots and earth were slippery, but I still thought the hike down was OK, until I reached a ladder. I went down facing the steep hill, always looking down to securely place my feet on the next piece of wood. I reached a narrow ledge, and did not see how the path continued. I tried cutting my way through thick vegetation, but after a while, realized this could not be the right way, so I backtracked to a point where I clearly saw the trail again. A second ladder waited for me, and when I walked a little further, I suddenly saw the beach right below. Sooner than expected, I had reached the bottom.
When I stepped on the beach, there was a group of boulders, and I turned left. Then, suddenly, I spotted it. At the end of the beach, pouring down the cliffs I had just come down from, the Ravine Cyrique waterfall, the goal of this undertaking. I felt elated, and when I reached the volcanic black sand of the beach, I almost ran to as close as possible. Wild waves were breaking on the rocky shore nearby, while the water continued falling from above. A fantastic sight indeed, I soaked it in, and could not stop feeling a deep satisfaction of seeing this nature treasure. The water of the waterfall was reflected nicely in the water washing on the beach, and I could have stayed for a longer time, and taken a dip in the sea if it would have been earlier. But it was getting dark, and I therefore tore myself apart from the scene and walked back on the beach. Finding the trailhead proved a little difficult, but once I was on my way up, I managed to reach the top in less than ten minutes. Certainly not a standard hike, the climb up and down to Ravine Cyrique proved not as difficult as sometimes portrayed. Moreover, it is probably one of the purest nature experiences you can have in Dominica.

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Personal travel impressions both in words and images from Ravine Cyrique waterfall (Dominica). Clicking on the pictures enlarges them and enables you to send the picture as a free e-card or download it for personal use, for instance, on your weblog. Or click on the map above to visit more places close to Ravine Cyrique waterfall.
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Ravine Cyrique waterfall > Dominica > Americas

[Visited: September 2011]

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