I could be on a bone-white, sun-kissed stretch of sand, toasting my good fortune with another rum drink. Instead, I am tipsy on a tiny platform 50 feet up a tree, teetering above the edge of a rain-swollen waterfall, searching for the other end of a zip line lost in the fog and foliage of a jungle river valley. There’s nothing to do but cinch my harness and launch myself into Jamaican airspace, allowing gravity to whoosh me over YS Falls’ seven-step cascade and through dense jungle for nearly 250 yards. I have enjoyed this country’s charms before, but not at this speed. I am a regular visitor to Jamaica’s spectacular coastline. On this sojourn, I want to venture beyond the beaches and delve deeper into the backcountry to experience Jamaica’s abundant natural beauty, to appreciate its rich, complicated history and to meet Jamaicans of all stripes – not just the guy serving the Red Stripes at my resort’s swim-up bar. Luckily, there are several well-run companies, including Island Routes Caribbean Adventure Tours and Jamaica Explorations, offering a range of excursions to satisfy both the first-time day-tripper and hard-core dreadhead.
“We’ve grown up loving the natural beauty and unique experiences of the islands,” says Dominique Peterkin, Island Routes’ general manager and a fourth-generation Jamaican. “Our mandate is to show off the extraordinary offerings in our very own backyard.”
Jamaica Eco-Tourism Photo Gallery
The outback adventure begins in the southside parish of St. Elizabeth, a rural patchwork of cattle ranches and cane fields that is a 90-minute drive from either Negril or Montego Bay and is anchored by the drowsy seaside town of Black River (population 3,500), the tiniest parish seat in Jamaica. The many fine Georgian- and Victorian-style buildings lining the port’s quiet streets attest to its past importance: Inland estates once sent barge loads of sugar, molasses and logwood (used for textile dyes) down Black River, the longest navigable waterway in the country. The trade enriched the town, which claims the island’s first horse track, as well as the first private home equipped with electricity. These days, agriculture and fishing drive the local economy, while the 44-mile-long river is a boon for eco-tourism. Just upstream from the fish dock and several ancient warehouses, I board a pontoon boat skippered by Everill Daley, 37, a native of “St. Bess” who’s led tours here since 1992. We motor past a middle-aged Rasta hand-lining for snook and enter Black River Lower Morass, a mosaic of tidal waterways, swamp forest and peat bogs considered the largest freshwater wetland in the Caribbean. As we cruise by stands of red mangrove, Daley spots a green heron hunting in the tangle of trees and a belted kingfisher skimming along the far bank. This marsh teems with fish and birds; approximately 14,000 acres (almost 22 square miles) are protected as a Ramsar Site, as determined by the Ramsar Convention, an international coalition dedicated to identifying and protecting important wetlands. It’s an undeniably beautiful place, with tunnel-like channels and centuries-old mangroves with dense, dreadlock-like roots.
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