Trafalgar Falls

Voyages - Dominique - le 27 Janvier 2015 par Mathieu WEBER

link http://www.bradtguides.com/destinations/north-america-caribbean/dominica/trafalgar-falls.html

The ‘father’ falls with a drop of around 65m, and the ‘mother’ falls with a drop of around 35m, make up the Trafalgar Falls. As you face them, the father falls are on the left-hand side and the mother falls on the right. The father falls used to cascade down a tall face of smooth rocks alongside a natural hot spring, but in 1996 there was a huge landslide and this unusual hot and cold water cascade was lost. The waterfall is still quite lovely, however. It has a deep pool and there are still small hot water springs nearby. The source for the father falls is a river that runs from the Freshwater Lake via Ti Tou Gorge in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park.

The mother falls are the more accessible of the two waterfalls, though it is still a very tricky scramble over large and often slippery boulders. Taking its source from the Morne Trois Pitons River (better known locally as the Breakfast River), which is crossed by hikers on the Boiling Lake Trail from Ti Tou Gorge, this thundering waterfall also has a great bathing pool. You will also come across a cascade of small warm water pools along the trail from the viewing platform.

The Trafalgar Falls visitor centre has a large car park with souvenir stalls, toilet and changing facilities, snack bar and a display room with examples of flowers and birds that may be seen in the area. It is also the entrance to the waterfall trail and where a forestry officer will ask for site passes. The Trafalgar Falls has a nice wooden viewing platform just ten minutes or so along an easy trail where you can get good photographs of both falls. This area is a rainforest habitat and it is possible to see several species of fern, epiphyte and bromeliad. Look out for large land crabs scrambling for cover as you pass. Trained guides can be hired at the visitor centre to escort you either along the trail to the viewing platform or all the way to the foot of the falls.