The valley of desolation!?

Who would have thought it? The Valley of DESOLATION! Followed by the BOILING Lake!

WOW!!!!!!!!

From chatting to people in town they had said that the boiling lake is a must! Beautiful scenery, they said! A lake that really boils (and it actually is boiling!)! Watch out for the hot mud though, boiling sulphourous sludge spewing from the ground!

So off I went.

The people I had chatted to said that the path was fairly easy to follow so I forfitted the guide. Leave early they said, busses start at 7am. I left at 11. Not the best planning in the world but hey, I’ve never been very good at that (although I have started to realize that is can yield some impressive results.. more to come...)! Anyway.

Got a cab up with a German couple. Winding up into the hills on roads that were falling off the edge of the cliffs (literally) and then off on the trail I went! Straight into a muddy path, past the hydroelectric power station (40% of Dominica energy is hydroelectric) and into the forest!

The path started easy enough, logs on mud, and then the climbing started. Up and up for ages then over a ridge and down the other side, humming birds all around! Continuing on through the dense, lush forest and down to the valley floor, over the river then up again!! Repeat a few times and you are on a ridge stomping along the top of the forest, mountains topped with clouds looming through the trees.

At the highest point of the trail, you see forest all around and the sea in the distance, and more hummingbirds!!!!! Should really find out what they were (here a guide would have been handy). Another decent through the jungle and into a riverbed, follow it down, no mean feat, it had 4m falls to get down! The soil in a crumbly red mess, huge boulders scattering the floor. Then you get your first peak at the VALLEY OF DESOLATION (great name!).

Spurting mini geysers spew fresh (hot) water and gas into piles all around them. Yellow sulphorous deposits cover the river bed, there are pools of greys, blues, blacks, greens, yellows, browns and oranges all littering the landscape and flowing down the mountain. Again rotten eggs waft through the air (not at bad as Soufriere, sulphour spring a couple days ago!) Down into the valley, across another river and thought the desolate yellow water. Life clings on in the form of mosses and lichens, and scattered around are grasses, a smattering of lizards and the indomitable flies. Then up, through the valley and around a corner and you are there. A huge boiling lake!

A flooded fumarole, a crack through which gases escape from the molten lava below, a lake of water trapped in a crater being fed by the rainwater of the surrounding area by 2 small tributaries. Gas and vapor fill the air. The wind swirls in the crater, sometimes you can see the whole crater, walls an unknown distance high, the river continuing off down the hill and the boiling centre of the lake. The wind eddies and you can barely see 2 meters!

Beautiful, stunning.

They say it'll take three to four hours to get there. I think this is tourist speed and estimate. I did it in 2 and a quarter. Just time for lunch then off we go, back into the valley of desolation!!!!! I had a trusty stick and kept a close eye on how deep it went into the mud. I met a polish guy who badly burnt his foot on the mud. Massive nasty blister. Then back up the now forest river valley. A bit too far up in fact. Missed the turning and ended up half way up a 6m climb before I realized that there was nothing like this on the way down! Backtracked and the path was obvious.

The decent. I didn't realize on the way up that is really was the way up! A long old climb, so the way back was a lot easier!!!!

SO tired when I got back.

Good 5 hours of walking (plus lunch!)

I loved it up there!

In other news, I'm in Dominica. In St Martin I Took part in the classic yacht regatta on a buattiful old boat called Infante. Old school racer. I loved that too! Then a banana boat down here. Weird experience. The rum is great here.

Dominica is stunning. My 1st experience of propper rain forest? Stunning, amazing super happy fun times!!!! Waterfalls, natural hot springs! so much more! Off to the semi finals of the calypso crown now!!!

whodedoOOOOOooooOOOoO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(the echo is great over the valleys!!!!)

Tomorrow down to Martinique!

Pictures don't do it justice!