Jamaica / Special Interests / Hiking & Walking

Jamaica offers an extremely diverse landscape for walkers and there are some surprisingly large mountains for an island just fifty miles across. It is exceptionally lush and beautiful too. There are dry limestone forests (and some wet ones) all over the island and as you climb higher you come to rainforest and eventually cloud forest where there are ferns, stunted and gnarled trees hanging with wispy strands of old man’s beard.

Hiking has always been popular within certain areas, particularly the Blue Mountains, where people have long climbed to the top of the Blue Mountain Peak, but recently hiking has increased in popularity lately and consequently new areas have opened up. Besides the Blue Mountains there are organized hikes into the John Crow Mountains (in the North East of the island, out of Port Antonio) and the extraordinary Cockpit Country in the center west of the island, an area of eroded limestone hillocks that stand like a shaggy green eggbox, their peaks 300 feet high.

There are paths all over Jamaica leading to remote plantations and so you will use these for some of the walks, but there are also some trails through the high forests beyond the plantations. Along the routes there are plenty of things to see. There are also some caves and some fantastic rivers and waterfalls with rockpools that make for a delightful swim, which you will appreciate after walking in the heat. Hikes to the Blue Mountain’s highest peak at 7402ft tend to set out before dawn in order to reach the summit for sunrise, when there is a better chance of getting a view as it is often covered in cloud during the day. There are also hikes to see the sunset, which has a reasonable chance of clear weather too.

The ground in Jamaica can often be very rough underfoot (because of the limestone base) and it can also be muddy, so you should take some suitable lightweight but sturdy boots. It can also be rainy, so take a waterproof top. The best clothes for hiking are long cotton trousers with detachable legs. If you hike to the Blue Mountain Peak then it can be cold in the night, so you should take an extra layer to keep you warm until you get moving.

It is a good idea to hike with a guide in Jamaica (you are guaranteed to get lost without one), not least because they are a fount of information about the extraordinary flora that you will see along the way. Always take water supplies with you, and note that some tours require you to take your own food and snacks. Finally, don’t forget to take insect repellant.

Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park

The most popular area for hiking, the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park covers an area of nearly 200,000 acres of these two ranges in the North-East of Jamaica, between Port Antonio and Kingston. With land as high as 7000 feet, they have an important and prolific biological diversity. The national park is managed by the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT/Green Jamaica), and includes two visitor and recreational centres, Holywell Recreational Area and the Portland Gap Visitor Centre. There are trails to follow form here, including one leading to the peak.

A number of companies around Jamaica offer guided hikes:

Cockpit Country Adventure Tours, Albert Town - A small eco-tourism company managed by the Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency (STEA), which offers three different guided walking tours into the extraordinary landscape of the Cockpit Country.

Sunventure Tours, Kingston - Sunventure offer a variety of nature-based tours in the Blue Mountains and Cockpit Country. These include hiking, caving, safaris and bird watching. Hikes to the Blue Mountain Peak involve an overnight stay. Other hikes include a 4 hour climb to Cinchona Gardens, or a 7 hour hike including the gardens and the Grande Ridge of the Blue Mountains. Hikes through the Cockpit Country vary from 3-4 hours to a full on 10 hour hike, and can include a boat trip on the Luminous Lagoon outside Falmouth.

Valley Hikes, Port Antonio - An eco-tourism organization with trained guides who all come from the local area. The company offers a wide range of hikes within the Rio Grande Valley (the watershed between the Blue Mountains and the John Crow Mountains) and further a field, and they last anything from a couple of hours to two days with a night camping out.

Non-profit organisations and Government links:

Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT/Green Jamaica), t 960 2848/9 | http://jcdt.org.jm/html/