Dominica

Dominica is a steep volcanic island in the Lesser Antilles, between the French territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique. It is the youngest island in the chain and still geologically restless, with nine potentially active volcanoes, sulphur vents and hot springs. The interior is mountainous rainforest rather than resort coast, and it is the one island where a Kalinago community still holds its own territory.

Known for the Boiling Lake, Kalinago Territory, sisserou parrot, sulphur springs and sperm whale watching.

Highlights

  • Boiling Lake, Morne Trois Pitons National Park: A flooded fumarole 60 to 75 metres across, its grey water at 82-92C around the edges and boiling in the centre. It is the second-largest hot lake in the world, reached only by a demanding day hike through the Valley of Desolation.
  • Trafalgar Falls, Trafalgar, Saint George Parish: Two waterfalls side by side above Trafalgar village, known locally as the Father and the Mother. The taller Father drops around 65 metres of cold river water; hot sulphur springs seep from the rocks at the base, so bathers can mix temperatures.
  • Kalinago Territory, Saint David Parish: A 3,700-acre territory on the rugged Atlantic coast, set aside in 1903 and home to about 3,000 Kalinago across seven hamlets, the last organised Indigenous community in the Caribbean. It elects its own chief and council.
  • Cabrits National Park, Portsmouth, Saint John Parish: A twin-peaked headland north of Portsmouth holding Fort Shirley, a British garrison where the 8th West India Regiment mutinied in 1802, an uprising that forced Britain to confirm its African soldiers as free men.

Places in Dominica

Getting around

Dominica's public transport is entirely private: minibuses with number plates starting H link Roseau and Portsmouth to the villages, leaving when they fill rather than to a timetable. They run most reliably Monday to Saturday, 6am to 7pm, and fares run from EC$2.00 to EC$12.00 with distance. Two companies sail to Guadeloupe and Martinique from Roseau and Portsmouth. Traffic keeps to the left, and a visitor's driving permit costs about US$12.