Haiti

Haiti occupies the western third of Hispaniola and is the most mountainous country in the Caribbean - its Taino name means land of high mountains. As French Saint-Domingue it was the richest colony in the Americas, built on sugar and enslaved labour, until a revolt made it the world's first Black republic in 1804. Most of its people speak Haitian Creole.

Known for the 1804 revolution, Haitian Creole, vodou traditions, papier-mache Carnival masks and griot and pikliz.

Highlights

  • Citadelle Laferriere, Nord, above Milot: The largest fortress in the Americas, begun in 1805 under Henri Christophe to hold off a French return and built on a ridge at about 900 metres. UNESCO listed it with the Sans-Souci Palace below.
  • Jacmel, Sud-Est: A former coffee-export port whose 19th-century merchant houses were built with cast iron shipped from Europe and the United States. It is the centre of Haitian papier-mache mask making and of a distinctive Carnival.
  • Bassin Bleu, Sud-Est, near Jacmel: Three linked pools and waterfalls on the Petite Riviere de Jacmel, about 12 kilometres from the town and set in a limestone gorge. The final descent to the deepest basin is done on ropes with local guides.
  • Parc National La Visite, Massif de la Selle: A cloud-forest park southeast of Port-au-Prince holding one of Haiti's last stands of Hispaniolan pine, in a country that has lost most of its forest cover. Endangered black-capped petrels nest on its cliffs.

Places in Haiti

Getting around

Haiti is not a place to get around casually right now. Canada and the United Kingdom both advise their citizens against all travel: armed carjacking is common, criminal groups put up improvised roadblocks to extort or kidnap motorists, and public transport is often disrupted by blocked roads and security incidents. Canada's advice is to avoid all public transport, above all the trucks converted into buses known as tap-taps, and it names Cap-Haïtien's international airport as the best way in and out while regular international flights to Port-au-Prince are suspended. If you must move by road, travel with people who know the ground that day.