Saturday, January 23, 2016

Indian River Tour

We took the Indian River Tour with Albert this morning. He picked us up before 7am in his panga-like boat and we motored into the river just after sunrise. Once into the river he turned off the motor and rowed to protect the peacefulness of the swamp.
Albert has lived here his entire life and is very knowledgeable not only from his P.A.Y.S. training, but from personal experience. He has played on this river since he was a young boy and told us some of his boyhood adventures.
Dominica has 365 spring fed rivers, but Indian River is the largest. Its banks are lined with swamp blood trees, swamp ferns, ginger lilies, palms, and mangroves. 
Although the roots of the blood trees grow in fantastical shapes, the wood is too soft for any commercial pupose. In the past the local Carib Indians used the red dye from the trees for "war paint", but now they use it in their crafts.


This hut is a leftover from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. It looks like the hut where CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow met Tia Dalma.

Dominica has also been used for an episode of Survivor. With its virgin rainforest and swamp jungles, it's the perfect locale for primitive settings and our imaginations ran wild; we kept expecting a velociraptor to appear around the next bend, but thank goodness, none did.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Giddy up where are the cowboys? Oh there out riding the velociraptors rounding up the pirates. Laura do you actually recall the info about captain Jack? Enjoy, boys just wanna have fun. Thanks for sharing

Back Amongst The Oaks said...

Thank you for the comment Anonymous, but who are you?

Back Amongst The Oaks said...

The Indian River was named after the Carib Indians who lived along its banks for generations. A few thousand Caribs still live on Dominica. I added a painting I found in a museum today; this is what they look like.