Feature

• Add comment

I think Simon the guide is trying to kill me. I have already followed him up countless peaks, and we’re barely a quarter of the way through the journey.

“And now we go down into the Valley of Desolation,” he says. If I’m not mistaken, that’s the same place that Gollum led Frodo to in Lord of the Rings. 

Simon and I are heading for Dominica’s Boiling Lake. It’s the second biggest one of its type in the world, but the champion in New Zealand can be reached by bus rather than a strenuous three hour hike. And that would be cheating. It’s a puffing, panting, calf-shattering walk that provides a perfect snapshot of the island. If Dominica was a colour, it would be green. If it was a sound, it would be running water. If it was a direction, it would be uphill. 

Different kind of Caribbean holiday

Dominica offers a spectacularly different kind of Caribbean holiday. Its beaches are nothing to write home about, it doesn’t have any major resorts and its airport cannot accommodate international flights from outside the Caribbean, meaning that a connection from another island is necessary. All of this keeps visitor numbers low, but those that do make it have a tendency to fall in love and return. It only takes the hour-plus drive from the airport to the Dominican capital, Roseau, to realise quite how special the island is. The road constantly curves through rainforest, with mountains springing up either side, banana plantations hugging the hills and postcard shots available from every angle. It’s ultra-green – like someone has taken a normal forest and turned the saturation up to 11. 

Hot pools

The Valley of Desolation is an exception. It is surrounded, of course, by mountains on which trees appear to cover every patch of ground, but the trail itself suddenly becomes rather bleak. The look of the valley was created by a volcanic eruption, and it is still full of steam vents and springs pumping hot water into the river. Due to the mineral content, the rocks take on reds and yellows, while the trickling waters have a milky blue glow to them. The river turns into a series of eerie pools, each with their own private waterfall. For a tired walker dripping in sweat, it’s like taking a warm – and utterly welcome - bath and shower on another planet.

• Add comment