St. Elizabeth: rum, cattle breeding and swamps...

When we go down from Manchester to the lowlands of St. Elizabeth we notice almost immediately that temperature raises quickly. Near Gutters we are back on sea level and the humid warmth feels as of old.

Mangroves
The bigger part of St. Elizabeth is swampy. Only the Santa Cruz Mountains and the hills in the north against the borders of St. James and Trelawny interrupt the further rather flat landscape that is overgrown with (sugar)cane, lilacs, mangroves and ferns.
Right across the parish the Black River that extends deep in the hills of Cockpit Country, runs and flows into the sea near the small town Black River. Off this town the water of the river is brown and troubled but the more upstream you come the more the water becomes more black and clear.

The first worth mentioning village we come across is Santa Cruz. Immediately it strikes that the market differs of those we saw on Jamaica earlier. Here no bright-colored fruit but meat in booths. Santa Cruz is also considered as center for cattle breeding. The colonists mainly kept horses and hinnies.
The humid meadows are nowadays the domain of the cows for the production of milk and dairy-products. Driving to the right into the swamps near Wilton just before Santa Cruz you will see several little churches that remind you of colonial times.


Following the A2 direction west you come, via Lacovia near Bamboo Avenue. In Lacovia only the Lacovia Tombstone is worth mentioning. It is said that 2 English soldiers killed each other in a personal duel. It is rumored that one of these soldiers was a member of the Sir Winston Churchill family.

The shadow of Bamboo
Bamboo Avenue is about 5 km. long and is surrounded -of course- by bamboo. The bamboo forms a roof over the road and gives a welcome protection against the sometimes-fierce sunshine. The bamboo was planted by plantation-owners with the intention to make a stopping-place on the long road from west to east.

Back in Santa Cruz for a short while you can go to the left direction coast. You climb into the Santa Cruz Mountains and arrive in Malvern. In the past this was a tourist village because the temperature mainly was somewhat lower than in the lowlands. However there is nothing left of tourism and Malvern now is the home port of the Hampton College, a girl's school with a beautiful sight over the valley.
Going down to the coast, until you cannot go further, you are in Lover's Leap, a place you better can avoid if you are afraid of heights. Spontaneously the Santa Cruz Mountains stop on this spot and throw themselves into the sea. Some 600 m. below you can see the waves breaking up against the rocks, which is a spectacular panorama.

The legend of Lover's Leap tells that two black lovers from different plantations meet each other secretly here. When they were finally cached they jumped into the depth under the device "Rather die then be separated for ever". You are right; they could not have chosen a more beautiful spot.

Treasure Beach
West of Lover's Leap is Treasure Beach situated. Characteristic for the coastal strip is rest. The habitants are living on fishing and you can forget luxury hotels and provisions here.
The beaches are not vast and are scattered over three small bays, Billy Bay, Calabash Bay and Great Pedro Bay. Somewhat further for the coast is the Pedro Banks situated, one of the most important fishing grounds of Jamaica. As said before, rest is the item here and you should not be surprised when the whole beach is yours. But, is there something more funnily than to enjoy beach life with the local habitants just doing their daily jobs around you. And that is not spoiling the tourists. That is nice, isn't it?


Black River
From Treasure Beach it is about 20 km driving through the green plain to Black River, capital of St.Elizabeth. The village is named after the river and bay with the same names and is a busy center in the middle of the swamp.
In the 19th century Black River made her name as an exportation port of "logwood", a product that was much in favor in Europe. Black River was as first to use electricity supply. In 1893 the Waterloo Guest House was as the first supplied with electricity. Those golden times are gone already but many houses built in Georgian style are well preserved.

Being a good example hereof is Waterloo Guest House but just outside the village along the A2 there is a perhaps even more beautiful example: the Invercauld Great House. The front of this building being white as snow is really dazzling. The Hendriki Building and Town House in the center of the village recall of better times as well. The Parish Church of St. John from 1837 with its yellow color is a striking phenomenon as well.

Greatest attraction of Black River is of course the Black River Safari, a boat trip through the labyrinth of the swamp. Besides the enormous variations in vegetation in the Great Morass it is the homeport of the only still wild crocodiles. The chances that you meet them are rather good.
Besides this the swamp is a place for brooding of many tropical kinds of birds and still many shrimps and river-crabs are caught there. All together a trip through the Great Morass is a fascinating experience also because a complex eco-system where every plant and animal has found its own place.