Dominica

Not the Dominican Republic. This is the wild, green, empty one

Dominica is routinely confused with the Dominican Republic and is nothing like it. It is small, mountainous, extremely wet and almost entirely covered in rainforest, with a population under eighty thousand and no mass tourism industry. It calls itself the Nature Island and for once the branding is accurate.

There are nine active volcanoes, more than any island its size, and the second largest boiling lake in the world, reached by a six-hour return hike through the Valley of Desolation that is one of the genuinely great walks in the Caribbean. Rivers are everywhere, reportedly 365 of them, and waterfalls are a matter of pulling over rather than booking a tour.

The Waitukubuli National Trail runs the length of the island over fourteen segments, the first long-distance hiking trail in the Caribbean. Dominica also has the last surviving pre-Columbian Kalinago community in the region, with their own territory on the east coast. Hurricane Maria in 2017 was catastrophic here, and the country has since committed to becoming the first climate-resilient nation.

Annual events and festivals

• Carnival, Mas Domnik (Feb-Mar) — one of the most traditional in the Caribbean, with sensay costumes and lapo kabwit drumming.
• World Creole Music Festival (Oct) — three nights of bouyon, zouk, kompa and soukous. The biggest event of the year.
• Creole Day, Jounen Kweyol (Oct) — traditional dress, Kwéyòl language and food across the island.
• Independence Day (3 Nov) — marks the 1978 end of British rule, at the end of a month of cultural events.
• Dive Fest (Jul) — the longest-running dive festival in the Caribbean.
• Nature Island Literary Festival (Aug) — writers and poets in Roseau.
• Kalinago Week (Sep) — celebrating the indigenous community and its traditions.
• Emancipation Day (first Mon Aug) — marked with drumming and community events.
• Domfesta (Apr-May) — a festival of arts running through the spring.
• Whale watching season (Nov-Mar) — sperm whales are resident year round, best seen in these months.