Tallest Waterfall - La Jalda

Caribbeandreamto

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Tomorrow I''ll be heading to Para?so Ca?o Hondo on the outskirts of Parque Nacional Los Haitises in Sabana de la Mar.

On Sunday, I'll be visiting, for the first time, what I'm told is the highest waterfall in the Caribbean - no longer Aguas Blancas in Constanza at 83 meters high. This waterfall is called La Jalda and it towers at 120 meters. It is located about 35 km east of Sabana de la Mar, close to the town of Magua. Supposedly, it is very isolated.

If anyone has been, would love some tips. I'm super excited and will follow up with a report and pics :)
 

Caribbeandreamto

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Para?so Ca?o Hondo - Los Haitises

Very unfortunately, I was unable to visit La Jalda. The information I was given was incorrect and I was under the impression that it was a short hike to reach the falls. This past Sunday, I left Sabana de la Mar, heading east towards Miches to a small town called La Loma. This road is in terrible condition, much worse than the road from Miches to Uvero Alto. It was a bumpy hour and half to reach La Loma from Sabana de la Mar.

At La Loma I asked about the waterfall. The locals call the fall Salto La Loma and they said it was about a 12 km hike from the road. It was 3pm and there was no way to reach the waterfall and back before dark. In any case, I will be returning next month and now I have contacts and a better idea of time and distances.

On a positive note, I visited Para?so Ca?o Hondo for the first time in the Parque Nacional Los Haitises, just west of Sabana de la Mar.

This hotel is a true paradise on the outskirts of one of the most important national parks in the Dominican Republic. The 28-room hotel looks as if it was born from the forest with an incredibly rustic architecture. Each room is named after better known birds that can be found in the park (there are some 200 species in Los Haitises) and the menu tells quirky tales of indigenous words and fabled stories of the area.

The grounds are dotted with waterfalls, natural pools and lush vegetation. There is a zip line course, a camping area and lookout points to the Bahia de Lorenzo and Bahia de Samana. We (my girlfriend and my dog) were fortunate enough to have a room in the block of higher rooms called "Los Altos" with a picturesque view of the Samana Peninsula.

On Saturday, we joined a group for a short tour of the Parque Nacional Los Haitises. I wanted to do the longer excursion which takes you to two virgin beaches but, unfortunately, we had go with the group since we were only two. This tour included a catamaran ride through the mangrove forests, then out into the Bah?a de San Lorenzo, then to Cueva de la Arena and Cueva de la L?nea; two caves with Taino Indian drawings.

Very unfortunately, we had to join a 50 person group from Santo Domingo. My girlfriend and I found it very hard to listen to the guide over the yelling and talking. In the first cave (Cueva de la Arena), several people from the group actually left beer cans in the cave, of which, our guide had to pick up. In the second cave (Cueva de L?nea - called this because a train line used to enter the park to extract guano from the cave), as our guide demonstrated to us different drawings, a seemingly educated, well spoken man thought it proper to empty his beer right in front of a crocodile depiction on the cave wall.

I felt embarrassed for the guide as he paused for a moment but lacked the confidence to say something. He was an excellent, young guide and well educated. I learned that there are more coqu? frog species in Los Haitises than in Puerto Rico; that the Para?so Ca?o Hondo logo is actually a cave drawing found in Cueva de la L?nea; Los Jaitises means "high grounds" in Taino Indian language and that the word and concept of a "kayak" is from the Tainos, known to them as "Kayukos". Honestly, I learned a lot more but these stuck out.

We spent the rest of the day in the natural pools that surround Ca?o Hondo before venturing to the properties highest point to watch the day's fading sun.

Some tips:

- Bring bug repellent! This is a humid forest and bugs are plentiful, especially small biting gnats.

- Go for the all inclusive meal plan. The closest town for food is Sabana de la Mar and it's a good 15-20 minute ride down a long dirt road, so it's best to just eat at the hotel. Each time you sit down, you can order whatever you want from the menu: starter, main course, dessert and drinks. Only alcoholic drinks are not included. The menu includes pork, chicken, fish, crab meat, and conch - all prepared in different styles, mainly: a la criolla, a la vinagreta or al coco. Side dishes include tostones, rice, moro con coco, fries or vegetables. I also had fried minuta for the first time and loved it!

-Try to go on the weekdays for peace and quiet. The weekends normally bring large groups from the capital to either stay the night or do the Los Haitises excursion and spend the rest of the day drinking and listening to music in the pools.

-Our tour operator, Caribbean Dream T.O. will be offering vacation packages that mix stays in all-inclusive Punta Cana with Para?so Ca?o Hondo. These packages will be part of our "Relaxploration" line so please stay tuned.

Below are a few photos. I will also be writing a more in depth article about Los Haitises for one of my websites. I will post that here.

los-haitises.jpg


Ca


Cueva-de-la-L


Los-Haities-Sabana-de-la-Mar.jpg


Para


Para


Mangrove-Forest-Los-Haitises.jpg


Los-Haitises-Cave-Art.jpg


Sabana-de-la-Mar-Map.jpg
 
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PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
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Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros
Salto de la Jalda (Miches)
Located in between the communities of La Mireya and Magua in Miches, it's situated within the Parque Nacional ?Saltos de la Jalda" (Jalda Falls National Park) the same with an area of 36.43 km2.
There are two ways to get there, since the large waterfall can't be seen from any place other than on the last 500 meters from the road. One is to traverse by more than 11 points of the Magua river and the other is by air alone...

There's a small helicopter landing pad, which was built by the Venezuelan Empresario Gustavo Cisneros in the front facing the high waterfall and birth of the Magua river as well. By land one must leave behind the SUV to mount a horse, at the locality of La Lisa. Two paths were provisioned by the SEMARENA director Jaime David Fern?ndez Mirabal, with wooden handrails to assist the visitors and avoid accidents on the way.

There are centenarian mahogany, ceiba, royal palm trees and others in the area with many species of birds found here in the DR.


5530536101_a9eaac0121_b.jpg


salto-la-jalda.jpg


JALDA+2.JPG



The landing pad:
JALDA+4.JPG


JALDA+3.JPG
 

PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
13,280
893
113
Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros
How bad is to try on any vehicle? See what happens:

(this is a research group with an assigned ranger from Jaime David's then ministry)
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<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/L7hYwsikm_0?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/L7hYwsikm_0?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object>


Listen to the birds singing on the background!!!
 

Caribbeandreamto

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Mar 26, 2011
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Thanks for the photos Pichardo. The description you wrote looks very similar to what I saw in the paper. The problem is there is no mention of distances or time to hike to the falls. It just says you can hike, take a horse or a helicopter.

Either way, I'll be hiking next month :)