The “Domaine de Valombreuse” is a large garden park situated in Petit-Bourg. It is a beautiful setting that features over 300 specimens of the plants, flowers, and trees native and imported to Guadeloupe. The park also houses live animal displays, a children’s play area, and provides access to La Chute de Valombreuse (The Valombreuse Waterfall).
Walking around the garden you feel a great sense of calm. It is a seriously wonderful place for a hot day, as all the plants and trees provide the pathways with an abundance of shade. The various plants have placards explaining their origins, uses, and patterns of growth. Expectantly, the information is available in French only. As such, those less than fluent should bring a dictionary and lots of time if total understanding is desired.
The garden is well laid out and leads you through the foliage and fish pools to the path that descends to the waterfall. It would be prudent to know beforehand that the hike to the fall is about 30 minutes long and involves several rope assisted stream crossings, but I missed that part on-line. Note that the trail (if you call being led through the rain forest by a yellow string trail) gets a bit muddy and slippery after heavy rains. Rains just like the ones we’ve been having off and on for a week!
I don’t have anything against hiking, but if I’d known I was going to be traversing mud, enormous tree roots, and streams I might not have worn flip-flops. As a result, the hike was definitely slow-going, but I didn’t mind. The towering Mangroves, Palms and Bamboo are beautiful, as is “La Chute Valombreuse.” Plus the final reward, of swimming in a water-fall fed, fresh water pool is the most refreshing thing ever (think comic book guy voice)! It made me sad to have to hike back up to the park and leave some of that fresh, clean feeling behind.
Though I can’t recommend wearing thong sandals for this hike, my flip-flops worked out OK in the end. While most people returned from the hike and cringed at their SUPER muddy sneakers, I dunked my flops in the stream nearest to the trail’s exit and they were as good as new.
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Editor’s Note: I must give props to my pink flip-flops, purchased in 2005 from a dollar store in the Historic Marktplatz of Bonn, Germany. They have been with me through a variety of countries and, of course, many subsequent trips to the Hollywood Grill while living in Chicago. I really thought the thongs would pop out under the strain of my metered slips and slides, but they held firm. My boyfriend once asked me “why do you still wear those things?”
Answer : Because they’re awesome.
Tags: places to see, Guadeloupe by
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