36 Caian Tavl + Lif o C T o b e r   2 0 0 9

C A r I b b e A N L I F e[ The personalities, lore and ecology of the region, revealed ]

F I e L d T r I p j A m A I C A

The Hills Are Aliveeling t scts f Ccit Cnt — av t gn an lw it.

by ALex pAdALkA

LAy oF The LANd

ens f sin av

fasin Ccit

Cnt’s aal

gg-catn-li tain.

Stan Stwart apparsrmarably calm right now,spcially considring w’rabout to drop into a 15-oot-

wid and God-nows-how-dp hol inth ground, a cav orbiddingly nownas th Dvil’s Staircas. Martl “Malibu”Taylor has lit a small ir to hlp wardo a growing inlux o mosquitos,and I’m pring downward into thvoid. Shr limston walls rcd intoiny darnss. And th bottom? Whatbottom? This cav, in a rmot sction

o northwstrn Jamaica calld CocpitCountry, hasn’t sn a visitor in almostthr dcads. W spnt th bttr parto a ull day bushwhacing our wayhr, and i anything gos wrong, w’ron our own. Thr is no cll phonrcption, and th chanc that anyonwill stroll by this spot in th junglanytim soon is slim at bst. Stwart, alany, 56-yar-old Ontarian who smsto driv nourishmnt solly romcannd sardins, Canadian cigarttsand th occasional Rd Strip, dircts

m to ti a rop around a tr or mydscnt. I chc th not or th sixthtim as h hands m a radio. “I’ll bcommunicating bac to you,” h says.I quicly considr th consquncso that radio going silnt — and just asquicly dismiss th thought.

From th air, this 500-squar-milara — not ar rom Montgo Bay andOcho Rios — loos li a hug grngg carton, with stp, conical towrso limston, som tallr than 300 t,and blow, a maz o ravins and dp,

   R   o   b   e   R   t   S

 .   P   a   t   t   o   n   /   n   a   t   i   o   n   a   l   G   e   o   G   R   a   P   h   i   c   /   G   e   t   t   y   i   m   a   G   e   S

 

38 Caian Tavl + Lif o C T o b e r   2 0 0 9 C A r I b b e A N T r A V e L m A G . C o m  Caian Tavl + Lif 39

bowl-li dprssions ull o hiddncavrns and sinhols. Th trm

Cocpit Country coms rom thscavitis, which supposdly rsmblth arnas, calld cocpits, onc usd

or cocghting. It’s a topographyormd by hundrds o thousands o yars o rosion, and that procss has

mad it a trachrous plac to xplor:As sping rainwatr ats away at thcilings o undrground chambrs,

smingly solid ground is otn justa raction o an inch thic, rady tocollaps undr a haplss stp.

Gologists stimat that thr arthousands o cavs li th Dvil’sStaircas on Jamaica, most o thm still

undiscovrd. Stwart, who rst camto th island in 1987, has xplordmor than 250 o thm, som 50 o which wr rst-rcordd dscnts —

including on that ld to th discovryo th 636-oot-dp Smoy Hol

Cav, th dpst hol ound on th is -land so ar. “It’s hard to b an xplorr

ths days, so it’s nic to b abl to x-plor somthing that no on has bnto bor,” h says. “But thr’s also

th discovry and xploration o thfora and auna and what th watr isdoing, rathr than just bing th rstprson to travl through it and hav a

loo at it. It’s also discovring what’sliving in th cavs.”

Right now, Stwart’s on w thro an xpdition that has him slashing

through shrubbry, plunging into cavs,swimming through undrground rivrsand rquntly crawling through bat

guano — or “rat bat dung” in Jamaicanpatois. H is typically sn cutlass byhis sid, shouldrs stoopd, ys opn

dangrously wid, doing vrything butpricing his ars to listn to th soundo th bush whil plotting GPS way-

points into his Garmin handhld. In1992, with nancial support rom thU.S. Natur Consrvancy, h oundd

th Jamaica Cavs Organization, atam o local and orign voluntrswho study th island’s cavs and wor

to protct thm rom a host o thrats,notably by lobbying hard against thcommrcial strip mining o an alumi-num or calld bauxit. Th JCO aims

to ducat locals too, who otn posan unwitting mnac to th cavs,

unawar o th connction btwn a

hol in th ground usd as a garbagrcptacl and th drining watr thatcoms out downhill, or o th dvasta-

tion wrad on a cav’s cosystm bycollcting guano, which is usd as artilizr. “W ar th only guardians o 

 Jamaica’s cavs,” says Stwart.

STeFAN STeWART IS FAMOUS and

wll lid in ths parts. evryon wmt in th narby towns o Windsorand Shrwood, and as ar southwst as

Accompong, grts him by nam. ButCocpit Country wasn’t always quitso hospitabl to strangrs. Plac nams

such as M No Sn You No Com andth Land o Loo Bhind giv clusto its mystrious, rbllious past. It’s

a history tid to th only popl ablto dy th British incursion into thrgion, and on or whom Cocpit

Country’s daunting trrain provd aboon: th Maroons.

Slavs rlasd by Spanish sttlrs

fing th British occupation o thisland in 1655, th Maroons gav thinvadrs som sti opposition. Thy’d

bn traind or ghting by th rtrat-ing Spanish and brought to th conficta w gurrilla tactics as wll, includ-

ing had-to-to camoufag and codd,long-distanc communication using thabeng, a bugl mad rom cow horn.

In 1690, th Maroon ladr Cudjoinitiatd a long but ultimatly succss-ul rsistanc, and in 1739 th British

signd a pac traty granting thMaroons 1,500 acrs o land and au-tonomy rom th colonial govrnmnt.

Cudjo bcam ladr o th TrlawnyMaroons, and his brothrs too ovrothr Maroon sttlmnts, including

th prsnt-day cntr o Maroon cultur, Accom-pong. Thr, thousands

o Maroons gathr achyar on Cudjo’s birthday, January 6, to clbrat thir

rdom. “W wr r ahundrd yars bor man-cipation,” says Maroon

ladr Sydny Pddi.Th Maroons o 

Accompong rmain sl-ruling and sl-sustaining,

happily indpndnt o govrnmnt mddling.

Cocpit Country is

dividd into Maroon landand a orst rsrv —although many Maroons

considr th rsrv tob thir trritory too.Accompong’s 700 or so

rsidnts pay no taxs ors on th land, whichpasss on within ami-

lis and can’t b sold toorignrs. Thr is nopolic orc; Babylon, as

th polic and outsidgovrnmnt ar calld hr, must binvitd, just as — in accordanc with

Cudjo’s traty — th British colonialgovrnmnt intrrd only in crimsthat carrid a capital punishmnt.

Ths days, wary o th outsidworld and rcly protctiv o thirland, th Maroons ar particularly

carul about th typs o tourism andcommrcial activity thy allow. “Ourland carris valu rom gnration

atr gnration,” says Mlvill Curri,Pddi’s right-hand man. “W will notsacric th utur o our childrn. Our

lands hav no pric.”To that nd, th town’s ldrs hav

continud to oppos bauxit mining

(dspit larg montary ors) andmbracd a community-basd, cultur-ally snsitiv brand o tourism. Tour

guids ar local armrs, and hotland rstaurant propritors ar mostly Jamaicans; th mony you spnd in th

Maroon community stays right thr. 

FOR A DAY-TRIPPeR, thr’s plnty o 

opportunity or sl-guidd discovryin and around th towns o Jamaica’sCocpit Country. Th trac-r roads

nar Windsor, Dromilly, Quic Stpand Accompong ar idal or mils o lisurly touring. Diving into th bush

is a dirnt mattr, howvr: Youabsolutly must hav a local guid withyou. With no watr sourcs byond th

occasional puddl, plnty o sinhols,no discrnibl landmar aturs andno orst rangr srvic to spa o,

Cocpit Country can b trachrous towandr on your own.

And yt, dspit th dangrs o 

alling into a sinhol or gtting lost inth wildrnss, Cocpit Country is asurprisingly bnign — vn bountiul

— jungl. Thr isn’t on vnomousinsct or sna spcis; th cav-dwlling bats ctivly control th

mosquito population; and th rd-bacd tics don’t carry Lym disas(though, unortunatly, thy do tnd to

str or th groin). Thr’s no shortago tasty things to at ithr, includ-ing nativ yams, orangs, bananas,

coconuts, and Jamaican appls andsugar can, and Jun brings th mangosason, with as many as 25 dirnt

varitis yours or th picing, otngrowing at arm’s rach right along thtrails. And what you don’t nd growing

wild you can purchas atarm stands along any road-way: pinappl, plantains,

bradruit, a potato-li rootcalld dashn, cassava,callaloo, bo choy, Scotch

bonnt ppprs and thprctly namd — and vryrar — custard appl.

Guids such as Taylor— a ounding mmbr o th JCO, who chargs $20and up or his along th

10-mil-long Troy-Windsorand Quic Stp-Windsor

plac nas sc

as m N Sn y

N C an t

Lan f L bin

giv cls t Ccit

Cnt’s stis,

llis ast.

C A r I b b e A N L I F e I F I e L d T r I p

   W   i   l   l   i   a   m   R   i   c   h   a   R   d   S

WhAT LIeS beNeATh

 T gin’s gg

lansca a i

tsans f cavs.

osit, f

av: mangs

t sl; Ccit

Cnt still vs

n w.

 

40 Caian Tavl + Lif o C T o b e r   2 0 0 9

   W   i   l   l   i   a   m

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trails — hav an ncyclopdic nowl-dg o th land and its living things,pointing out watr sourcs and swim-ming spots, idntiying dibl ruits,dscribing th mdicinal proprtis o roots and hrbs, and sharing insightsinto th habits o birds (27 o 28ndmic spcis ar ound in CocpitCountry). Most guids ar also wllvrsd in Maroon history, althoughb prpard to har dirnt accountsdpnding on your location.

 Whn you’r rady to do a littlxploring blow Cocpit Country’svrdant surac, th Jamaica Cavs Or-ganization ors srious cav tours orabout $150 pr prson, with all undsgoing to support cav prsrvation andrplac costly quipmnt. It’s monywll spnt, hlping to nsur not justth JCO’s survival, but your own. Vn-turing into ths cavs — hols dpnough to rquir rops and harnsssand hadlamps — is not or th aint o hart, and dnitly not a at attmpt-d without dirction rom an xprt.Th Jamaican polic actually bring inStwart and th JCO to assist in haulingup th bodis o th haplss.

THAT’S A TOUGH IMAGe TO SHAke right now, standing at th gapingmouth o th Dvil’s Staircas, gath-ring my nrv to dscnd into thdarnss. “It’s a thr-dimnsional

nvironmnt,” says Stwart, giving ma quic spluning primr. “Rathrthan waling on a horizontal surac,thr’s uphill and downhill in cavs:You go along a bit; you’r windingdown; thr’s spiralli passags; yougt to do all this thr-dimnsionalmapping and mind whr you ar. It’sa vry uniqu thing compard with thoutsid world.” And with that, I strapinto a harnss, turn on th hadlampon my hlmt, and had into th hol.

About 30 t blow th surac,I accidntally bang against a largstalactit. It rsponds with a mtallicring. I tap a smallr stalactit nxt to it,and th pitch is slightly highr. Cavmusic. Dropping blow an ovrhang-ing sction o ston, I los th wall andcontinu downward, slowly twirling inmidair as th sun-lld hol abov mgts smallr and smallr. I sm to bth only living thing hr. Thr ar no

bats, no inscts, nothing — until I harmild chirping o a small rog. I wondrhow he plans to gt out o hr.

At last, about 150 t down, I plantmy t on th cav’s foor. Thr’s anopning to a dpr chambr narby,and nxt to it a smallr crawl hol thatlads, wll, somwhr; I pr in butcan’t s th bottom. evrywhr Iturn my lamp, alling dust clouds myviw. It covrs m and my gar with alayr o rd grim and shuts down mycamra atr only a coupl o shots. It’shot down hr, and I am uttrly alon.And asid rom my amphibian buddy’scroaing, it is compltly quit. Fromabov, th distant voics o Taylor andStwart blnd in with th chirping o birds. I paus my brathing or a wsconds to savor th silnc — and thsolitud. Thn I gt bac on my ropand bgin th long climb to th sur-ac. As I ascnd th Dvil’s Staircastoward th light, I can’t hlp but lth thrill o discovry.

LATeR, BRAGGING ABOUT my xplo-rations to th propritor o Miss Lilly’s,a B&B and bar in narby Coxhath,Lilly Bolt ass m i I’d com upon thplac “whr th buttrfis ar.”

“No,” I said. “How do you gt thr?”“It’s a hiddn scrt,” sh rplid,

thn smild at m and shard a silntbut maningul xchang with anothrbar patron. Rathr than ling disap-pointd by hr nigmatic rspons, Ilt somhow hartnd. Th CocpitCountry and its popl had wlcomdm with unwavring warmth, butthr wr a w things thy wrn’tagr to shar with an outsidr. Andthat smd Ok with m, bcaussom scrts, li whr th buttrfisar, ar bst lt untold.

For more information on backcountryhikes and cave tours in Cockpit Country,contact the Jamaica Caves Organization(jamaicancaves.org). When in CockpitCountry, make a point of stopping byMiss Lilly’s Bar and Shop in Coxheath(876-788-1022); Lilly knows everyone —including the world’s fastest man, UsainBolt, her nephew, who’s prone to stop by for a hug. She offers rooms with showerstoo, breakfast included, for $30 a night,and does dinners by advance request.

C A r I b b e A N L I F e I F I e L d T r I p

‘CouNTry’ ChArm

N Ccit Cnt

t is clt witt

a st in Cat t

cat wit miss Lill blt.

“o lan cais

val gnatin aft

gnatin,” sas a

man l. “W will

nt sacific t ft

f ciln. o

lans av n ic.”