Bassin Zim Haiti

I took my ecology class on a field trip to Bassin Zim in Haiti’s Central Plateau.  The road to it is in Hinche off of National Route #3.  At the last big bridge as you are heading out of town toward Pignon, on the Pignon side of the bridge look for the road that goes to the east (marked 308 in google earth).  Take this road until you come to a fork with a large sign for a peasant organization, it has the word LAKAY on it.  Take the road to the left and keep going through Papaye.  You’ll eventually see a green sign for the falls, and the road gets rocky and steeper going downhill, until it ends at the parking lot for Bassin Zim.  It might be ½ hour from the highway, but we kept making stops so I lost track (see this post for the stops).  You can see the basin in aerial maps, in google earth search Bassin Zim, Centre, Haiti.

We paid 25 goudes each to enter, and as soon as we started walking a bunch of kids came and 2 latched on to me as my guides (even though I was with 12 university students).  They helped me on some of the rockier parts of the trail and across the stream up to the cave.  I gave them each $1US at the end.

The basin at the base of the falls isn't ideal for swimming since the force of the water creates a whirlpool with debris swirling in it.  Downstream where it becomes a stream might have been ok, but there were women washing clothes at the edge of the pool.  A bunch of UN soldiers from Uruguay were having a party there and had inflatable tubes, so they must have been swimming.

The walk up to the cave is relatively easy, up steps and across a small stream.  Wear shoes you can get wet.  At the first landing you can see the basin from above and several pools leading down to it.  There is also a small alcove with stalagmites and stalactites and what looks like voudou activity.  Get back on the steps and keep going up to the main cave.  There the small stream starts from a pool that has little fish.  There are wasp nests all over the wall of the cave, as well as swallow nests.  Shine a flashlight into the cavern that is farther in and you’ll see bats.  We didn’t climb up into the cavern, so I don’t know where it leads.  The child guides knew where to spot boas in the trees.

I would like to visit Bassin Zim again with fewer people, no “guides,” and spend some time birding and exploring the streams!

Hike to the cave

Boa hiding near the cave.

Saturday morning bird guide Louiders led my ecology students and me on a 5-hour hike to the cave Vout Santi that I blogged about here.  Along the way we saw many birds, a working sugar cane mill, people cutting trees, and charcoal being made.  Here are some pictures.

Cutting sugar cane for a snack.

Cattle turning the sugar cane mill.

On the way to the cave.

Haiti ecotours by Louiders

If you are in Haiti's Central Plateau and would like to go on an ecotour, contact Louiders Alfred (509-3881-2985).  He works in Bohoc and Caiman along National Route 3 between Pignon and Hinche.  His specialty is birding and he knows most of the birds by sound.  He can also take you hiking or to caves, and to cultural activities such as the Bohoc market, a casava mill, a sugar cane mill, or to see how coffee is grown and processed.   

Louiders speaks English.  I trained him in 2009 when he didn't know much English.  Now he knows English and even helps me teach ecology in schools.  Contact him if you would like a program at your school or community group (in Creole or French) about Haiti birds and bats.   In Haiti call him at 509-3881-2985.  Or contact me by email and I will pass the message along naturesphoto at hotmail.com.

Ecotour Day 4 - The road to Duchity

What do you mean it is an easy walk?

For our final day of the ecotour, we decided to go higher in elevation to see different vegetation and possibly go birding.  The point of this trip was the journey and exploration for future ecotourism, and we were rewarded by finding a wooded area for potential birding beyond a somewhat difficult rocky path beyond a somewhat difficult rocky road outside of Duchity.  Duchity is a small town about 8 miles as the crow flies NW of Les Cayes along National Highway 7.   It is marked incorrectly on GoogleMaps, and is in the Grand Anse Department to the north at 18.433023, -73.901338.

Natl Route 7 construction.

In Haiti you report distance by travel time, not miles.  The paved highway is under construction, so with over an hour of construction delays and one stop at a wetland, it took about 3 hours to reach our destination. One of the AUC students that is active in the Audubon Center of Les Cayes joined us so that I could introduce him to the world of ecotourism.  During our longest construction delay he taught the gathering children about the importance of birds to Haiti.

Rough spot in the road.

The road leading into Ducity crosses a large river which would be fun to explore.  Sturdy shoes would be beneficial to navigate the large rocks.  When we reached Duchity I called a friend who recommended a friend who pointed us to a guide who could take us to see birds.  That's what led us to the rocky road and path.  The walk was easy at first and we got to see rural life.  Then it turn more difficult in our sandals (Tevas etc.), though the Haitians kept insisting the end was not far and the walk was easy.  I finally insisted that I and my visitor with a bad knee needed to stay put on some large flat rocks while the rest of the group went ahead to see a spring.  That group returned with grapefruit (chadik) and reported that beyond the spring was a potentially good forest for birds.  Despite not seeing birds, we enjoyed seeing rural life at a rocky 2000 ft. For the next trip we will be ready with an early departure from Les Cayes, sturdy hiking shoes, and plenty of snacks and water.

The spring.  Beyond there is a potentially good birding place.

Grapefruit for all.

When we returned the guide to Duchity he showed us what he said was a cave entrance behind a house in town, then insisted on taking us down the highway back toward the river to show us the old road.  I knew better than to believe him that it was a short easy walk down the rocky hillside to see this old road and stayed on the highway with my visitor while the rest of the group followed the guide.  My friend who went with the group said it wasn't much of a view and the path was difficult.

We started our day at 7:30am and made it home in time for the 5pm meal provided by our guest house. 

This post concludes the 4-day ecotour I arranged from my visitor from Michigan.  My visit to Haiti was not yet over, so stayed tuned for following posts about a lake and a guesthouse in Port.

Teaching about birds.

Cool formations at the road cut.

Ecotour Day 2 – Kounoubwa Cave near Camp Perrin

After an easy Day 1 of birding, we had a more challenging day of walking to and exploring a cave.  We drove to Camp Perrin where we picked up the cave guide Joel Constant who is mentioned in the Clammer/Bradt Haiti guide.  Joel was trained by spelunkers and has the keys to the gates to the cave – you need to arrange with him to see the cave.  We gave him around a $25 tip at the end.  We then parked on the east side of a wide river and walked across the dry river bed.  I don’t know how deep it is when it is flowing.  Then we immediately climbed up a rocky steep rocky hillside to reach a grassy path that ascended the hill.  The younger crowd (age 8 – 18) with us ran ahead and waited for us older folks to catch up (40 – 70 with a bad knee).  Our slow walk took about 40 minutes to reach the cave entrance where there are small benches for resting.  Decent into the cave was slippery and steep.  Again the children bounded down while the rest of us practically crawled down on our hands and rear ends.  Joel showed us around the large cavern which had been vandalized with many large stalactites broken and missing.  The group then made another steep slippery climb to another room while I waited with my guest.  This other room had bats.  We also saw cave crickets.  We spent 1.5 hours in the cave.  The descending walk back to the truck took about 30 minutes.

Access – Moderately difficult.  Right after crossing the river which was dry during our visit you must ascend a steep rocky hillside.  Then the path is relatively easy walk up a grassy slope, with one steep rocky area to navigate.  The decent into the cave is steep and slippery.  To move farther in past the main cavern you again navigate over steep slippery rocks.  You will get muddy.  A headlamp is necessary so your hands can be free.

In the dry river bed.

 

The walk to the cave.

The short climb up from the river bed.

Broken stalagtites

Ecotour in Haiti

This month as a representative of the Audubon Center of Les Cayes I had the pleasure of leading a 4-day ecotour on the southern coast of Haiti for 2 visitors from the US.  One visitor came exclusively to see the gray-crowned palm tanager which lives only on Haiti’s southern peninsula.  The other visitor came along to enjoy the tour and to learn more about the hydrology of Haiti.  Day 1 was birding in a place known to have the tanager.  Day 2 was a trip to a cave.  Day 3 was a trip to a waterfall to swim, bird, and explore the river.  Day 4 was a trip up in elevation to the town of Duchity to bird and see what we could see along the way.  We had an excellent driver, and many recommendations about places to visit from Haitian and American birders who have lived in the area for a number of years.  

Our trip to Les Cayes was a tour in itself.  After flying into Port au Prince and staying at Matthew 25 guest house for the night, we took the 7am Capital Coach to Les Cayes.  The bus ride took only an hour longer than usual (see post about this bus).  We were detoured from the main road to Carrefour and the driver manipulated the bus along the tight streets that ran along the back side of the Iron Market.  Then when it seemed we were on our way we came to a road block set up by school children!  They were protesting that their teachers have not been paid for three months.  I think it is a sign of more anti-Martelly protests to come, as he promised free education for all children.  We arrived in Les Cayes and our driver Sonny took us to us to our guest house about 5 minutes from the bus stop.  Lunch was soon ready and my birding visitor had his first truly Haitian meal.

Stay tuned for posts about each day.  If you would like to schedule a tour, contact me at naturesphoto at hotmail.com.

Hillside gardens

My last Saturday morning in Haiti my guide took me on a hike to the large cave that’s 2.5 miles from UCI, which isn’t that far, but the 730 ft rise in elevation in ½ mile is tough. We had made this arrangement before I got sick that week, and since I had been there last year, I knew what a steep hike it was, so the day of the hike I said I’d like to go to the smaller, closer cave instead. He said yes. Knowing that my guide says yes when he doesn’t always understand, I reiterated – The small cave. He said yes. I reiterated – The cave that is close. He said yes. Well, we ended up going to that far cave which turned into a 5.5 hour hike! The route didn’t seem like the way to the small cave. The stream crossing confirmed that we were indeed going to the farther cave. Oh well – that’s where I originally wanted to go and I was feeling a bit better. Only I didn’t have enough water for that long of a hike and ran out before we were heading back.

The way there seems very long because of the steep climb, it took us about 3 hours. My guide said he can make it in an hour. We were birding along the way, I was taking pictures, and I wasn’t used to this kind of climb. Last year he and his sister did the hike in flip flops. The same bottles of reddish Corona beer were there, along with the cat skull and chicken bones. We heard the bats fluttering around this time, didn’t hear them last year.

The gardens along the way were amazing. Not that they were large and productive, but that anyone could garden on a steep rocky hillside. There were small plots of corn. Gourds, pigeon peas, and banana trees were tucked away everywhere. On rocky terraces (mesiks, see picture) people planted manioc, potatoes, beans. We saw older men and women out there harvesting their vegetables. They must be in super shape! The hut in the photo is a little garden plot.