There are several questions you ask yourself while standing at the edge of a waterfall, suspended by rope, preparing to casually stroll down a mountainside.
Am I really going to do this?
What bad decision have I made in life that led me to this one moment of lunacy?
How strong is this rope?
Can I just not do this and say I did?
Looking up at the face of Experience T&T tour guide Courtenay “Bushman” Rooks, my body balanced diagonally away from the rocky outcrop, the sight of water raging over the edge of a 70-foot drop competing with the sound of that same waterfall pounding into the surface below, I ask myself those questions.
Rooks, for his part, is quite cheerfully holding a camera while standing less than a foot away from the edge, coaching my descent.
“You’re going to keep that right hand, that dominant hand near your butt and just give a little slack and step back,” he says.
I do as he says and begin my descent.
The day started two hours earlier, when the Sunday Guardian team left the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, accompanied by Rooks, Tourism Ministry communications official Sherma Mitchell and other media on Tuesday morning and set out for the two-hour drive, past Blanchisseuse, to the Avocat Waterfall.
Rooks, a chatty and informative tour guide, shared the geological history of both Trinidad and Tobago at the group’s first stop at the Maracas Bay lookout.
“Tobago has plants that you can get on Aruba and Curacao. Trinidad has plants and the type of eco-diversity you see in South America. A long time ago, before the earth broke apart into islands and continents, Trinidad and Tobago were from two very different parts of that rock.”
Rooks is happy to share the history and stories of T&T, surprising some of our team with information that the old satellite at the Tracking Station near the Bamboo Cathedral in Chaguaramas facilitated one of the first ever satellite conversations in the world.
His views on Trinidad’s first people’s interaction with Europeans, particularly Christopher Columbus, made the drive from Port-of-Spain seem shorter.
The North Coast road, which is bordered by views of the ocean on the left side and the forest on the right, with small communities in between, provided interesting and colourful scenery.
At the end of the North Coast Road, the maxi driver turned left onto the Blanchisseuese Road, where houses and communities and signs of human life waned out.
The stop less than 10 minutes later, near a fence compound at Pop’s Avenue, was the only thing that quietly disturbed nature’s stranglehold on the area.
Inside Pop’s Avenue is Pop’s house, where for a small fee adventurers and hikers park their vehicles, use bathroom and changing facilities and prepare for the hike into the forest.
This is where Rooks introduced the team of media professionals to the rappelling equipment, ropes, harnesses, life vests and helmets for the hike.
The plan was to hike through the Marianne River to the waterfall, where the team would experience rappelling.
The light rainfall, Rooks said, would not deter our journey.
The walk from Pop’s home to the river was less than five minutes.
With our shoes on, to protect feet from the pebbles on the rough river bed, we started our trek through water that reached mid-thigh at the highest in some areas, occasionally using the riverbank.
At one point, Rooks took the group a bit deeper into the rainforest to explain the features of a rain forest and how that particular type of eco-system survives and grows collectively.
He also gives critical advice. Having, earlier given each participant a number and insisted that we stay between the hike guides at all times, Rooks said getting lost was not an option.
“If you are in front of me, you’re lost so don’t go ahead of me. If you are behind the last guide, you are lost so don’t go behind the last guide. If you get lost, do not attempt to find your way on your own. Stay where you are and someone will find you.”
With that piece of advice we ventured further, using roots and branches sometimes to navigate through the forest until we came to one of the most beautiful sights in the country, the foamy white of the Avocat waterfall rushing over brown rocks and pooling into steely grey water, interspersed with aquamarine and navy.
It’s at that point that the rain switches from a steady drizzle to a pounding torrent. Rooks leaves the group with the other tour guides at the base of the waterfall and climbs through the trees to the top of the waterfall where he prepares the rope and equipment for the group.
“Are we going to do it in the rain?” one member of our group asks.
The answer is an affirmative if the rain doesn’t stop soon.
Thankfully, the rain stops and in the bright sunshine, the braver members of our group climb the hillside for a brief tutorial, before we meet Rooks at the top.
Rooks descends first, then climbs again to help the rest of us down. As a group, there is the feeling of nervous excitement that weaves around us.
After the first three participants rappel to the bottom, I secure my life vest, get the go-ahead from T&T Guardian photographer Edison Boodoosingh and began my descent.
Listening to the instructions, I keep a wide-legged stance, stepping back slowly until I can step back no more.
Rooks says to have fun and use the rope to allow myself to drop lower.
Heart racing, I do as instructed and suspended in the air, ready to push my feet off the rock, I am terrified and exhilarated. The exhilaration wins when the anchor at the bottom, Sheldon, our other guide, uses the rope to pull me under the waterfall, letting the steady and strong current blast my body. The water is cool and refreshing.
With the help of my anchor, I lower myself into the water and use the rope to pull myself to the rocky bank. I can’t swim so the life-vest gives me added confidence.
If you’re going to walk over the edge of a waterfall, over 70 feet above a pool of water, do it suspended by a rope. Do it with trained professionals. Do it twice. The first time is to conquer your fear. The second is to have fun.
Anyone interested in tours can email experiencetandt@gmail.com or call 497-6403, 497-6404, 343-3012 or 343-9439