Text/ Wang Rui
When you think of Jamaica, what comes to mind?
Pirates of the Caribbean, Rastafarianism, reggae music, Blue Mountain Coffee, sprinting... Yes, these are the calling cards of the charming island nation of Jamaica.
Today, we only talk about the Blue Mountains, not about the Blue Mountains Coffee.
In 2015, the Blue Mountains and John Crowe National Parks were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming the only world natural and cultural dual heritage site in Jamaica and the entire Caribbean, which shows the natural and human value of the Blue Mountains.
Overlooking the Blue Mountains. The morning light illuminates the mist-ridden peaks of the mountains, and everything comes to life.
Jamaica is known as the "land of forests and waters", the Blue Mountains stretch across the eastern part of the island, the peaks are perennial in the fog, due to the influence of the reflection of the sea, the peaks show a dreamlike blue glow, hence the name "Blue Mountains". Heavy rain pours down the island from June to November every year, so the dry season in the first half of the year is the best time to climb the Blue Mountains.
The Blue Mountains region is rich in birds and attracts bird watchers from all over the world.
The best way to climb the Blue Mountains is on foot. On the one hand, there are no motorized roads in the high altitude areas of the Blue Mountains, and there are no artificial means of transportation such as cable cars; on the other hand, only hiking can feel its charm closely. During the few years of working and living in Jamaica, I climbed the main peak of the Blue Mountains with my colleagues every year.
From Kingston, steeper and steeper mountains along the way make it increasingly difficult to drive, and the Blue Mountains rapidly rise from the southeast coastal plains to the north, rising from sea level to 2256 meters in a horizontal span of only 16 kilometers, making it difficult to enter the reserve without the strong grip of 4WD vehicles and the skilled driving skills of local drivers. After a rough ride along the winding mountain road for about two and a half hours, we reach the Platform of Penin Castle on the south side of the main peak, from where we embark on a 5-hour walking tour.
Follow the sheep's gut trail where the growers carry coffee beans, lined with rows of coffee trees and shaded by coffee estates on the lush mountainside. Every year from September to January, the fruit growers are busy picking the mountain, which is another scenic sight. Climbing above 1,700 meters, dense virgin forests provide a natural barrier for you, with branches covered with mosses and ferns, and even parasitic plants such as orchids. Feet on the soft fallen leaves, the mist swirling around you, as if stepping into a fairyland, a green elf lane welcomes you, and the biome here is called the elven forest.
The humid and cool marine climate and mountainous environment make the Blue Mountains a paradise for flora and fauna, and its biodiversity is exemplary in the Caribbean and even in the same latitudes of the world. In 1993, the Government established a National Park Reserve in the gorge between the Blue Mountains and the Johann Crowe Mountains in the northeast, covering an area of about 412 square kilometres. The park is home to nine major biomes, with 50% of the flowering plant species in the Caribbean, including nearly 300 endemic to Jamaica. The forests on the mountainside are covered with deep acidic humus and are home to a variety of endangered and rare tree species.
The Blue Mountains and John Crowe National Park are both one of the 200 key ecoregions identified by the World Fund for Nature and listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as one of the 78 "most irreplaceable" wildlife habitats in the world. The reserve also occupies two of Jamaica's five Zero Extinction Alliance areas due to its abundance of endemic birds, where more than 130 species of resident and migratory birds inhabit each year, attracting birdwatchers from around the world.
Yellow-billed parrot
Long-feathered owl
Jamaican short-tailed eagle
Jamaican oriole
Red-billed long-tailed hummingbird
If you are in good health, the 10-kilometer summit route can be completed in less than 2 hours, but most tourists prefer to stop along the way and admire the beauty of the mountains and the beauty of flowers, plants, birds and insects. If you're lucky, you'll see Jamaica's national bird, the red-billed long-tailed hummingbird, flapping its wings lightly and sucking on nectar, or the homer butterfly, the world's second-largest butterfly. Of course, the luckiest thing is to see a bamboo (Chusquea abietifolia) that blooms only once every 33 years, and I heard that this bamboo last bloomed in 2017, and it will take until 2050 to see its next bloom. There is no greater fun to hike than the inadvertent scenery along the way.
Overlook the peaks in the pool at Strawberry Hills at the top of the hill
"We were the first nation to force the British government to sign a peace treaty! We are jamaica's first independent nation! We are Malones! This is the most often talked about self-introduction by the Maroons who live in the Blue Mountains. The Marons, meaning "mountain people" in Spanish, were actually descendants of black slaves who had escaped from the plantations in the early British colonial period, and the steep hills and lush vegetation of the Blue Mountains and john crow mountains provided an ideal hiding place for slaves to escape.
The Marons participate in religious ceremonies
Long before Columbus discovered the Caribbean, Arawaks and Tainos from South America landed on Jamaica Island. The arrival of the Spaniards in the early 16th century completely changed the fate of the indigenous peoples. The colonists brought sugar cane that could accumulate wealth and were driven by the gold-hunting fever in the hope of finding gold mines here. Unable to withstand cruel slavery and lacking natural antibodies to European infectious diseases, the fate of the Arawaks and Taynos ended at about the end of the 16th century, as did the fate of other Indians in the Americas. In order to support the development of the sugar industry, the Spaniards brought in slaves from Africa to engage in sugarcane and tobacco cultivation. The Spaniards, who did not find the gold, gradually lost interest in Jamaica, so that the British were later able to easily seize the island.
In 1655, after the British colonized Jamaica, they expanded the cultivation of sugar cane, cocoa and coffee, and introduced more and more African black slaves. However, the revolts of the black slaves made the British uncomfortable, including the famous Marons' anti-colonial escape struggle. Many of them are Akans from the Ashanti Kingdom of Ghana, West Africa, a highly militarized race on the African continent who have mastered the art of jungle life. In 1690, the Sutton Estate in the Diocese of Clarendon made an escape of about 500 people, forming the initial group of Jamaican Marons.
More and more Marons managed to escape, and the Jamaican authorities saw them as the greatest threat. In 1730, the British government launched the First Maroon War (which the Maroons record began in 1655 and lasted for 84 years), intending to sever the connection between the Windward Maroons and the Leeward Maroons in the east of the island. In 1734, the British army conquered the Maron settlement town of Nanny in the depths of the Blue Mountains, and then turned to the west, and the Marons who were desperate to survive were closely united, using guerrilla warfare to evade the British encirclement and suppression time and again. Nanni, the slave leader of this period, was regarded as a national hero by posterity.
The war lasted for nearly 10 years, with equal losses on both sides and a stalemate. In 1739, the British government offered the Maroons peace terms, giving them freedom and land, as well as government-granted autonomy. But in return, the Marons had to help the British government resist when Jamaica was invaded by foreign enemies, and even help the government hunt down slaves who had escaped from the plantations. This may be the helpless choice of the Maroons in their pursuit of peaceful coexistence.
By the end of the 18th century, the number of Jamaican slaves reached as many as 300,000, which was the largest number of black slaves in the British colonies in the West Indies, which also created the glory of Jamaica's sugar industry at that time. However, the "peace agreement" did not bring lasting peace to the Maronites, and oppression and resistance continued. It is recorded that between 1742 and 1832, there were 14 large-scale Bloody Revolutions of African Slavery in Jamaica. These revolutions accelerated the pace of emancipation of black slaves to a certain extent. In 1807 the British Empire passed a trade act prohibiting the slave trade from Africa, and the Abolition Act came into force on 1 August 1834, when the so-called "apprenticeship" expired in 1838, and Jamaican slaves were truly free.
Newcastle Parade Ground in the Mid-Levels was once a British training base and rehabilitation centre and is now home to the Jamaica Defence Force. The walls are inlaid with the emblem of the garrison regiment.
The remains of the Marons in the mountains of eastern Jamaica, in addition to the town of Nanni, there are also the towns of Acapone in St Elizabeth, the towns of More and Charles in Portland, and the Scott Estates of St Mary's, which still largely preserve the living traditions and cultural characteristics of the Maronite ancestors. For example, the Pidgin language they use is based on a mixture of different tribal languages and foreign languages in Africa. The Maronite villages are still governed by a semi-autonomous model, with village committees elected by the villagers and the core leaders still known as "colonels".
There is no better experience in Nanni than to enjoy the traditional music and dance of the Maronites. A distinctive percussion known as "Drum Whispering" is made from hollowed-out tree trunks wrapped in dried sheepskin and produced different timbres and loudness under the beating of village musicians or senior elders. The women gathered in a circle, swaying rhythmically to the sound of drums, humming pactrian songs in their mouths. Another horn called "Abeng" (Abeng) is of great significance to the Maroons, it can make a variety of trumpets, convey different meanings, and the Maroons who hid in the dense forest used to transmit signals to each other. The musical heritage of the Malones has also been dubbed by UNESCO the "Masterpiece of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity".
Smoked roast meat is Jamaica's most iconic food
The religious ritual of sacrificing jerk pork and rum is an important component of Maroonite society. In the days of escaping capture, the Maroons used the natural environment to obtain food, slowly roasting cured wild boar meat from the fragrant fruit trees of the forest, and covering the meat with leaves to shield the open flames and smoke from intruders. The smoked meat is more hydrated, juicy and tender, elastic, and the food is marinated in advance with allspice seeds (Jamaican pepper) and Scottish bell peppers, which can also help drain the body's moisture. In addition to this way of eating and drinking, smoked chicken, beef and lamb, seafood and tofu are also popular, not only loved by Jamaicans, but also spread overseas, becoming the most distinctive dish that reflects the taste of Jamaica.