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Only natural Looking for a place to breathe free while keeping your social distance? Try Dominica’s wild places, writes Paul Crask
Above Spanny Twin Falls Below A boardwalk on the Indian River Trail
Photography courtesy Discover Dominica Authority
T
here’s a distinct chill in the air. A heavy dew clings to the low-growing montane thicket, the slender tree ferns, and the mountain palms. Clusters of ground orchids ease open their lilac petals as the sun slowly rises above the Soufrière Hills, illuminating the surrounding peaks of the Morne Trois Pitons National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. A blue-headed hummingbird — one of four hummingbird species recorded on the island — dances around a flowering bromeliad, and the lonesome call of the rufous-throated solitaire, known locally as mountain whistler, echoes from afar. It’s a solitary bird, usually well-hidden within the deep creases and folds of Dominica’s heavily forested interior.
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