Family Fun at Hope Zoo: What to Expect

My last trip to the zoo was at least a decade ago and I’ve had an inexplicable hankering to visit since last year. Hope Zoo welcomed its first visitors in 1961 but inadequate funding, deterioration and a dwindling animal population led to a decline in public interest. This paved the way for private ownership and in 2011, the Hope Zoo Preservation Foundation (HZPF) took reins. Devising a model from local and international environment and wildlife preservation bodies, the Hope Zoo was transformed to tell the Jamaican story by showcasing local fauna alongside African macrovertebrates and American jungle species since these regions have had the greatest impact on Jamaica.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle17 Comments

Lime Tree Farm, Saint Andrew

Lime Tree Farm is an eco-friendly farm and lodging set in the delightful Blue Mountains 3,400 feet above sea level. Run by an affable couple Rodger and Tifony Bolton, visiting Lime Tree Farm is like visiting the home of friends where the air is cool and crisp, the views divine and the tranquility just what the doctor ordered. You’ll feel as if time moves a little slower here. Set in rural Saint Andrew, this is Coffee Country so you can bet that Blue Mountain coffee is the main crop. Read on to learn why this is one of the top Blue Mountain coffee tours in Jamaica.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle8 Comments

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival, Saint Andrew

Jamaica’s Tourism Linkages Network through the Ministry of Tourism is on to something big with this one. The inaugural Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival is a three-day weekend affair with the main event taking place on Saturday March 24 at the cool historic military training centre of Newcastle in the Blue & John Crow Mountains National Park (BJCMNP).

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle10 Comments

Trench Town Culture Yard, Saint Andrew

Jamaica’s capital city of Kingston pulsates to the beat of reggae music and its raunchier cousin, dancehall music. Both genres originated here so opportunities to enjoy and learn about their origins in Kingston are endless. Bob Marley is indisputably the world’s most famous Rastafarian and reggae’s most celebrated son. Born in the rural district of Nine Miles, St. Ann, Kingston can’t take credit for his birthplace but it can for his rise to fame. Bob Marley and his immediate family relocated to Trench Town, Kingston at age 12 in search of a better life.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle4 Comments

Devon House Tour, Saint Andrew

Ranked as National Geographic’s fourth best place in the world to eat ice cream in 2011, Devon House is already a favourite for residents and visitors alike. However, Devon House is so much more than stellar sweets. Sitting on 11 lush acres in Saint Andrew, the Devon House mansion was the home of Jamaica’s first coloured millionaire George Stiebel. Born to a Black Jamaican mother who was a housekeeper and a German Jewish father, Stiebel had a relatively privileged upbringing and was able to earn his fortune from investments in Venezuelan gold mines. He returned to Jamaica and purchased what was originally a 51-acre property to construct his Georgian-style mansion in 1881. Years after his passing in 1896, the house changed hands through two families then became property of the Jamaican government. Today, Devon House is a well-preserved national heritage site open to tours. Its former stables, kitchen and other buildings now host some of Jamaica’s finest restaurants, confectionaries and souvenir shops.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle10 Comments

Liguanea Art Festival, Saint Andrew

Aptly called the artbeat of Jamaica, the annual Liguanea Art Festival (LAF) is the Caribbean’s largest. This festival showcases upcoming talent alongside local veterans in photography, painting, ceramics, jewellery and sculpture since its 2005 inception. Hosted by June and Tony Wong, a Jamaican couple which shares a passion for the arts, LAF has evolved into a household name with 2017 being its biggest yet. This year featured more than 110 artists, some of whom are widely celebrated and have traversed the Jamaican and international art landscape.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle4 Comments

Touring The Tuff Gong Studio: What To Expect

Tuff Gong International’s Making of the Music Tour is an engaging behind the scenes look at the record-making process from rehearsal to album. The studio was founded by Bob in 1965. Its name is derived from Bob’s nickname “The Gong” which he shares with Rastafari founder Leonard “The Gong” Howell, and tuff you had to be to survive in the Jamaican music business. Tuff Gong boasts one of the planet’s few remaining operational vinyl record manufacturing plants and is one of the Caribbean’s largest recording studios. Artistes, musicians, producers and tourists travel from all over the world to see and use this studio because it is said to have a special creative vibe; maybe since its mixing board is the same one used by Bob on all of his records. Since its inception, Bob Marley and Tuff Gong International have sold millions of records and continue to do so with many of Bob’s children following in his musical footsteps and still recording at the studio today.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle3 Comments

Exploring Penfield Falls, Saint Andrew

Let me start by saying that these falls are unnamed. It’s a pity to have such beautiful cascades of the Hope River tucked away in Penfield, a small district in Gordon Town, yet after all these years they are still nameless. Until a name for these falls catches on, we will call them the Penfield Falls after the district in which they are located. This is to distinguish them from the other four waterfalls in Gordon Town which can be accessed through the Pretty Close property.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle37 Comments

Bull Bay Beaches, Saint Andrew

Bull Bay is a suburban town on the border of the Saint Andrew and Saint Thomas parishes. It lies beside its lesser-known sister, Cow Bay. Both place names reflect their former purpose of cattle-rearing predominantly for leather during Spanish colonial rule of Jamaica before British conquest in 1655. This beach only comes up in conversation when it is the venue of a party or concert such as the annual Wickie Wackie Music Festival. I wanted to see what it looks like when it isn’t pulsating to the riddims of the latest fete.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle11 Comments

Touring Bob Marley Museum: The Legend’s Home

Jamaica is the birthplace of globally renowned reggae singer, songwriter and guitarist Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley. He bought a house at 56 Hope Road in Liguanea, St. Andrew in 1975 and it was his home until his death in 1981 from metastatic melanoma. Six years later his wife Rita Marley converted the property into a museum and house tour to celebrate the life and treasures of her late husband. Thirty years later it has welcomed hundreds of thousands of guests- many in awe, thirsty for knowledge, or the simply curious. I first visited in March 2017 with a mixture of all 3.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle11 Comments