My ‘travel’ whatsapp group decided kind of spontaneous that they were gonna fly down to Jamaica for the most recent 4th of July weekend. It was to be a chill weekend staying at Kanopi House and relaxing on an oversized float in the middle of the Blue Lagoon. But its been awhile since I’ve gotten up to any local adventures and Nanny Falls has been on my ‘list’ for a few years. One of the things I love most about adventure is just how many avenues there are to pursue it. You can hear about a new place from a friend or local, you can just take it on yourself to do some exploring and wandering around or in this particular case you can see a picture of something on instagram and search for it, which is what I did. Ahhhhhh the double edge sword of technology, making information and access easier whilst at the same time making us lazier and many times less appreciative. There’s an entire blog post that can be written on this but to cut things short I researched and realized I needed to get to Mooretown and from there hike to Nanny Falls.

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Stairways To Nanny Falls

If instructions were crystal clear, or the distance shorter or the area more familiar a lot of times I would suggest we just get try finding the falls ourselves. But this was a group of 8 going up to the mountains in Jamaica, quiet frankly an area I’ve never been before, and whilst I wont ever stop singing enough praises about Jamaica, I would also caution travelers that you cant ever be too careful, in this case I asked a tour planning friend if she could link me with a local guide. Maybe a week or so before the trip she gave me the number of a one Mug Lee and we agreed on a price which my travel group confirmed.

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First View of Nanny Falls

Getting there, Mug said he would give me the directions, which I played on speakerphone so everyone in my car could hear. It involved bridges and turns by schools that aren’t labeled correctly, and bless Mug as he is a great guide but perhaps not as good on the directions, I suggest one you get to Port Antonio just typing in ‘Moore Town’ in google maps and taking it from there. From the main town square (that has a statue of I wish I could tell you, I prolly should know) that seems to be the taxi hangout spot make a right turn onto a one way road and just follow good ole Google Maps! The only questionable point on the journey was when we got to a point where there was a fork in the road and the left road led down and the right road led upwards. We took the downward road and soon found Mug.

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…and we have this all to ourselves

From Moore Town its about a 25 minute hike, maybe slightly longer to the falls. Some takeaways. Mug and his entire team which were a few of the local teenagers and kids were extremely well mannered and left us all feeling at home. I mentioned earlier about never being too careful but at the same time you will know when you can relax and im glad to say everyone started relaxing pretty quickly. The falls themselves were really nice and refreshing. We had the entire place to ourselves save for the kids playing in the river. That’s a next thing, the kids playing and genuinely enjoying themselves, backflipping and jumping into the falls was a highlight that we soon joined them in.

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Veteran Waterfalls Chaser

Had that been all, it would have already been worth it but I’m the number one fan of what we call ‘brawta’ in Jamaica. Look it up and you’ll understand what I mean. Our guides mentioned a next falls, one a little harder to get to and perhaps not as majestic as Nanny Falls. I already knew my answer and I didn’t really have to ask the cru as they all seemed willing and able. And the road less travelled for real! We had to legit walk through bushes that weren’t properly chopped out and climb down I guess what could be considered ledges and then walk along the riverbank upwards to get to the final waterfall. This one was more of a cascading waterfall, and I get it, less appealing than Nanny, but the more difficult journey in getting there and the beauty of it may have tipped the scale for me on which I prefer.

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Second Waterfall

All of that for the extremely reasonable price of $1,000JMD (approx. $8USD) which ill be quick to point out that Mug said they were actually running a summer special so don’t quote me on it! Honestly, even if they had said $2,000JMD a person it woulda still been a deal. He also had offered to make us janga soup and provide other snacks but I declined mainly because Im not a janga soup person and I didn’t want to risk our stomach hurting us when we weren’t familiar with the area. Regardless of course we made sure to tip our guides. If you would like the info for Mug or anything else I can help with shoot me a message!

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Photo OP @ Second Falls

Cheers

OTHER SHOTS:

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Mug Lee, our guide.

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3 thoughts on “Moore Town knows wassup

  1. One of the reasons I enjoy reading content like yours is getting to vicariously experience other countries in an honest, no frills and fun way. It’s great when we can appreciate our Caribbean backyard just as much as we do the rest of the world. Oh and the practicality of your advice is much appreciated 😀 Thanks for keeping it real.

  2. Thank you Matt, for that great post and the good advices. Nanny Falls were on our list this year, but we couldn’t make it anyhow. If we are in the area again (2019 or so), we know, what to do, to find Nanny Falls. 😀 Good travel and keep on posting 😉

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