Forest Trek II: Return to Bogue II takes you on a 10km hike through the Bogue II Forest Reserve just above the world-famous Dunn’s River Falls and Park.  View the beautiful white sand rivers, historical relics, possible sightings of local birds and challenge your endurance. This class-act trail will bring back pleasant memories of the 2018 and 2021 stagings and most certainly, create new ones for your hiking adventures. 

Following last year’s hike, Forest Trek II expands its family offerings by providing a special 2km Forest Funland Trail for children under 11 years old with fun and exciting activities. Trekkers as young as 11 years old may walk the 10km trail through the forests of the Bogue II Forest Reserve. After the hike, trekkers may have lunch and cool off in the nearby river and try to win some prizes before departing for the return journey. The children will be able to enjoy various games and activities in the Forest Funland at the Finish Line.

Purpose of the Hike

The main aim of the hike is to increase public awareness and encourage a greater appreciation for forests in Jamaica. The trek will take participants through the forests of the Bogue II reserve to see and experience its environment first-hand and also contribute to its resources by participating in a tree-planting exercise.  

About the Bogue II Forest Reserve 

The Bogue 2 Forest Reserve was gazetted on April 8, 2016 as a forest reserve and is comprised of 455.41 hectares. The reserve sits above the world-famous Dunn’s River Falls and Park and is where the Dunn’s River that cascades down the more than 600 feet falls begins. 

Other interesting sites on the property are a National Water Commission water catchment area, which supplies potable water to the parishes of St. Ann and St. Mary and the remnants of the Belmont Great House property which is presently owned by the Urban Development Corporation and is listed as a Jamaica National Heritage Trust site. 

The property on which the Bogue 2 Forest Reserve sits was formerly a slave plantation owned by Sir Harold Mitchell. Today, there is a slave burial ground on the property as well as remnants of the slave church and school within the forest reserve. In the early 1940s, the Jamaica Bauxite Company bought the property and used it for mining. Their operations in the area ended in the 1950s, and they gave up ownership in the early 1980s.

In the late 1980s, the property was assigned to the Forestry Department for management. The Forestry Department carried out extensive reforestation within the area, planting several species, including Jamaican Mahogany, Honduras Mahogany, Spanish Elm and Cedar. The Forest Reserve is rich in biodiversity, boasting a number of faunal and floral species. Some of the plant species that can be found in the area include Fig Tree, Strangler Fig, Silk Cotton Tree, Syngonium (used in pepper pot soup), Raw Moon (male aphrodisiac) and Anchovy Pear, which is an indicator of pure source of water and is the largest simple leaf in the Western Hemisphere). 

A number of fauna species can be found in the area including turtles which live in the seasonal lake located on the property as well as a number of species of birds including Baldplate, Pea Dove, Ground Dove, Partridge, White-winged Dove, Woodpecker, Parakeet and Gaulin. The forest reserve is also the source of three rivers including the Dunn's River. All rivers within this forest reserve have white sand due to the high amounts of limestone that exist within the area.