LA VEYE Waterfall (EL BRASSO TRACE)

This waterfall is a wonder of nature, almost hiding in plain sight. It can be

accessed either from the Blanchisseuse Road via El Brasso Trace or, the road of the
same name, beginning in Brasso Seco Village.
No more than a thirty minute walk is required from the Blanchisseuse Road and the
traveller is greeted as he approaches the riverside entrance with the sweet-scented
fragrance of the nearby coffee tree blossoms.
From the Brasso Seco side, it is a long expedition passing several alluring
riverine pools and streams. You�d often wonder at this astonishingly ageless and
bountiful woodland that just seems to defy the march of time. There are fully
preserved 19th century cocoa houses, tapia houses, wooden structures and cocoa
estates still abounding with the original Criollo varieties. Disease did not seem
to have gotten a foothold of these.
Once on the river, you enter into a time capsule, with nature at its most
prototypical, a perfectly preserved canopy, where every turn is crowded with
primeval trees and plants as you trek upstream towards the cascade.
Then, it opens up like divine revelation. You find yourself standing at the feet of
nature�s majesty. It pours down into folding rocks from the throne some 25 metres
above. The ethereal and invigorating water tumbles into an awaiting pool below.
Non-swimmers can easily reach out and touch the divine as the inviting waters never
rise above chest height.
The original name, La V�y� is derived from the Kreyol word
for vigil or wake. (by the bye, linguists, and Caribbean scholars no longer use the
word Patois, as it is considered pejorative)
It is said that it starts making a loud and deep rumbling sound from down in the
valley, just before the coming of heavy rain as if to warn of impending weather. It
�keeps vigil,� warning the estate hands near the river and in the valley that the
sky is about to unleash a heavy torrent upon them.
Hence the name by old cocoa estate hands of the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries.
It is however, mistakenly called Wolfe Falls. Wolfe waterfall is a private affair
and is found ensconced behind the family property of the late Mr. Wolfe.
No matter, the ENJOYMENT we get from this jewel is common to all.