Photo: Franck Fontain
Kaskad Pichon
Kaskad Pichon is a stunning waterfall located in the commune of Belle-Anse, in the South-East Department of Haiti. The waterfall is notoriously hard to get to, but worth the adventure.
Belle-Anse commune is home to soft, sandy beaches, and Kaskad Pichon (French: Cascade Pichon) is the crowning jewel of its inland treasures. A cluster of three separate basins, each crowned by glorious waterfalls, Kaskad Pichon is sustained not by rainfall, but an underground lake.
The waterfall runs through three separate basins: Bassin Chouket, where wild mint grows and perfumes the banks of the pool, Bassin Dieula and Bassin Marassa.
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The Haitian Kreyol proverb “dèyè mòn gen mòn” reflects the Haitian landscape – “behind mountains, there are more mountains”. Once in a while, though, in between these mountains, you’ll stumble upon a hidden gem (and travellers who’ve been here before know that Haiti is full of them). One such hidden gem is Kaskad Pichon, a waterfall that is as stunningly beautiful as it is notoriously hard to get to.
Visiting Kaskad Pichon might have you snapping pictures the entire time, or putting your phone down in awe — up to you, really! However you decided to take it in, a visit to Kaskad Pichon is an intimate wilderness experience that you’ll remember for years to come.
Photo: Franck Fontain
Getting to Kaskad Pichon
Kaskad Pichon is remote, and to get there, adventurers need to be prepared to drive (or hire a chauffeur), ride a motorcycle, and hike.
The drive to Belle-Anse, the main town of the area, is quite a trip in and of itself, on a gravel road that passes through floodplains, riverbeds, and up steep hillsides. If you drive from Marigot the trip to Belle-Anse should take about two or three hours. The town of Belle-Anse is interesting enough to spend a morning exploring, or at least stopping for lunch to re-energize before the most rugged part of the adventure.
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From Belle-Anse, you’ll need to drive to Pichon, and from there it’s another hour’s drive to Kaskad Pichon. A motorcycle ride from Pichon to the waterfall should cost you about 1,000 HTG per person (roughly US $11).
The ride up to the waterfall is part of the experience – clinging for dear life on the back of a bike, you’ll be driving through some of the most pristine wilderness Haiti has to offer, with mile upon mile of sandy white beach unwinding below the path up the mountainside. If you can plan for it with your motorcycle drivers, we highly recommend you make a quick swim stop en route to take in the beauty offered by Haiti’s south. It’s also a great opportunity to uncover some extremely instagrammable spots – you might want to plan in a little extra time for that.
After an hour-long motorcycle ride, you’ll have to hike, following a guide, for roughly 40 minutes, before reaching the waterfalls.
Written by Kira Paulemon.
Published January 2020
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