Hiking in Saut du Bras du Fort in Goyave

We keep on discovering Guadeloupe, and more particularly the island where we live: Basse-Terre island. Indeed, as you surely know now, we left the Pacific Ocean and French Polynesia at the beginning of August 2021 to land in the Caribbean islands, on the island of Guadeloupe. As soon as we got out of the lockdown, we were able to explore places further away from home. After introducing you to the Sentier de la Grande Pointe in our last article, we are now going to visit a small nature spot: Saut du Bras du Fort in Goyave.

I have to admit that I did this hike alone. Melanie and the children were tired too. We moved a lot these last weeks to expand the Guadeloupe part of our blog! But I’m sure they’ll be back on their feet, and we’ll be back on the trails of Guadeloupe! We’ve also discovered a few things since our hike to Bis Waterfall.

To be honest, I didn’t know this walk at all before digging on the web. In order to expand the Guadeloupe travel part of our blog, I did some research to find something nice to do. This small walk came back several times, so I decided to discover it, alone, one Sunday morning.

All the details are at the end of the article in the “practical section”, but you should know that the beginning of the hike is not far from the Commune of Goyave, on the east coast of the island of Basse-Terre. There are plenty of other hikes to do in the area, but we don’t have enough time, especially since I went back to work… You might also want to consider walking to Saut de la Lézarde, a great (but unofficial) hike to a beautiful waterfall.

Let’s go, I’ll take you for a walk on this Bras du Fort hike. The hike is divided into three distinct parts: a farm trail (at the beginning), a walk in the forest (in the middle) and finally, going up the river to the waterfall. Enjoy the discovery! If you are looking for a more sportive hike, I invite you to discover the Canyon de la Moustique!

After driving for a good half hour from Vieux-Fort (to the South), I leave the main road (N1), heading West to the place called “Barthélémy”, then to “Bonfils”. I will give you the exact route below, but the walk will start from here. On the left, there is a kind of parking lot. To tell the truth, I’m not so sure it’s a “real parking”, but according to the information I got, there is no problem parking there.

I parked the car, grabbed my camera bag and tripod for long exposures, and went quietly in the morning on this small path to the forest. The sun is there, everything is fine. I walk along this well-maintained path and find on my right beautiful porcelain roses and a lot of epiphytic plants, as I am used to now in Guadeloupe. The trail goes along plantations on the right and left and goes into the forest. If you keep your eyes wide open, you can see breadfruit trees, coconut trees, banana trees, sugar cane, etc. About 150m after the start, stay on the left: you can’t get lost! Then, just before the small and only uphill part of the walk, there is a Y-shaped intersection. The path on your left goes down to the Fort River below. Here you have two possibilities: either you decide to avoid the slippery (but very short) climb and descent by taking this path to the river, or you can take it on the way back (although there is no obligation).

I personally stay on the main path (on the right, then) and start the short climb. There is nothing difficult and it lasts only five minutes. The slope is still steep, and you will sometimes have to help yourself with the surrounding tree roots to climb. A few minutes later, I find myself in the middle of the forest, on a tiny plateau. You can really feel the humidity here, and as a proof, you meet a lot of mushrooms on the dead tree stumps. I’ll talk to my father about it in a few weeks, but honestly, they look like poplars that I collect from time to time at home in the South of France (and that I used to collect when I was younger). I’m not going to take any risk, but it would be worth it to pick them up to show them to a pharmacist. The descent is the same as the ascent: steep, but also very short. Beware of slipping!

Once down, I reach the famous Fort River (hence the name of the walk). The landscape is really splendid. I am alone in the middle of the forest, at the edge of the river. There is not a single sound, except birds and what I assume are crickets. The atmosphere is really great and I have to admit that, after the hike, I wish Melanie and the kids were here, because it’s actually a pretty easy hike. Instead of that, we had started the day before in a rather difficult hike, not exactly signalized, rather dangerous and slippery, and we had finally turned back. I’ll tell you more about it if I decide to go back alone without the kids, because it’s too dangerous.

Anyway, I took advantage of this moment to take out my tripod, install my polarizing filter to bring out the colors of the moment and take some pictures. When we reach the river, the hike simply continues in the river bed, and it is impossible to get lost. This clearly implies that if the weather is bad or if it rains, you should turn back and not take any chances! You are really going to walk in the river, on the sand and pebble banks, so if the water rises quickly, it is not a good thing to be there.

Going up the river is really nice and you will come across a number of pools with beautiful colors. Of course, they are not so deep (although), but it does not look bad at all in pictures. I continue my way towards the waterfall. A short 20-minute walk almost brings me to the end. Just before the waterfall, I notice a huge tree, an Acomat Boucan, always so majestic with its huge roots and its impressive buttresses.

The waterfall is close and we can already hear the noise in the background. Finally at the hike’s reward, I observe this beautiful waterfall at the end of the valley. At the foot of this one, we can observe a small lake, very nice to swim (even if I am too cold for that, haha). I stop for a few minutes to shoot the waterfall from below, but I must admit that the difference of luminosity between the rocks at the edge of the lake and the waterfall in the sun makes things a bit difficult.

The place is very beautiful, especially when there is no one there, it’s even more appreciable. Obviously, the fact that the tourists are not yet here, it helps! I decide to go up on the right side of the rocks to take some closer pictures. The noise is impressive, as well as the quantity of water that comes down from the rocks. I spend half an hour doing long exposures shots, at the edge of the waterfall. You have to be careful because it’s very slippery, and it would be stupid to end up in the water with all my camera gear…

The way back is not very complicated, but I had read that if you want to avoid the steep ascent and descent, you can simply continue straight along the river for the return part of the walk. That’s what I tried to do, instead of going back up the same way I started. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s really better. It’s longer, quite difficult because you walk in the pebbles, and depending on the water level, you will have to get your feet wet. Nothing spectacular on the way back (I actually find this part even less beautiful than the one that goes up to the waterfall). It’s up to you to see if it’s worth it. In any case, if you choose this way back, you will be able to see, after a 15/20-minute walk I would say, a path on your left that goes back to the foot of the starting climb. You simply arrive by the path I was talking about at the beginning.

That’s it, I’ve come to the end of this small story. I hope you enjoyed it! In any case, you can very well do this family walk with or without children, no problem.

• Difficulties: None. Note a small slippery ascent/descent. No need for a hiking guide.
• Duration: 2h round trip – 3h if swimming and photos!
• Length: 3 km (round trip)
• Type: round trip (but possibility to go by the river on one of the two routes)
• Ideal: Good weather / Avoid rainy days (because of the river)
• Season: Early in the morning, dry season preferably
• To think about: rain cape, hiking shoes, mosquito repellent

You will find below an interactive map of the Bras du Fort hiking area. You have access to the satellite image, but also to the IGN map. You can also download the GPS track (.gpx) to integrate in your GPS by clicking on the following link:

• Saut du Bras du Fort

The map also allows you to see all the hikes that we have done or that we plan to do (by moving to other areas). If you are interested, we compiled a full page on Guadeloupe hikes.

I don’t know the area very well yet, but according to my topographic map and the different websites I read, there are in the area :

• Chutes Moreau waterfalls,
• The Water Garden of Goyave,
• The Montebello Distillery,
• The visit of Valombreuse Garden,
• The Mamelles road, and so many discoveries on the road (Cascade aux écrevisses, Saut de la Lézarde, etc.).

As usual, I summarize everything you need to know to go for a walk there.

Of course, if you come here on vacation, chances are you’ll arrive by plane from France (you’ll tell me, with an article in French, it seems legit, right? haha). From France, the most common, shortest and cheapest flights are in any case from Paris. There are also cheap flights from Lyon or Bordeaux, also with direct flights. If you are flexible and plan ahead, you can find flights between 350 and 400€. You can find out more in our article dedicated to how to get to Guadeloupe.

For a long time, we have been looking at the fares and comparing them thanks to Skyscanner. It is in my opinion the best website to do this job. You can even, if needed, just use this comparator to find the companies that fly to a destination and thus have an idea of the cheapest months, for example. For Guadeloupe, remember that three airlines operate on the island: Corsair, Air France and Air Caraïbes.
The island is too large to walk or cycle, and considering the public transport network, I advise you in any case to rent a car locally.

But let’s come back to the trip itself. Everything will depend of course on where you arrive. If you spent the first part of your stay on Grande Terre, you are not that far from the start of the ride. I give you an itinerary from the airport: count 30 km and 25-minute travel.

For smartphone fans, here are some ideas to help you on your trip:

• You can download the Maps.me app (Android / Apple) which will allow you to have maps of all of Guadeloupe offline. You can also follow the hike’s path via the app which displays it correctly at this location (which is not always the case),
• Here is also the full hike on the Wikilocs website.

Obviously, as everywhere in Guadeloupe, there are plenty of possibilities, for all budgets and tastes. Some ideas :

• Villa Palulie, a very nice villa with a pool right next to the trail,
• Le Bungalow Luxe la Créole – Habitation Saint Charles – Habitation Saint Charles, a little wonder in Petit-Bourg to relax after the hike,
• Les Gites de la Lézarde : a beautiful 3 star establishment that will delight nature lovers!

You can also look at all the accommodations near the city of Goyave.

That’s it, I’m coming to the end of this small stroll in the Saut du Bras du Fort. I hope you enjoyed it and that it will inspire you to go there. Personally, I found the place very nice, natural and very accessible. We can even plan a picnic with the family to eat lunch at the foot of the waterfall.

In any case, we’ll continue to explore Basse-Terre. At the time of writing these few lines, we leave for four days on Terre-de-Bas in Saintes, the archipelago just in front of our home! We are going to enjoy ourselves, I can feel it. For those who want to continue their discovery, here is the Cascade du Paradis hike in Vieux-Habitants.

See you soon.

Written by Sylvain PONS

Since 2021, I've been living in the Guadeloupe archipelago with Mélanie and our two children. We are exploring these beautiful islands and discovering the treasures that we are happy to share with you!

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