Southwest Trip

[Syork]

My wife and I just returned from a wonderful trip to the southwest part of the country. We have lived here for 18 years and had never visited south and southwest of Barahona. What a beautiful and undeveloped part of the country. We stayed at the Casa Bonita, about 16 Kms. south of Barahona. Great hotel and beautiful setting. Henry Romero is the manager and the service was excellent.

One day was spent travelling to Bahia de las Aquilas near Perdanales. Getting there was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from the Barahona area, along the cost to Oviedo and then inland to the national park area where the Bahia is. Isolated and very sparsely populated but a beautiful drive. Lots of speed bumps along the way but decent roads most of the time.

The Bahia de las Aquilas is truly worth seeing. The beach itself is reachable by 4 wheel drive road or by boat-$1800 for 1-5 people, about a 20 minute boat ride. Plus $50 PP to enter the park. The beach is probably 3-4 miles in length and the day we were there, only five people on the beach. My wiife and I and 3 folks from France. A true gem and hopefully it will stay that way. You can see why the developers would love to get their hands on it-room for 100 hotels and 5-6 golf courses, at least!

The Laguna at Oviedo has flamencos and lots of other birds but the guys that run the boats didn't have any gasoline handy so we didn't make a trip on the laguna itself.

Next day was off to Lago Enriquillo- saw lots of large iguanas at the edge of the lake, stopped by the Polo Magnetico- which we deduced is an optical illusion, and also made it to the aguas termales at Canoa but you can skip that part if you go- small, sulfer-smelling pool that was wiped out by Hurricane Noel and has yet to recover.

Last day's trip was up over the mountains from the town of Enriquillo south west of Barahona, up through the villages of Arroyo Dulce, El Higuero, up to the town of Polo and then four wheel drive country up to El Cortecito-beutiful country and very friendly people, no signs anywhere so you have to ask at every intersection.

Lots of fun and a beautiful part of the country. Go see it when you get a chance-take a cooler and ice and snacks!

Enjoy

Rick

[Chirimoya]

Nice report, thanks Rick.

What happened to the sulphur pool at Canoa? I wonder whether that will affect the madcap plan to build a 2,000 room - yes, that is not a typo: two thousand room - resort and spa there?

This is what it looked like a year ago, when I was last there:


Have you got any photos you can share from the trip in general?

[Borec]

Nice area, I have been there 3x and I would go back again, to explore it bit more if I would have the time and money.

[Richard Alberto]

Syork. the southwest region hopefully will be dedicated to ecological tourism only. It's truly the most geographically diverse part of the entire Dominican Republic

[M111111]

Did they approve the Canoa project?

[Chirimoya]

Last I hear it was on hold. Quelle surprise.

[Drperson]

Originally Posted by Syork

My wife and I just returned from a wonderful trip to the southwest part of the country. We have lived here for 18 years and had never visited south and southwest of Barahona. What a beautiful and undeveloped part of the country. We stayed at the Casa Bonita, about 16 Kms. south of Barahona. Great hotel and beautiful setting. Henry Romero is the manager and the service was excellent.

One day was spent travelling to Bahia de las Aquilas near Perdanales. Getting there was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from the Barahona area, along the cost to Oviedo and then inland to the national park area where the Bahia is. Isolated and very sparsely populated but a beautiful drive. Lots of speed bumps along the way but decent roads most of the time.

The Bahia de las Aquilas is truly worth seeing. The beach itself is reachable by 4 wheel drive road or by boat-$1800 for 1-5 people, about a 20 minute boat ride. Plus $50 PP to enter the park. The beach is probably 3-4 miles in length and the day we were there, only five people on the beach. My wiife and I and 3 folks from France. A true gem and hopefully it will stay that way. You can see why the developers would love to get their hands on it-room for 100 hotels and 5-6 golf courses, at least!

The Laguna at Oviedo has flamencos and lots of other birds but the guys that run the boats didn't have any gasoline handy so we didn't make a trip on the laguna itself.

Next day was off to Lago Enriquillo- saw lots of large iguanas at the edge of the lake, stopped by the Polo Magnetico- which we deduced is an optical illusion, and also made it to the aguas termales at Canoa but you can skip that part if you go- small, sulfer-smelling pool that was wiped out by Hurricane Noel and has yet to recover.

Last day's trip was up over the mountains from the town of Enriquillo south west of Barahona, up through the villages of Arroyo Dulce, El Higuero, up to the town of Polo and then four wheel drive country up to El Cortecito-beutiful country and very friendly people, no signs anywhere so you have to ask at every intersection.

Lots of fun and a beautiful part of the country. Go see it when you get a chance-take a cooler and ice and snacks!

Enjoy

Rick

Hi Would you reccommend this trip on a motercycle . Are there any other side trips or other places you would visit you would take on this trip say if you had 7-10 days Thanks