Haiti: The Caribbean's enigmatic and undiscovered island

I’m gripping the rope, trying not to look down. Water rushes down a narrow rapid beneath me, and a very patient guide – one of several from the local village – is guiding my feet down the rock face as I giggle hysterically. “This is real Indiana Jones stuff,” says our G Adventures chief experience officer (CEO), Romel.

If you want to bask in the perfect blue waters of one of Haiti’s most beautiful waterfalls and lagoons – Bassin-Bleu, located just outside Jacmel – you have to work for it.

I’m in Haiti, exploring the country with G Adventures. Though not exactly a tourism hotspot – yet – agents selling Royal Caribbean cruises will be aware of its beautiful beaches, particularly the line’s private resort, Labadee. But this little-explored Caribbean nation has so much more to offer, which this 10-day tour highlights.

If you know little else about Haiti, you’ll know it suffered a devastating earthquake in 2010. Now, just eight months after Hurricane Matthew hit the nation’s south peninsula, the message is not only that Haiti is very much open for business but that tourism is a key way to help it recover.

It’s an issue that’s vitally important to G Adventures. “When people flee and don’t think they can travel to a place, that hurts the country even more,” says Kelly Galaski, programme and operations manager for G Adventures’ non-profit organisation, the Planeterra Foundation.

Although Haiti had a profound tourism heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, years of political upheaval and natural disasters all but shut things down.

In 2013, Galaski was asked to assess Haiti’s tourism readiness, including infrastructure and attractions, both natural and historical.

“We were really impressed with everything from the service at the hotels and guest houses, to the sites. The culture here is so unique. We thought everything wrapped into one would be a really unique destination.”

Haiti’s appeal in that heyday was something close to Cuba’s now, with its mix of ornate gingerbread architecture, music and culture holding considerable appeal.

That’s all still there. And as the first and only nation in the world to be born of a slave revolt, its culture – from the Creole language to its music and the Vodou religion – is still a unique fusion of its African and European heritage.

It’s something the G Adventures’ tour – starting and ending in Port-au-Prince – actively looks to immerse travellers in.

So far, I’ve visited Unesco World Heritage site Citadelle, the largest fortress in the Americas, and Sans-Souci Palace high in the mountains outside the northern city of Cap-Haitien; explored one of the Caribbean’s largest cave systems at Grotte Marie Jeanne; and discovered capital Port-au-Prince’s vibrant arts scene, from the metalworking village of Noailles at Croix-des-Bouquets to the artist community of Atis Rezistans, where discarded objects from hub caps to TV sets are turned into sculptures.