Robaina's

Robaina's
Robaina's plantation

Sunday 2 August 2015

El Nicho Waterfall (Cienfuegos)

                  El Nicho is located in the Grupo Guamuhaya part of Sierra de Trinidad mountains. You can get there Via Cienfuegos, it's approximately 46 kilometers distance from there but we were staying in Trinidad which is about an hour away. You can get there from Trinidad where the main road going to the waterfall is four kilometers west. It's a shorter distance, fifteen kilometers, but the road goes through the Topos de Collantes (a nature reserve park in the Escambray Mountain range) and is really steep and winding....that's the way we went. The only way to get there safely would be with a 4x4, and so we rented a 4x4 with a driver, I certainly wasn't going to attempt it. The driver picked us up at 9am and brought us back at about 8pm for $90cuc. The vehicle could take 3 people comfortably ($30cuc per person), each of us getting a window, there was a lot to see along the way. It took the same time it would have taken if we had gone the Cienfuegos way but the roads were horrible in certain spots and required a lot of caution and we had to slow right down....it took us more than an hour, closer to an hour and a half. I was told that the views we got were better. Either way, it was an interesting side trip that I would do again but this time try going the other way and see how it looks coming from that end. The driver had told us the road was much better the other way and I read it's quite scenic as well...next time.
                  Once there you'll find a parking lot with the entrance to a trail right next to it. Foreigners pay a $6cuc entrance fee while locals pay 20 cuban pesos. From the entrance it's just a short easy walk to the falls with a Ranchon style restaurant along the way. It's quite pretty and I'm going to have to walk further next time I go and see whats beyond the ridge. To get to the point where the actual falls are from the entrance is less than 10 minutes. Just before you get the falls you'll find a pond where the water is shallow and where many stop to take a dip in the cool mountain waters. The food in the restaurant is simple Cuban Traditional, tasty and inexpensive as you can see from the pictures below. I hope you enjoy the pictures.














































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