Carbet Falls is a series of waterfall

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

s on the Carbet River in Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

, an overseas department of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 located in the Leeward Islands

Leeward Islands

The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...

 of the eastern Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 region. Its three cascades are set amid the tropical rainforest

Tropical rainforest

A tropical rainforest is an ecosystem type that occurs roughly within the latitudes 28 degrees north or south of the equator . This ecosystem experiences high average temperatures and a significant amount of rainfall...

s on the lower slopes of the volcano

Volcano

2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

 La Soufrière

La Grande Soufrière

La Grande Soufrière, , is an active stratovolcano located on the French island of Basse-Terre, in Guadeloupe. It is the tallest mountain in the Lesser Antilles, and rises 1,467 m high....

. The falls are one of the most popular visitor sites

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 in Guadeloupe, with approximately 400,000 visitors annually.

In 1493, Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

 noted Carbet Falls in his log. Appropriately, he named Guadeloupe Karukera, which translates as "the island of beautiful waters".

Description

The falls' first and highest cascade comprises a drop of more than 125 m (410.1 ft). Visitors reach the cascade by a long, steep trail at an elevation of 900 m (2,952.8 ft). The source of the Carbet River is located another 2 km (1.2 mi) upstream from the first cascade, at an elevation of 1300 m (4,265.1 ft).

The second cascade receives the most visitors of the three, due to its convenient accessibility. This fall of 110 m (360.9 ft) is reached by paved and very well designed path, a 20 minutes from the main parking lot, at an elevation of 660 m (2,165.4 ft). you may enjoy many hot springs around, including little paradise hot spring.

The third and last cascade measures 20 m (65.6 ft) in height, and has the greatest water volume of any waterfall in Guadeloupe. It is only accessible on foot, and only to experienced hikers.

Recent events

Following an earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

in 2004, several cubic meters of rock split from the cliff face behind the second cascade. The safety hazard thus created led park authorities to limit access to the cascade to no closer than a bridge just downstream. Heavy rains in 2005 and 2009 only exacerbated the problem by leaving the terrain yet more unstable.