Rappa Rasta Tours

We are happy to inform you in tis newsletter about ‘5 year celebration Rappa Rasta Tours’, our cute member of the family ‘Sheba’, the ‘property’ Rappa hopefully can stay on, EM Farming, a 7 days round tour and the new Website.

5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Rappa Rasta Tours is grateful and happy for your trust and adventurous interests. We did so many great tours and met such lovely people, each and every one of you! Some of you became friends, some of you came back exploring other parts of Jamaica, some stayed in the yard for a while. Check out some high lights which are great to mention for now.

We are happy with all your 5 star reviews on Face Book and interviews on our website.
Al those stories when traveling with you, day trips or multiple day round tours, are in our memories.
We should have written it down, having a book filled with many, many, great, awesome, unique and authentic experiences.
Blessings & Respect

Watch me, I’m strong! Welcome puppy!

For a while wild cat visit the yard, chasing lizards and rat and keeping Rappa company. With food and sweet sounds the cat, called Zena, felt save and got a kitten.

The adorable puppy, Sheba, came as gift from the mechanic and did lively up the yard. She loves to play, cuddle and most of all, she is eager for food. Cat and dog like to eat from each other bowls, ignoring our teachings. Sheba is very curious and like to play with the kitten but Zena is over protective.
Sheba grows fast and loves to play with neighbor dogs, which is great. One day she did cut her leg bad and we went to the clinic for stitches, she looked so endearing.

We were lucky it was Wednesday; Negril Spay and Neuter Clinic was able to help. Blessings to Debbie and the volunteers who were kind to assist immediately.
Our guests, Suzy, Senne and Jonas, brought dog stuff to the clinic. If you want to support the clinic or doing volunteer work, link them.
Do you know there is also a puppy rescue in Negril? They also are very happy with donations and volunteer workers.

The Yard: Charity Project – Please help Rappa

In 2018 the property Rappa is living, was sold just in a time he wanted to buy it little by little. The start of building a stone houses is a fact, but through disappointment notting was going on after the bad news; he was asked to leave.
This month the owner who never start to build on the property offers Rappa to buy it from him. Rappa is still living in the board house which he build in 2015, when he tried to step up.
When Rappa can not buy the lot, he needs to leave for sure as it will be sold to some one else any way.

Together with a friend I like to bring Go Fund Me to your attention as we are reaching out for your support: Let’s help Rappa buying the property, with the result he has a place to live, which he can call home.
We are asking for help as the tour business is small, just enough to survive but not enough to invest. There is no other way to get support. Therefor we ask you to see this as a charity project in the way you help a friend, a good person who deserve to stay in his home.

How do you like the new website?

7-12 day – Authentic Round Trip:

• Negril, visit Mayfield Falls, sightseeing to Treasure Beach, guesthouse
• far south coast exploring hidden gems; spring, blue hole, village, meet Rasta’s, family and friends of Rappa
• through Rastafari Heritage, Kingston & Blue Mountains, forward to the north coast
• get the Portland vibes: farm, bar, hidden gems, Maroon village….
• bays and rivers along the north coast til you arrive at Ocho Rios
• Nine Mile, Negril

EM Farming – Travellers giving back

Our guests Ron and Sylvia, experts in healthy soil for farming, horses and cows, wanted to do something back to Jamaica.
With the ais of Bio-Ron (NL) we are introducing Effective Micro-organisms in Jamaica.
Rappa Rasta Tours is informing farmers about natural farming, with the benefits of Effective Micro-organisms (EM) of Bio- Ron and Agriton.  EMRO Japan is the Original Manufacturer of EM in Japan.

EM Product – Fair Trade, supporting Jamaica farmers

EM is a liquid of living, good bacteria, yeast and fungus, which are needed for a healthy environment.
Water the soil with EM, and the soil will get more oxygen. Seeds will grow better as roots have room to grow therefor, flowers and fruits will be bigger and stronger. Natural!
EM and EM products are good for composting too and can be used for cleaning, disinfecting water and building houses.

We add molasses and water to EM-1 to make EM-A, ready to use. We share it with farmers and dog clinics. After a try out we will distribute. Link us when you want information about our EM-Product. We are happy to introduce it to you.

Ten day round trip around the island

Three friends wanted to Jamaica to explore nature, music and meeting Jamaicans.
We offered an authentic trip visiting Roaring River, Tuff Gong Kingston, a night in the cabin of Holywell in the Blue Mountains and chilling at Rebel Salute. We went to Portland to visit a Maroon village and a large farm with a bar at night time. On our way back to Negril we passed the little Dunn’s to cool off and Nine Mile Bob Marley Mausoleum.
In this blog about our ten day round trip around the island with Martin, Mark and Roy, you’r invited to join some of our most awesome experiences.

Rain vibes

Rain is a blessing for the fruits, flowers and trees, but it can be for you as well. It catches us when having a village tour in Roaring River. Roaring River is famous for it’s cave with mineral pool. We walked through the village when it started dripping, soon followed by heavy rain fall. We needed a shelter and found one together with two young Jamaicans. Spliffs were build and the boombox of Roy played reggae music. The boy showed his music video and we started to sing his song. It is one of the greatest things of Jamaicans; singing and dancing is part of daily live. Rain was not spoiling our day but did give us the chance to chat and have fun, to listen to music, relax and make friends.   

Holywell hike

Staying in a wooden cabin in Holywell park with wood fire and a splendid view over Kingston is a great opportunity to experience the Blue Mountains in a relaxing way. This is what you need when you are on a ten day trip as you have the possibility to reflect because of the huge impressions Jamaica can make. The drizzling rain couldn’t stop two of us for an hour hike, passing all kind of huge ferns and a waterfall, it was worth every little step as the surrounding is magnificent with colorful flowers and views.

We cooked our food in the kitchen and build a wood fire in front of the cabin in the evening were we chatted with park rangers. At night Rappa fell asleep on the ‘Lamzac’ (fat boy) which our guests brought, trying to stay warm in his fleece jacket and sleeping bag.

Why taking a guide with you?

Ron, Mark and Martin are adventurous and wanted to find a certain bar on there own, a bit up the hill in Port Antonio. Therefor they left after sunset our hotel on Titchfield, that’s why I could rest my feet.
In about 45 minutes Roy came back, because he had forgotten to bring the directions. In Rappa’s head the alarmbel was ringing: ‘I have to bring them’, he said. In fact the bar at the farm of the Living Daylights was not so easy to find and we had lots of laughs when our guests admitted they needed Rappa. They would’ve never found it by themselves, and were very happy they reached in the end. It is such a great and sweet off the beaten path bar, which we needed to see the next day in daylight again and bring a visit to the farm itself. The owners let us taste fresh coconut juice and showed us around, told us about their future plans to build rooms and offering yoga class.

Chicken

Finding good local food on our way can be a challenge. You need to be at the right time in the morning for the best breakfast, but what is the right time? When you are to late the rest of the day will be mostly ‘chicken an rice’. So our daily song in the Jeep was: ‘Chicken in the morning, chicken in the evening, chicken at nigh time at Rappa Rasta Tours!’ It has to be said this holiday was full of songs and jokes and everyone enjoyed it.

Hidden bay

Sightseeing on our way to Ocho Rios we wanted to show our guests Robins Bay from where you can visit Kwame and Takky Falls. Because we moved like Jamaicans we did not pay attention to time and we loved that day to ‘go with the flow’. By the time we reached Strawberry Fields Together it was late, to late to make the hike to the waterfall. Instead we had a break at a small bay, good for a swim. There are several places to stay in Robins Bay, St. Mary, but we went on to Ocho Rios. Easygoing as we travelled we found a place to stay out of the center were in a close by restaurant we had our Red Stripe Beers.