This Garifuna Culture Tour + Mangrove Cruise will immerse you in the Garifuna traditions through punta music, dance, and cuisine and will take you on a leisurely cruise along the mangrove channels.

The Garifuna People are a unique ethnic group with their own unique culture, recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Garinagu (plural of Garifuna) are descendants of Carib, Arawak, and West African people, and are mostly dedicated to woodwork, fishing, and farming. Their language is an Arawakan language with English, French, and Spanish influences plus a small number of African words.

Their fascinating history began just off the tropical shores of the Caribbean Island of St. Vincent in 1635, when two Spanish ships carrying slaves from Africa were shipwrecked off its coast. Many of the slaves survived and made it to safety on the island, where they mixed with the local Carib Indians. Both tribes tried to prevent Great Britain from colonizing the island of St. Vincent, but they failed, and as a result the Caribs were killed and the Garifuna were deported to Roatán, where they settled in Punta Gorda, on the North side, where they rebuilt their culture.

With time, the Garifunas expanded along the coast of mainland Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Nowadays they also have communities in the United States.

Notably, these African descendants were never made slaves, and they display their pride through the conscious preservation of their long-standing cultural traditions.

Your driver will also take you to the village of Oakridge, where we will board a cayuco (motorized wooden canoe also called Dory) and cruise towards Jonesville, where the mangrove tunnels are located.

The cayuco captain will steer it through mangrove trees that grow forming a shaded archway so thick above you that you can’t see the sky and tunnels so narrow that is barely wide enough for the canoe to pass.

Numerous fish species use the shelter of the mangrove as a nursing ground before heading to the open ocean, to the extent that one-third of all marine species were born and raised in mangrove forests around the world. As a result, the mangroves’ well-being is central to the health of many more ecosystems.

Besides, mangrove roots act as a net retaining waste and trash, hence accumulating pollution and keeping the ocean clean.
The tour ends by heading back to your cruise ship terminal with enough time before your ship’s departure time.