Hailed as one of the most iconic landmarks in Jamaica, the Reach Falls continues to capture the hearts of locals and tourists alike.

Over the years, the attraction has been forced to compete with unscrupulous people who try to prevent intended visitors people from accessing the falls.

“What happens is that they (the unscrupulous people) don’t take visitors to the official Reach Falls. They do their own thing and they take you somewhere in the bushes because the river itself runs onto the main and out into the sea,” customer service representative as well as acting clerical officer for Reach Falls, Natalie Brown, told this Jamaca Observer North and East reporter.

“So along the path they find places to take guests from time to time and tell them that they are taking them to Reach Falls,” she continued.

She stated that sometimes the men are honest and will tell prospective visitors that they are going to take them somewhere other than Reach Falls but this, according to Brown, does not happen often.

She said although most drivers in Portland know about the men and their nefarious activities, there are some of them who will engage in the same activity and purposely mislead their passengers.

“Our first three guests who were three men, the taxi driver that took them here, he was encouraging them to go on a tour with him. So they told him no, they wanted to go the government Reach Falls, so probably they heard from the hotel or someone else about these type of men,” the customer service representative said.

She said she has heard that in some cases, some of the hotels work with the men on the street ‘to give them a food’ and because their rates and packages would be cheaper than that of the Urban Development Corporation wich runs Reach Falls.

However, Brown maintained that they actively try to ensure that visitors do not fall prey to the men and are cheated of a great experience.

“What we do though is that we go on the streets and we go to the different hotels and we tell guests when they are coming what they should look for; such as meeting a professional security guard, seeing buildings, seeing a place that looks like you are going somewhere and not into some bushes or under the tree,” she explained.

“We do have signs including ‘No Trespassing’ at the falls for them not to come over on the Reach Falls property. But there’s also the matter of them stopping people on the road before they reach the signs, so they’ll go with the men and then leave thinking that they visited Reach Falls when they really didn’t,” Brown continued.

Listing this as the only main challenge, Brown stated that she loved working at Reach Falls and the nine years she has spent there have been some of her best.

“It’s my dream job, this is the best place to work as you get to meet different people every day, you make their day and they make yours. It’s not really about the pay, it’s about working somewhere like this where it’s lush, green and beautiful, so I love working here,” Brown stated.

The current prices for visiting Reach Falls are $250 for locals between the ages of four and 12 and $500 for locals 12 years and over. In the case of international visitors, it is US$10 for those 12 years and older and US $5 for children under 12.