BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth — As this Hurricane Melissa-ravaged town continues its slow march to normalcy, one of its two safari operations is set to reopen today.

Safari tour operators Dr Donovan Bennett and Joseph Ryan Swaby told the
Jamaica Observer that their businesses were among the many in the heritage-rich town badly damaged when Melissa rampaged through the island on October 28 bringing Category 5-level winds, heavy rains, and massive storm surges.

But Swaby, managing director of Black River Safari Tours, says it is now ready to reopen and this should help to boost confidence in the restoration of Black River.

According to Swaby, a second-generation operator of the attraction, when Hurricane Gilbert hit Jamaica in 1988 the safari suffered damage but it recovered.

“The key thing that we took from that is that we have to recover from Hurricane Melissa. I think the rebirth of Black River will mainly be driven by the reopening of businesses, because despite a lot of aid and help being given out, without meaningful employment, without people getting back a sense of normality, it is going to be difficult for them to push forward,” Swaby said on Wednesday.

He argued that residents in and around the town need to feel encouraged and he is optimistic that other business owners will follow suit and resume operations.

“The reason we are reopening is to push that. We hope that other businesses choose to reopen as well, even if not at full capacity. It will help bring back the feel good factor, especially around the festive season. We hope that will bring people back to Black River,” added Swaby.

He said the Black River Safari Tours property suffered extensive damage with flooding being the most significant.

“We have rebuilt the interior of our main building, so it is close to what it was before. We have done a lot of clean-up all over the premises, so it is still a work in progress… It is better than it was about six weeks ago when the storm had just passed,” said Swaby.

The safari, he said, will be functioning on a smaller scale as only two of six tour boats have been retrieved and recommissioned.

“We will be limiting our tour capacity [and] our crocodile nursery won’t be open at that point due to extensive damage to that area,” said Swaby.

He is anticipating full restoration of the safari tour by the end of next month.

“It is going to be an ongoing effort. We definitely have a lot to replace our boundary walls. Some of our boats are still stuck in the morass. They were brought further upstream to avoid the high storm surge. However, it still got to them and pushed them into a remote part of the Black River Morass. We are still working to recover the other four boats. We are not sure how soon we will be able to do that, but in terms of work on the ground and at the safari we do hope that by the end of January to be where we were before the storm hit,” he explained.

When asked about the presence of crocodiles, Swaby said wildlife previously displaced during the storm is returning.

“Along the section of the Black River and the Salt Spring River — one of its major tributaries on which our boat tours usually run — we have seen up to 20 crocodiles on tours,” he said.

“Since the hurricane… crocodiles are not in their usual spot. Everybody is moving up and down, so most times we go on the river now you see up to 10 or 12 crocodiles each time. There is a lot of movement and activity of wildlife in the area trying to find new homes,” he added.

The attraction, which previously employed up to 13 staff, will be operating with fewer employees when it reopens.

“Some were on a part-time basis and some were on a training basis. Unfortunately now we are going to have to downsize to maybe about six, seven, or eight, because our tour capacity will be significantly reduced. We are only going to have two tour boats right now,” said Swaby.

“Our staff live very close to the safari, so they have been very badly affected. Three of them lost their homes completely and one lost a large part of his roof… so our staff were badly battered. However, we didn’t have any injuries or any loss of life to any staff in the hurricane. Most of them are just really excited to get back to work,” added Swaby.

On the other side of Black River, Bennett, a proprietor of St Elizabeth Safari Crocodile Tour, said he has been able to retrieve only one of his previous fleet of seven tour boats. As such his business will remain closed for another month.

“It is not only closed, but we are in some serious difficulty, because when the storm came in it brought a 13-foot surge into Black River, it took all the boats out of the river channel and deposited them into a wetland. So far we have been able to identify one and we have been able to retrieve that, but the others are creating a difficulty. We have spoken to the Member of Parliament [Floyd Green] regarding assisting us with a swamp buggy, so that we may be able to retrieve two of the others that we have identified,” Bennett told the Observer.

“What we are retrieving is not a [complete] boat, it is what is left of a boat. If and when we do get them out we still have a tremendous amount of work to do, because some of them have overturned. Some of them, all that is left are the floatation pods and the cross members, the flooring, the sides, the steering, the top, everything is torn off and has disappeared,” he added.

He said a major part of the Black River remains inaccessible by boat.

“To do a tour now on the Black River you will probably be able to go maybe half way and then you have to turn around, so it wouldn’t be acceptable to me to offer a tour. We are going to have to get some help and go up the river with power saws to clean the channels, so we can start again.

“I would imagine that if we really put some effort into it and we are able to retrieve the boats that by the end of January we should be able to have something that is acceptable to offer the guests,” Bennett added as he pointed out that restoring the attraction will come at a high cost.

“Because we lost all the engines… That alone is going to run us maybe $20 million,” said Bennett.

He is, however, hoping that the Government will lead in redeveloping Black River to be better than it was before.

“In every disaster there is an opportunity, so I just hope that once the renewal process takes place the powers that be will just do the right things, will just take the decisions and rebuild the town that is more attractive than it has been, that will be friendlier to visitors than it is now,” he said.

“A lot of Black River was literally built in the sea and I don’t think that those buildings should be rebuilt. I am looking at a scenario where, from the bridge, which needs to be replaced all the way to the hospital, there are a lot of collapsed buildings there. I would like to see a situation where those lands are acquired by the Government and a highway is put along the sea side there with a promenade where people can walk in the evenings and do shopping and entertainment themselves. This is my hope that they will do things like that for Black River to make it a special place,” added Bennett.

BENNETT… to do a tour now on the Black River you will probably be able to go maybe halfway and then you have to turn around

Fishing boats in the Black River photographed on December 10, 2025. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)