Two Sisters Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Hellshire Hills, St. Catherine, about 22 km west of Kingston. From Hellshire roundabout continue left up and over the hill until you come to a rather faded sign. The entrance to the cave is in semi-desert surroundings overlooking Kingston harbour.
Open:	no restrictions
Fee:	none
Classification:	Karst cave
Light:	none, bring your own.
Dimension:	L=60 m, VR=15 m, A=15 m asl.
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:	Alan G. Fincham, Grenville Draper, Ross Macphee, Donald McFarlane, Stewart Peck, Ronald Read, Trevor Shaw, Geoffrey Wadge (1977): Jamaica Underground: The Caves, Sinkholes and Underground Rivers of the Island, University Press of the West Indies, ISBN: 9766400369 Paperback, 465 pages, reprint 1998, p 361. amazon.com (paperback) amazon.com (hardcover).
Address:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

~1200	used by Arawak Indians for ceremonial purposes.
1968	Hellshire becomes a designated area of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC).
2006	refurbished with improved stairs and supporting infrastructure, nature trail.
08-DEC-2006	official reopening.

Description

The caves consist of two large sink holes separated by tons of fallen rocks and they are accessed by sturdy wooden staircases that lead down to sea-level to caves filled with water. It is possible that these reservoirs served as sources of fresh water for the Arawak Indians. These natural cavern and the flooded tunnel beneath are believed to be interconnected with many other limestone caverns which extends for miles in all directions. The water here is crystal blue and the cave is inhabited by tiny swallows. Another inhabitant is Noctilio leporinus, a fish eating bat.

The cave contains a petroglyph, or a rock carving of a face which is thought to be about eight hundred years old. It is protected by wooden frame.

The caretaker of the Two Sisters, Ronald Greaves, lives nearby and is most helpful and knowledgeable.

Text by Tony Oldham (2003). With kind permission.

Two Sisters Cave was named after an legend.

Two slave sisters, whose names were forgotten with time, escaped from a sugar plantation and headed for the hills. After a few days the siblings reached Hellshire and discovered the two caves. Exhausted and hurt by running barefoot across rocks and through bushes they stayed at the caves.

They knew that the men their slave master had sent in search of them were hot on their trail, but they were not strong enough to continue their walk. When one of the sisters heared the sounds of their hunters, they decided never to return to a life of servitude. The sisters held hands and jumped into the black water of the cave and were never seen again. But many visitors of the caves claim that the spirits of the sisters still roam the caves at night.

old legend