Yes – There are still Indigenous People in Dominica 

Straight from the horse’s mouth. 
I have always heard of the “Carib Village” in Dominica 🇩🇲 therefore,  naturally a visit there would have been one of the first things on my agenda on landing on this island in the Eastern Caribbean.  

Through winding uphill roads, the Atlantic Ocean on one side,  and plantations and estates on the other, we entered one of the  areas of the Kalinago Territory, Barana Aute, on the North East coast of Dominica.   

The Kalinagos, who were indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles, were what we in other parts of the Caribbean refer to as the Caribs. However, in Dominica they get offended by that misnomer as I would later learn from the Tour Guide, since the colonists claimed that the Caribs practiced cannibalism and this was justification to enslave them, inter alia.   

Nestled, in the designated Kalinago 3,700m reserve (yes their own land given to them by the British in 1903), is a small “model village” meant to showcase how the Kalinago tribe lived.  

Kennrick himself a Kalinago descendant did a pretty decent job of explaining the pre-Colombian history,  as he showed us around the model village. 

The Kalinagos have their own form of self governance as well. Their population – approximately 3,000.   Their elected “chief” speaks on their behalf  in wider governmental matters.  

My only regret on this brief visit, is that I didn’t stop to take pictures along the way of more Kalinagos with their permission of course.   

Dominica the Nature Island of the Caribbean 🇩🇲 so green!