Fun Facts about Dominica

• Dominica’s original name is Wai’tukubuli which means tall is her body
• Dominica is 29 miles long and 16 miles wide
• Dominica’s coat of arms states “after God it is the land”
• The majority of Dominicans are slave descendants brought here from west Africa
• Everywhere you go you see people walking with machetes, also called cutlasses
• There are more active volcanoes here than anywhere in the world
• 80% of the people here are Roman Catholic
• English here sounds like African languages mixed with French creole. For example, “I love Dominica” translates to “Mwen enme Domnik”
• We see lots of African traditions here including Carnival which means Masquerade
• There are 195 recorded species of fern, 75 kinds of orchids, 50 kinds of butterflies and 176 species of birds!
• Dominica’s landscape is very diverse: woodland, rainforest, microclimates, hot springs…
• Endangered giant leatherback turtles lay eggs here every year
• Dominica gets 60% of its power from water through a series of water carried down in pipes from high peaks.
• The tallest peak Morne Diablotin, is nearly 5,000 feet tall.