ONCE impressive and appealing, rafting in Portland is now in peril, as booming business gives way to misfortune and suffering.

Illegal rafting by money-making hustlers and the dismal state of the global economy has compounded the rotten luck of raft captains, who complain bitterly that the managers of The Rio Grande Experience have failed to take the attraction to the heights it needs to go to remain successful and viable in these modern times.

A rafter helps tourists get off a raft at Martha Brae in Trelawny. (Photos: Lionel Rookwood)

"Nuff a wi leave the rafting because of how tings a run now. It really bad. We have to be doing other jobs on the side because we can't survive," said a scowling Lawrence Chisholm, 47, a native of Portland.

He was helping grown men in the community construct rafts to transport eager American tourists down the Rio Grande - one of the most popular rivers in Jamaica - from the time he was a teenager. Chisholm soon became a successful raft captain leading two-hour tours of the river. During those days, The Rio Grande Experience lived up to its billing as one of the must-do activities for both locals and visitors to the island's shores.

But that time has past - a reality reflected elsewhere in Jamaica.

A visit by the Sunday Observer to River Rafters Limited in Trelawny, which offers raft tours of the Martha Brae, turned up similar complaints. The same was true for the staff at Calypso Rafting in White River, St Ann, where people shared tales of dwindling profits.

Back at Rafters' Rest in Portland, the signs of degradation are all around. Besides the unkempt surroundings, overrun with weeds, there is no running water and the phone lines have been down for months. It is not surprising that Chisholm and his colleagues are not happy campers. The men wear frowns and scowls instead of smiles.

Young men work on their rafts at White River in St Ann.

"Right now we have a lot of concerns that not being addressed by [the manager] Mr [Errol] Allen, who is supposed to be in charge of rafting in Portland. So right now, everything is out of control," Chisholm said, standing in the company of a few colleagues.

Allen, manager of The Rio Grande Experience, has been running operations in Portland for more than five years, having taken over the attraction from the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo).

Allen, who is based in Montego Bay, lists a host of reasons for the collapse of rafting in Portland, including the global recession and illegal rafting (a dangerous and booming enterprise practised by young, unlicensed rafters).

"The roads are also badly in need of repair and that has been a major problem for us for years," Allen adds. "We have also seen a huge reduction in the number of tour companies that do business with us so that results in fewer tourists visiting the place," he said, adding that he has lost millions since taking over the attraction.

But Frederick Dennis, who has been a raft captain for more than 20 years in Portland, believes Allen's lack of experience in tourism is to blame. Dennis, 40, said he is frustrated when he thinks of how rafting in the parish is now close to extinction.

"It hurt mi when mi think of it because I have kids to feed and send to school," he told the Sunday Observer.

During our last Wednesday morning visit, a few bus loads of Americans pulled in at regular intervals but Tezan Crawford, the day-to-day manager, hastened to point out that that is not always the case.

"To be honest, it's really slow right now but we hope it gets better. We were expecting it to pick up for the winter tourist season but that didn't happen. Rafting is a year-round activity so if the recession goes away, then things will definitely get better for us," said Crawford, adding that they have introduced 'tubing' as a new activity to woo more visitors.

"When we get a week of heavy rains and the river has a lot of water, we have to turn back visitors. But now they can go in the tubes instead of on the rafts," he said.

Raft captains at White River say they have seen their tips get smaller and smaller.

"[Tips are] the hardest thing to get right now. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you get nothing at all. Everything get cut back, but we still smile and feel good because we understand how the world stay right now," noted Dwight Edwards, 38.

The woes in Portland did not begin yesterday. In June 1997, the rafting attraction was temporarily closed following protests by raftsmen. Again in August 1999, the place was shut down temporarily. To eliminate competition between the licensed rafters and the illegal raftsmen, security was beefed up at the attraction in 1999 but that did very little to change things. For the certified raftsmen like Chisholm and Dennis, the illegal operators are pesky nuisances, who target the tour buses before they even reach Berrydale, where the raft tour begins. On many occasions, a jostle between licensed and unlicensed rafters ensue.

"Sometimes, it's like a fight. We provide tickets for tourists and the unlicensed ones don't. So they try to target the tourists before they buy the tickets. And when they have accidents on the river, we get the blame," complained supervisor Beth McLean.

But that is only half the problem. The roads leading to Berrydale are deplorable and c****ined with the massive downturn in the number of tourists visiting the parish, many believe it was only a matter of time before things started falling apart. The place is littered with broken-down rafts, gloomy faces and heavy shrubbery. The number of raftsmen working at Rio Grande dropped from 161 in 1997 to 85 in 2009.

In mid-2005, 90 raftsmen withdrew their services at Martha Brae, citing inadequate working equipment and employers' negligence, which they said led to the damage of their rafts. This move surprised managing director of River Rafters, Johnny Gourzong, who the raftsmen accused of failing to address their grouses. Within a month though, management and workers were able to resolve their differences.
Today, the main complaint of the workers at Martha Brae is that they do not see as many visitors as they used to.

Meanwhile, an informed source at the tourism ministry said TPDCo was devising plans to help develop the rafting attractions in Jamaica. No details were available.

Determined not to lose hope, the veteran raftsmen said they want things to turn around before rafting becomes a thing of the past on the island.

"We can't just let rafting die out because we work too hard for that to happen. When we consider the years and the money we invest in the industry, we just can't give up," said one rafter at Martha Brae.

Chisholm feels the same way.

"The conditions inna the place have to improve for rafting to get better. If that don't happen then all of us a go just leave it and go duh farming, and we don't want that to happen," he said, adding that he is heartened to know that on most days the Rio Grande still glistens under the blazing sun.