Yallahs
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Yallahs
Yallahs - St. Thomas, main south coast road (the biggest town between Kingston and Morant Bay)
Yallahs Fording
The Yallahs fording is usually a wide rocky chasm which sports a thin trickle of the Yallahs river drifting down to the sea. The river is volatile and during periods of heavy rain the fording can become flooded and impassable. Volatile environmental conditions have caused the fording to widen significantly over the last thirty years.
JerkWhen approaching Yallahs from Kingston, the first thing you will notice is a plethora of jerk vendors plying their wares by the side of the road. Yallahs is a famous and popular place to stock up on jerk chicken or pork when travelling around Jamaica's south east coast.
Salt pondsAn intriguing geographical feature of Yallahs is the two salt ponds which lie to the east of the Yallahs fording. The ponds are incredibly saline (some say up to 10 times as salty as the ocean) and used to emit a terrible stench (due to the high concentration of hydrogen sulphide generated by the bacteria which thrive in these salty conditions). In 1902 it is reported that the aroma was so pungent it could be smelt as far away as Kingston. However, channels were cut linking the ponds to the open ocean, this greatly reduced the smell.
There are several theories about the origin of the salt ponds. One is that two brothers were quarrelling over their right to inherit the land that it sank under the weight of the disagreement. Another, more scientific, explanation is that the ponds were formed by a landslide which occurred during the great 1692 earthquake.
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