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Immersed yourself in the rich history and flavors of the Appleton Estate Rum, combined with the natural beauty, diverse wildlife and rich cultural heritage of the Black River Safari.
Appleton Estate has been hand crafting rums since 1749. They produce a wide variety of aged rum, as well as standard gold and white rums. Located in the heart of the country’s sugar cane belt, it is the oldest sugar estate and distillery in Jamaica. You will watch a short film on the history of the estate, after which you will be given a live demonstration of the earliest methods of extracting the juice from the sugarcane. Then learn about the many types of sugarcane, the cultivation and harvesting process, before sampling bits of cane, sugarcane juice and molasses, at their respective stations. Your visit to the distillation station will give you insight on their unique distillation process before taking a quick walk through of the factory to see the operation in real-time.
You will visit the barrel house where the rums are aged to perfection, before enjoying samples of three different blends, Appleton Estate Signature Blend, Reserve Blend and Rare Blend. The tour comes to an end in the gift shop where you can get sevener items and rum before heading out for your next tour.
Black River Safari is one of the best, if not the #1 location to enjoy nature at its best. Black River is Jamaica’s longest navigable river and is surrounded by lush mangroves and vibrant plant life along the banks of the river and floating on the river. The river’s gentle currents and dappled shadows create a peaceful retreat from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Enjoy a 1-hour boat trip up the river as you get a chance to see the river’s wildlife and learn about the wetlands, birds, fishes, the mangroves and other local flora and fauna. Meet the friendly crocodiles and get up-close as the captain call them by their names and they swim up to the boat. The captain will pet them and feed them while you take pictures or videos. Your tour comes to an end with a visit to the nursery to see the baby crocks, after which you will board your vehicle and head back to your hotel. If your tour package comes with lunch, you can choose to have it before the Black River tour or after. Your driver/guide will assist with the arrangement.
Montego Bay
Our driver will pick you up at your hotel. Please wait in the hotel lobby or on the outside of the lobby. Your driver/guide will have your information.
A 2-2 1/2 hours’ morning drive from your hotel through the mountains and along the shoreline to the Appleton Estate, is a great way to experience the sites and culture of the island. Arriving at Appleton Estate you will be checked in at the ticketing area after which you will be directed to the bar to for complimentary drinks of your choice. Your tour guide will meet you there when it’s time for the tour to begin.
First you will view a chart with the Master Blender Joy Spence and learn about her before entering in the mini theater for a short documentary on the history estate and rum making. Next, your walking tour begins with a live demonstration of the milling process in earlier times before moving on to the picture stand for pictures. You will continue to the sugar cane stand, the milling stand, and the molasses stand, all for learning and sampling of sugar cane and molasses, except for the milling stand where you will participate in the milling process and make your own sugar cane juice for sampling.
You will then move to the factory area for a demonstration of the fermentation process before taking a quick walkthrough of the factory then move to the aging house to see the aging process. You will then make your back on the inside of the main building for sampling of three different brands of rum before ending your tour in the gift shop. 1-hour tour.
Black River Safari. A 40- minutes driver from Appleton to Black River to see the friendly crocodiles is next. Arriving at St. Elizabeth Safari, you will be checked in and directed to the dock where the boat captain/guide will assist you onto his boat for your 1-hour guided tour of the Black River Safari, to see the largest freshwater wetland ecosystem in Jamaica. Your captain will tell you the history of the river role in shaping the town of Black River in earlier times. You will see some of the more than 100 species of wildlife to include birds, mangroves, and lots of flora and fauna.
The guide will call the crocodiles as he reaches their domain and call them up to the boat. He will pet the and feed them while you take pictures and videos and touch them if you so desire. Your tour ends in the crocodile nursery, after the boat trip.
We will pick you up at your hotel in Montego Bay at your scheduled pickup time
We will do a rest stop at Border Jerk for 10-15 minutes
We depart Border Jerk Center
We arrive at the Appleton Estate for you approximately 1-hour walking tour and rum tasting.
We depart Appleton Estate for the Black River Safari
Arrive at the St. Elizabeth Safari for the 12:30 pm/2:00 pm tour
We depart Black River
Dropoff at hotel in Montego Bay. If this was a day well spent, please write share your experience by writing a review for us by clicking the review button at the bottom of the tour page. Thank you for choosing VIP Tours Jamaica, see you soon!
