Jungle Bay to be relocated to Soufriere

Jungle Bay was severely damaged by Erika in August 2015
Jungle Bay was severely damaged by Erika in August 2015

President of Jungle Bay Resort Sam Raphael has announced that he will be relocating the establishment to the southern community of Soufriere.

The resort, located in Delices on the eastern coast of the island, was severely damaged by Tropical Storm Erika in August 2015 and Raphael told a special meeting of his management team and community leaders in La Plaine on Sunday that many factors were taken into consideration and he had to make the “difficult decision” to relocate.

“After an exhaustive island-wide search, my architects and I decided to relocate Jungle Bay to a parcel of land that we have since acquired in Morne Acouma near the village of Soufriere,” he stated.

Raphael said construction of the new Jungle Bay will commence within six months and will be opened in the latter part of 2018.

“The new development will provide employment for persons from around Soufriere, however, we will endeavor to reemploy as many of our past employees as possible,” he remarked.

Raphael said at the meeting the decision to relocate was difficult
Raphael said at the meeting the decision to relocate was difficult

He stated that over the past 20 years, Jungle Bay has evolved from a dream to be become a world-class hote with international recognition.

“Before Tropical Storm Erika struck last August, Tripadvisor ranked Jungle Bay as the number one hotel in Dominica and the number three top (of 25) hotel in the entire Caribbean,” he said. “Jungle Bay employed many of our local villagers as tour guides, maintenance workers, housekeepers, spa attendants, guest service attendants, cooks, waiters, managers and drivers. The hotel also purchased farm produce from a number of local farmers. The people of Delices, Boetica, La Plaine and Petite Savanne were welcoming and accommodating to our guests and ensured their enjoyment, safety and wellbeing. Jungle Bay’s success was possible because of the tremendous support we received from you, the people of the South East.”

He added, “As you all know, we were forced to close Jungle Bay in late August because mudslides from Tropical Storm Erika severely damaged several of our cottages. We were grateful that none of our staff or guests was injured. Subsequently, our employees were made redundant however we have made every effort to assist them and even our local suppliers with financial contributions and job placement assistance because we recognize that the situation has brought hardship to many of them and other persons in the South East who depended on our hotel for a livelihood. We plan to continue to do whatever we can to support our extended South East family by encouraging future investment and job creation in this region.”

He said after the ravages of Erika, a lot of thought was given to the future of the hotel and the welfare of employees and the people of the area.

Sam Raphael is the owner and president of Jungle Bay Resort
Sam Raphael is the owner and president of Jungle Bay Resort

“I decided early on to focus my attention on rebuilding Jungle Bay in Dominica because to me it wasn’t just a hotel investment, but a livelihood to people who had become my extended family,”Raphael said. “Therefore, I suspended plans to develop a sister resort in Barbuda even though that project had already received approvals from the Cabinet of Antigua & Barbuda and was well on its way. I did this so I could focus my attention on rebuilding, and reopening Jungle Bay as soon as possible. We needed to rebuild Jungle Bay soon in order to continue to host our repeat guests and maintain the brand we had worked hard to establish.”

He stated that he initially thought of rebuilding on the original site but there were many factors he took into consideration.

“Notwithstanding, after considering the current geological vulnerability of the area immediately around our site, and the lack of proper emergency access along with other factors, I came to the realization that it was not prudent to rebuild Jungle Bay in the same area at this time, so I had to make the difficult decision to rebuild Jungle Bay in a different location,” Raphael said.

He invited former employees who are willing to work in Soufriere to make contact with his management team and said he is not abandoning the area.

“I would like the people of the South East to know that I am not saying goodbye to you and to our beloved region,” he said. “I want to go on record today and announce my intention to return to the South East as soon as it is feasible to reinvest in local enterprises that will create jobs, and in the redevelopment of our Pointe Mulatre property. I also want you to know that in the interim I will also use my contacts and influence to encourage the Government of Dominica, other potential developers and other interested parties to invest in infrastructure and job-creating enterprises in the South East. We acknowledge the work the Government of Dominica has done to rebuild the roads and bridges in our area thus far, and we need to encourage them to do even more.”

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

28 Comments

  1. Richard Lewis
    May 3, 2017

    Hi Sam… Persons with big hearts are hard to keep down..
    Rhonda and I are elated to know that you and Jungle Bay area back on track..
    Now that Jungle Bay is back, we will start to organizing for our hiking trip next year..
    We’ll do 7 to 10 days…Can you send me some possible hiking and places we can visit.

    Richard & Rhonda

  2. May 3, 2016

    Good luck Sam Glad you stayed Home, true patriot, son of the soil looking out for his people. visionary, we need more like us.###.

    • dee
      May 4, 2016

      MR Raphael
      There is a saying ” when the going gets tough , the tough gets going”
      But not you , you face challenges head on . RESPECT MAN RESPECT .

    • Tjebe Fort
      May 4, 2016

      Burp, you putting yourself in the same league as Sam Raphael? Boy, what a laugh, you have no modesty have you. Put your money where your mouth is Burp!

  3. IknowbrilliancewhenIseeit
    May 3, 2016

    What leadership. Brilliant.

  4. Cyril Volney
    May 3, 2016

    Best of luck, Mr. Sam.

  5. Nacinimod
    May 3, 2016

    Sounds great — Could someone post a pic of the area and the view toward the Atlantic/Caribbean sea.

  6. 2H0
    May 3, 2016

    This is exciting. Soon Petite Coulibri will be finished as well. this is awesome news for the people of Soufriere and environs. But I can’t help but to feel sympathy for those on the east coast. Maybe they could set up a small hamlet for the former employees near the site.

  7. Not a herd follower
    May 3, 2016

    I sincerely wish you, Sam, all the best in your new endeavour. You are indeed, Sir, a great Dominican patriot and businessman!

  8. Dominica_Is_Ours
    May 3, 2016

    Sam is wayyyyy better than tongue.

  9. dissident
    May 3, 2016

    But why we can’t have a mentality like yours heading our tourism ministry?
    No input from government!
    You sound more positive and believable than Range development or silver lining silver beach whatever!
    My brother only serious minds can take you serious!

    Do it again like you did before.
    You don’t need any big name politicians to endorse your creativity. not even your own parl rep.
    I want to see which minister on the government will come out standing next to you on de podium in support of Dominica’s development.

  10. Benediction
    May 3, 2016

    Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!…

    What foresight you’ve got Mr Raphael in selecting Morne Acouma. I know that area very, very, very well – as my parent occupied cultivating land and I prowled the area as a boy. Some of the most fertile land in D/ca and best views can be had from that area. I would also suggest Mr Raphael that you reintroduce the aerial car tram (Coulis) that once served Elrose & Co old lime mill in the village of Soufriere. Mr Raphael you should also ask the government for the Old Elrose & Co lime mill (one of the few left in D/ca) – it’s a sad and dilapidated state in the village and prime for a 5 Star Hotel development and to add to your new Jungle bay Resort.
    You’re on to a winner my boy!

  11. eat em
    May 3, 2016

    My grandmother had a house she paid people to relocate it. They cross de road with de house – boy what a sight this was. People were strong before. As a little boy I wished they could have moved our little village to Roseau – I mean, dislocate it to Roseau.

  12. all you fellers boy
    May 3, 2016

    Best of luck to the mgmt and staff.

  13. committed
    May 3, 2016

    Thanks for considering the deep south. We appreciate your contribution to the folks of Soufrier and Scott’s Head, though priority will be given to your former employees and understandably so.
    But this is just the beginning of good things to come especially as soon as this satanic,Skerit government goes away. Thanks Mr.Raphael.

    • Tom Brown
      May 3, 2016

      Committed santanic the joke is on you. Be careful of the names that you call others, might just come back and hunt you. Skerit and labour will be there for another 20 years until we the people who vote them decide other wise. So do not let your heart be troubled.

  14. Reasoning
    May 3, 2016

    I think it’s a good decision to relocate to Soufriere.I’ve always seen that area as a tourism potential area.In my views,no one should be living there,should only be for tourism and the likes,with the Atlantic ocean for surfing and the Caribbean sea for other activities for jet ski,kayaking ect.Soufriere is a potential community for only tourism.Good idea Sam,go for it.On another note,every time i think of the people in the Petite Savanne constituency refusing to vote for a man like Sam who can get things done,creating employment and vote for a boy who has not established himself and looking for a job,so sad and unfortunate.Someone from England said to me, if Sam Raphael and Kenneth Darroux were contesting elections in Barbados, before any ballot would be casted,Sam would be the winner.I’ve been to Barbados, so i overstand.The Barbadian people are highly intelligent.

    • holla
      May 3, 2016

      do not compare the 2 they are two gr8 gentlemen. y does every thing has to have politics stupppsss.

      • Dominican
        May 4, 2016

        That is your opinion and you are entitled to it. It is my view that Kenneth Darroux can not hold a candle to Sam Raphael. For a start Sam is his own man and can stand up to Skerrit, yes he will work with him but always on his own terms. You see, Sam Raphael does not have to be in Dominica but where else would Kenneth live in clover? Kenneth is weak and Sam is strong.

      • ????????
        May 4, 2016

        True say. Both are great men in their field. Sam Raphael is a great Entrepreneur. Does everything have to be politics???? Can we all be alike or have the same talent? We must complement each other.

    • Barbara Saunders
      May 5, 2016

      You see, that is why Sam will always stand head and shoulders over people like you who spend every waking hour badmouthing. It’s as if a day must not pass unless you all attack either the PM or someone else in Government. That seems to be the waking and evening prayer. What a way to live!

      Haven’t you all noticed that Sam tried politics, did not succeed, shook and dusted himself off and went full speed ahead into his business endeavours? I believe he also had differences with government but as a true patriot did that deter him? No! Did he spend every moment thereafter trying to bring down the government? No, because he is one of Dominica’s bright sparks who sees the bigger picture and no doubt recognises that before Mr. Skerrit and his government there was Dominica and after them there will be Dominica.

      Hats off, bright one! You fully deserve your Dominican nationality! God’s blessings upon you and your plans sir!

  15. Terry
    May 3, 2016

    Where in Soufriere will this be located?

    • Titiwi
      May 3, 2016

      Terry, it is above Soufriere and just to the north of it, on a piece of land once used by L.Rose & Co. to grow limes. Coming from Roseau it is on your left hand side just before you start descending into Soufriere itself. The view is breathtaking!

      • Dan
        May 3, 2016

        Is this the same hotel development which the P M heralded a few months ago?

      • Titiwi
        May 4, 2016

        No Dan but close. That development was- and is at Bois Cotelette, an approved project under the Citizenship by Investment program and owned by a fellow American) The acquisition of Morne Acouma by Sam Raphael was due to a fortuitous set of circumstance, that benefited all concerned. I am convinced it is the catalyst that will start the development of the entire Soufriere bay basin that has the potential to outdo any other area in Dominica with regard to quality tourism., including Portsmouth and Calisbishie.

  16. Oh happy day!
    May 3, 2016

    I admire this man! He is such a go-getter! God bless you Mr Raphael. The tourism industry needs more people like you! :) :-D :mrgreen:

  17. hmmmmmmmmmm
    May 3, 2016

    so sad its being moved from the south east…………laplaine would be suitable

  18. Zack
    May 3, 2016

    Best of luck Sam- the is what is call ‘Grit’.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available