And of course, it can be quite tiring journey. To be frank, a tour of the Cockpit Country, although adventurous, can take you all day. Also, the Cockpit Country is being threatened by removal of trees for firewood, coal production, yam-stick harvesting, bauxite mining and clearing of land for cultivation. Much of the natural vegetation still remains, especially on the hillsides. Some of the areas have been cultivated by farmers from the surrounding areas. Today, most of the Cockpit Country today still remains virtually uninhabited and difficult to access. The Cockpit Country receives high rainfall annually (1500mm to 2500mm), however, it is still considered “waterless” because limestone acts as a sponge: surface water is drained vertically and rapidly and each cockpit bottom (“sink”) is drained by a sinkhole. The rivers which are influences of the Cockpit Country are Black River, Martha Brae and Great River. Other significant features of the area are sinkholes and caves. Also, please note that 59 per cent of Jamaica’s fresh water is provided by the underground rivers which flow here. Although there is no surface water, streams and rivers flow underground. The conical shape of the hills comes from the effect of weathering. The cockpits are steep sided valleys that alternate with conical hillocks to form a peculiar type of terrain known as Karst topography. The landscape of the Cockpit Country has a quite unusual landscape.
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