Cockpit Country is a rugged, inaccessible area of inland Jamaica. These very characteristics have given it special importance and it is proposed that it become a World Heritage Site. It is an island-within-an-island of specially-adapted biodiversity found nowhere else in the world and is a last refuge for some species driven from the rest of Jamaica by humans. It was also a place where a population of Maroons was able to force the British into signing a peace treaty in 1738. In this website, we use the term Cockpit Country to refer to the anthropologically-defined area within the "ring road" (see map). This is the area where the karst terrain is so developed that humans have not found it viable to develop and where some semblance of the original flora and fauna remains. For those who wish to learn more about the biota, it should be noted that most interesting activity takes place at night (e.g. bats, reptiles and frogs) and that most species are secretive and difficult to find. We do not have any large fauna: snakes and parrots are about as large as it gets but, while parrots (and birds in general) are active early and late in the day, you are very unlikely to come across a yellow boa as it sleeps off its last meal in some secluded spot. The most fascinating denizens of the Cockpit Country may be the invertebrates: snails, crabs, fireflies, beetles, butterflies, not to mention our special interest in midges and rotifers!

We think that the best way to get a flavour of the tropical forest is to come for a "Meet the Researchers" dinner at Windsor. Here you will also find out what research is going on, how the puzzle of a wet-tropical-forest foodweb is being explored and what conservation activities are being implemented. Accommodation is also available at various locations around the Cockpit Country and in relatively-close tourist areas.

This site is operated by the Windsor Research Centre and is intended as a resource for students, researchers, the Cockpit Country communities and the general public. We encourage interaction on this site: if you have comments, needs, or are aware of additional information that should be posted, please e-mail us.

It is also intended to generate some of the core funding needed to operate the Research Centre by publicising our "Meet the Biologists" dinners and our accommodation.