The gorge cuts fifteen metres wide between vertical basalt walls that rise thirty metres from the riverbed, their surfaces slick with moss and fern roots that have gripped the rock for centuries. Carved by the Titou River as it descends from the volcanic highlands of Morne Trois Pitons, the canyon terminates at a waterfall that drops from a fissure in the cliff face, its spray filling the narrow chamber with mist year-round. The name derives from Creole patois — ti tou translates to "little throat," a reference to the constricted channel that funnels the river through a single fault line in the island's interior. Dominica's designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997 placed the gorge within protected boundaries, ensuring that the corridor remains undeveloped and accessible only on foot. The site gained international visibility in 2006 when location scouts selected it as the filming site for the Calydon waterfall scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, though no permanent infrastructure was installed. The national park now receives approximately forty thousand visitors annually, with cruise-ship excursions accounting for the majority of traffic between November and April. Access requires a thirty-minute drive from Roseau to the village of Laudat, followed by a ten-minute descent along a gravel path maintained by the Dominica Forestry Division. The gorge itself spans roughly sixty metres from entrance to waterfall, with water temperatures holding steady at 21°C throughout the year due to the spring-fed source. The current flows at moderate intensity during dry season — January through June — and strengthens considerably after rainfall, when runoff from the Morne Trois Pitons caldera increases volume by as much as forty percent. Life vests are mandatory for all swimmers regardless of ability, a regulation enforced by park rangers stationed at the trailhead. The geological composition of the canyon walls reflects the island's formation timeline: layers of andesite and dacite deposited during successive eruptions between two million and fifty thousand years ago, with the youngest strata visible in the upper sections where lighter gray tones contrast against the older, iron-stained lower walls. The waterfall itself originates from an underground aquifer that channels rainfall through fractured rock, emerging at the cliff face with enough force to create a perpetual plunge pool three metres deep.