May - June 2019 | http://www.liat.com ZiNG CARIBBEAN | 47
Tear yourself away from the beaches to discover the Caribbean’s verdant interiors.
Paul Bloomfi eld laces up his boots to tackle the summits of St Lucia, St Kitts and NevisTo glimpse what it’d be like to visit Jurassic World, try
hiking on St Lucia.
As I tramped through Edmund Forest Reserve,
fantastical fl ora soared all around. The fronds of giant
tree-ferns and broad leaves of fi shtail palms swayed
in the breeze. Vast buttress roots of strangler fi gs and
chatagnier trees snaked across the trail, their branches
draped with serpentine lianas. Gommier trunks
oozed waxy white sap, scenting the humid air with a
turpentine aroma. If a velociraptor had erupted from
the lush undergrowth, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
The ascent of Morne Gimie (pronounced ‘Jimmy’),
St Lucia’s loftiest peak, offers a stern challenge. Though
it’s not the highest in the region – at ‘just’ 950m, it’s over
500m shorter than La Grande Soufrière on Guadeloupe- the trail to its summit is a steep, undulating and
sweaty haul through sucking mud, across babbling rivers
and over slippery tree roots. It’s also a hugely rewarding
hike. Delving into the primordial rainforest cloaking its
slopes is a truly immersive experience, an opportunity
for intrepid walkers to become completely enveloped
by nature, and – if the capricious clouds permit – to
enjoy spectacular views across the island.
My attempt on the summit of St Lucia was the fi rst
hurdle in a three peaks challenge I’d set myself, to be
followed by the highest points on St Kitts and Nevis.
Why tackle even one Caribbean mountain, you ask?
Well, there’s the George-Mallory-on-Everest stock
answer – “because it’s there”. More importantly, I took
them on because exploring the interiors of the region’s
islands offers a chance to glimpse the kind of raw
nature you just don’t fi nd on beaches. The West Indies
are best known for their shorelines but, like a beautiful
picture, if you want to appreciate the whole don’tPHOTOS: PAUL BLOOMFIELD