just gaze at the frame, however gorgeous it is. Roam the
inner highlands and you’ll meet people, see creatures,
discover vistas you’ll miss if you stick to the coast.
Helping make this decision was the launch of Hike
Caribbean, a new Antigua-based company that curates
walking trips on the best summits and trails across the
Lesser Antilles. Currently, the menu of treks spans six
islands – St Lucia, Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, St
Kitts and Nevis – but it’s expanding rapidly, with Dominica
next on the wishlist. First up, though, was St Lucia.
It was dark when my LIAT flight landed at George FL
Charles (Vigie) Airport late in the evening. But though I
couldn’t see my lofty objective, the tortuous drive along
the winding west coast highway confirmed what I’d already
gathered: St Lucia is very much not flat. The south-west of
the island in particular is lumpy with outcrops – the most
famous of which are, of course, the picturesque Pitons
looming over the lively, colourful town of Soufrière, its
name a reminder of their volcanic origins.
WET AND WILD
When I woke next morning, hopes of a sighting of Gimie
were dashed by clouds – not just at the summit but in
every direction. Rain came in rhythmic waves and, by the
time I met guides Smith and Miguel at the edge of the
rainforest near the trailhead, it was teeming down. Up the
concrete track we tramped, the warm downpour soaking
my T-shirt and seeping into my boots, before ducking off
onto a muddy trail signposted to Morne Gimie.
And that’s where the magic began. Because the clouds
clinging to the treetops, and the ‘liquid sunshine’ sluicing
down through the canopy, only made the atmosphere
more potent. It helped that Smith – an expert birder
- and Miguel peppered our hike with nuggets of
information about the forest and its inhabitants.
May - June 2019 | http://www.liat.com ZiNG CARIBBEAN | 49
Plucking a little nodule of the gommier’s white sap
off a tree root as we passed, Miguel held it out to me,
squashing it to release its sinus-clearing aroma. “It’s good
for lighting fires,” he told me, “and in olden days some
people used to rub it on their knees to ease arthritis. The
wood is also good for making fishing canoes: we dig up
the trunk and burn it inside, so it expands and we can
gouge out the middle.”
Meanwhile, Smith was on the look-out – or, more
accurately, listen-out – for creatures, of which there are
quite a few in this forest. The Amerindian name for St
Lucia, Ioüanalao, literally means ‘where iguanas are found’,
and green iguanas still survive on the island – though
the population of this huge reptile, growing up to 1.5m
long, is low, and concentrated in the north-east. Big boa
constrictors are more commonly seen on the Gimie hike,
and fer de lance occasionally – though I was thankful not
to have that information till after we’d finished, given the
number of tree roots we used as ladders and stair-rails on
steeper sections of the trail.
Birds there are aplenty, and the squawk of the St
Lucia parrot – known locally as the jacquot – promised a
sighting of this dazzling green bird with its red breast and
blue facemask, though it remained elusive in the canopy.
Instead, Smith serenaded us with his renditions of other
endemic bird species: mountain whistler and St Lucia
warbler, pewee and oriole, and the dramatically named
scaly-breasted thrasher.
Did I mention that it was steep? The first mile or so
was undulating, with slippery climbs and descents past
patches of pink anthurium lilies, long, curiously phallic
stamens rising from heart-shaped petals. After perhaps
an hour, we clambered down into a bowl formed where
a pair of cascades clattered into a gorge, feeding the
Canaries river that flows west to the coast. FollowingAbove, left to right: On St Lucia,
roam among cacao trees at Fond
Doux Plantation, admire views
of the Petit Piton from the Tet
Paul Nature Trail, and join Smith
and Miguel on the climb through
the rainforest to the summit of
Morne GimieBig boa
constrictors
are commonly
seen on the
Gimie hike, and
fer de lance
occasionally –
though I was
thankful not
to have that
information
till after we’d
finished...