Animal magic
The stunning creatures of the Caribbean: there’s a whole world out there
Flights of fancy – the
brown noddy
There’s more to the Caribbean than sun, sea and piña colada on the beach. Discover its exotic natural world
BUTTERFLIES WITH SEE-THROUGH wings flit through lush forests filled with exotic flowers. Coral reefs bustle with fish; saltwater lagoons and freshwater lakes with herons and egrets, and tangled mangroves provide shelter to tree-climbing crabs and roosting seabirds. Welcome to the Caribbean you don’t know.
And you don’t have to travel far to discover it. Just out to sea, pelicans and screaming royal terns dive at tiny baitfish while tropicbirds soar along the cliffs, their vivid white bodies trailing two long, streaming tail feathers. On land, pure white cattle egrets appear as soon as land is disturbed, the mechanical digger a substitute for the buffalo they would normally follow. Yellow-breasted banaquits steal sugar from alfresco breakfast tables – everywhere you look there are exotic birds.
Antigua is the largest of the British Leeward Islands and paired with Barbuda 50km to the north. Although mostly flat, there are several impressive geological features, such as the row of sandstone pillars, known as the Pillars of Hercules, at the entrance to English Harbour in the south. Devil’s Bridge, a natural limestone arch eroded by Atlantic breakers, can be seen at Indian Town Point in the northeast. The ‘Devil’ epitaph came about because slaves escaping the
 A frigate bird courts the ladies |
 A blue tang nestles in the vivid coral |
sugar cane estates would hurl themselves into the churning breakers, never to return.
Shallow diving and snorkelling are the best ways to see the underwater wildlife, and there are several reputable dive centres from which to hire equipment. There is little or no current, visibility is 15-45m and the water temperature averages a comfortable 25ºC. There are coral reefs, steep coral walls patrolled by barracuda and eagle rays, and shipwrecks, such as that of the Andes, a merchant ship that foundered in 1905 and now rests in just 9m of water in the inappropriately named Deep Bay. There is even a ‘Stingray City’ where you can swim in crystal clear waters with stingrays.
One of the most attractive beaches is Half Moon Bay in the southeast, a crescent of pink sand and crystal clear water backed by low trees.
Several beaches are popular with sea turtles by night. At Pasture Bay Beach, rare hawksbill turtles come ashore between June and November to deposit their eggs in the sand.
Swimming with the fishes
The 402m volcanic Boggy Peak in the Shekerley Mountains is the least populated area but even here very little original vegetation survives. At Snapper Point on the main island, conservationists are hoping to revive the so-called ‘sucking cossie’, a cactus with nasty hooked spines which are difficult to remove from the skin. Young ladies are said to have stuffed this cactus into old stockings and used it as a weapon against over-amorous males. Other potential casualties include the Antiguan racer, a harmless, onemetre-long green-brown snake, and the endemic Antiguan ground lizard. The racer is one of the world’s rarest snakes and is extinct on the main island, surviving on the numerous offshore islands and islets.
On nearby Barbuda, Codrington Lagoon hosts over 5,000 magnificent frigate birds, the largest colony of its kind in the western hemisphere, and the second largest in the world. In October each year, the conspicuous glossy black males, each with his bright red neck pouch puffed out, vigorously court the females. Frigate birds live up to their reputation as the real ‘pirates of the Caribbean’, swooping on rivals and stealing their nest material in midair.
Barbados is one of the Windward Islands, 460 km to the southeast of Antigua and the most easterly island in the Caribbean. Mount Hillaby rises to 340 metres in the north-central part, while in the west the land drops in a series of green, rolling terraces and high cliffs in the east. The coral rock underlying most of Barbados is riddled with caves and caverns, many surviving as roosting sites for the island’s eight species of bat. In the centre is Harrison’s Cave, where you can see stalactites, stalagmites, fragile tube-like ‘soda straws’, subterranean streams and waterfalls from the comfort of a tram that runs through the passageways.
Very little original vegetation remains; imported species include mahogany from Honduras, tamarind from Indonesia and Royal Poinciana, a native of Madagascar and one of the most colourful trees in the world. Introduced animals such as European hares, Burmese mongooses and African vervet monkeys join birds, reptiles and amphibians, including noisy tree frogs that keep visitors awake at night.
But protected areas are few. In the southwest, the privately run Graeme Hall Swamp and Nature Sanctuary is a large expanse of open water fringed with mangroves, a roosting and nesting place for both resident and migrant birds. On the east coast, the Folkestone Marine Park features an artificial reef, the remains of a shipwreck that’s now home to corals, sponges and reef fishes. On the west coast, a patch of forest survives at Joe’s River. Bordered by Hackleston’s Cliff on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, it has bearded fig trees. Their long aerial roots gave the island its name: in 1536, the Portuguese explorer Pedro Campos saw them and called the island Los Barbados, meaning ‘the Bearded Ones’. Something to impress the others with when you get back to the pool and that piña colada.
Words: Michael Bright
Photography: Staffan Widstrand, Barrie Briton, Constantinos Petrinos, Doug Perrine, Mike Pitts
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
OUR TIPS ON THE BEST TRIPS AND TOURS TO MAKE IT A HOLIDAY TO REMEMBER
Get close to the world’s
rarest snake
EXPLORING ANTIGUA
■ You will need a car (ideally a small 4×4) to reach isolated areas. These can be hired at the airport or in St John’s, English Harbour and Jolly Harbour. A two-door Suzuki is £30-33 daily or £189 per week. An Antiguan driving licence is mandatory. It can be arranged by the car rental company for £10 and is valid for three months.
■ Driving is on the left-hand side but if you don’t want to drive yourself, there are jeep safaris – www.happytrails.antigua.com for 4×4 tours, rainforest drives, hike and swim; £48 per person or private tours £76 per person (+268 726 4273)
■ Helicopter tours with Caribbean Helicopters, Jolly Harbour. A 30-minute full island tour costs £76 and covers the remote areas of Antigua and neighbouring volcanic islands (+268 460 5900; www.caribbean.helicopters.net)
■ Travel books and the essential 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey map can be found at The Map Shop in St Mary’s Street, St John’s (+268 462 3993)
■ For more information about the islands’ history and natural history, visit the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda website at www..antiguamuseums.org
■ For details on Stingray City, visit www.stingray.cityantigua.com
STEP OUTSIDE
■ The temperature rarely falls below 20ºC, with November to February the optimum season. Make sure you pack a sweater for the coolest nights.
■ Most rain falls in November. The summer months – July, August and September – are more humid and coincide with the hurricane season from June to November.
■ Take a pair of 8×30 binoculars to see the birdlife and wildlife in colourful detail.
EXPLORING BARBADOS
■ Jeep safaris (www..adventurelandbarbados.com; +246 418 3687)
■ Explore coral reefs and the wreck of the Lord Willoughby on the Atlantis Submarine Tour: £45 per adult and concessions for teens and children – must be 3ft tall (www.atlantisadventures.com; +246 436 8929)
■ The Primate Research Centre and Wildlife Reserve of the University of Wisconsin. Entry £6 adults, £3 children under 12 (www.barbadosmonkey.org; +246 422 8826)
■ Harrison’s Cave – tours £8 adults, £3.50 children (www.harrisonscave.com; +246 438 6640)
■ Graeme Hall Swamp and Nature Sanctuary (www.graemehall.com; +246 435 9727)
■ Folkestone Marine Park (+246 422 2872)
