Flora & Fauna
A system of national parks and protected areas is being developed. Information is available from the Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Archibald Avenue, St George’s.
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The focal point is the Grand Étang National Park, eight miles from the capital in the central mountain range. It is on the transinsular road from St George’s to Grenville. The Grand Étang is a crater lake surrounded by lush tropical forest. A series of trails has been blazed which are well worth the effort for the beautiful forest and views, but can be muddy and slippery after rain.
The Morne Labaye nature trail is only 15 minutes’ long, return same route; the shoreline trail around the lake takes one and a half hours and is moderately easy; much further, one and a half hours walk, is Mount Qua Qua. The trail then continues for an arduous three hours to Concord Falls, with an extra 30-minute spur to Fedon’s Camp. From Concord Falls it is 25 minutes’ walk to the road to get a bus to St George’s. These are hard walks (Mount Qua Qua, Fedon’s Camp, Concord): wet, muddy, it rains a lot and you will get dirty. Take food and water. A guide is not necessary.
An interpretation centre overlooking the lake has videos, exhibitions and explanations of the medicinal plants in the forest. Leaflets about the trails can be bought here for EC$2 each. There is a bar, a shop and some amusing monkeys and parrots. The Park is open 0830-1600, entrance US$2, closed Saturday but there are some stalls open selling spices and souvenirs. There is overnight accommodation at Lake House, T4427425 or enquire at forest centre, also for camping.
The high forest receives over 150 inches of rain a year. Epiphytes and mosses cling to the tree trunks and many species of fern and grasses provide a thick undergrowth. The trees include the gommier, bois canot, Caribbean pine and blue mahoe. At the summit, the vegetation is an example of elfin woodland, the trees stunted by the wind, the leaves adapted with drip tips to cope with the excess moisture.
Apart from the highest areas, the island is heavily cultivated. On tours around the country look for nutmeg trees and the secondary product, mace, cloves, cinammon, allspice, bay, tumeric and ginger. In addition there are calabash gourds, cocoa, coffee, breadfruit, mango, paw paw (papaya), avocado, and more common crops, bananas and coconuts. Sugar cane is used to make rum at three distilleries. Many of the spices can be seen at the Douglaston Estate or the Nutmeg Co-operatives in Gouyave or Grenville. Laura’s Spice and Herb Garden, near Perdmontemps in St David’s, has samples of herbs and spices grown in their natural habitat.
In the northeast, 450 acres around Levera Pond was opened as a National Park in 1994 (US$1 entrance). As well as having a bird sanctuary and sites of historic interest, Levera is one of the island’s largest mangrove swamps; the coastal region has coconut palms, cactus and scrub, providing habitat for iguana and land crabs. There are white beaches where turtles lay their eggs (leatherbacks come ashore April, May and June) and, offshore, coral reefs and the Sugar Loaf, Green and Sandy islands (boat trip to the last named on Sunday, see Ferries). You can swim at Bathway but currents are strong at other beaches. The coast between Levera Beach and Bedford Point is eroding rapidly, at a rate of several feet a year. South of Levera is Lake Antoine, another crater lake, but sunken to only about 20 feet above sea level; it has been designated a Natural Landmark.
On the south coast is La Sagesse Protected Seascape, a peaceful refuge which includes beaches, a mangrove estuary, a salt pond and coral reefs. In the coastal woodland are remains of sugar milling and rum distilleries. To get there turn south off the main road opposite an old sugar mill, then take the left fork of a dirt road through a banana plantation. Close to the pink plantation house (accommodation available), a few feet from a superb sandy beach, is La Sagesse bar and restaurant, good food, nutmeg shells on the ground outside. Walk to the other end of the beach to where a path leads around a mangrove pond to another beach, usually deserted apart from the occasional angler, fringed with palms, good snorkelling and swimming, reef just offshore.
Marquis Island, off the east coast, can be visited; at one time it was part of the mainland and now has eel grass marine environments and coral reefs. Nearby is La Baye Rock, which is a nesting ground for brown boobies, habitat for large iguanas and has dry thorn scrub forest. It too is surrounded by coral reefs.
To see a good selection of Grenada’s flowers and trees, visit the Bay Gardens at Morne Delice (turn off the Eastern Main Road at St Paul’s police station, the gardens are on your left as you go down). It’s a pleasant place with a friendly owner; the paths are made of nutmeg shells. In the capital are the rather run down Botanic Gardens.
Grenada is quite good for birdwatching. The only endemic bird is the Grenada Dove, which inhabits scrubby woodland in some west areas. In the rainforest you can see the emerald-throated hummingbird, yellow-billed cuckoo, red-necked pigeon, ruddy quail-dove, cocoa thrush and other species, while wading and shore birds can be spotted at both Levera and in the south and southwest. The endangered hookbilled kite (a large hawk) is found in the Levera National Park and nowhere else in the world. It uses its beak to pluck tree snails (its only food) out of their shells. A pile of shells with holes in them is evidence that a kite ate there. Watch also for the chicken hawk. Yellow-breasted bananaquits are very common.
There is little remarkable animal life: frogs and lizards, of course, and iguana, armadillo (tatoo) and manicou (possum), all of these are hunted for the pot. One oddity, though, is a troop of Mona monkeys, imported from Africa over 300 years ago, which lives in the treetops in the vicinity of the Grand Étang. Another import is the mongoose.
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