St. Vincent day tour, volcano walk
| country: | St. Vincent & The Grenadines |
| location: | St Vincent |
| departures: | Tour departs daily throughout the year (minimum 2 people) |
| price: | From US $85 (1 day) excluding flights. Includes tax, lunch, drinks (rum punch, soft drinks, water), snack, pick-up and return, and a well-trained and knowledgeable guide. English is spoken, but German, French, Italian and Spanish translators are available |
the amazing things you'll be doing
La Soufrière rises to a peak of 4048 ft. above sea level and is one of the most studied volcanoes in the world - the last eruption in 1979 created a lava dome that allows scientists to determine its history through its stratigraphic layering.
This tour takes you along the picturesque Windward coast of St. Vincent, which runs alongside the Atlantic Ocean. The highway passes through banana, coconut and arrowroot plantations, and travels through the Byera Tunnel, which was built in 1813 to open the Carib lands to settlement. You leave the highway at Rabacca to where the foot trail begins a 2½ hour exhilarating and challenging hike.
The foot trail leads you through a canopy of bamboo ridges, lowland forest with patches of cultivation and then into tropical forest with a profusion of tree ferns, tall trees festooned with bromeliads, lianas and moist shade dappled with sunlight. You emerge from the shade into a zone of vegetation stunted by altitude, breeze and frequent cloud cover, and then you continue to an alpine-like zone before the last stretch of scree to the crater itself.
The view is breathtaking and well worth the hike. Lunch is eaten at the top of the volcano while enjoying the panoramic view. The journey down is less challenging and takes about 1½ hours.
Other volcano tours include swimming and a mud bath in the new crater; scaling by rope into the old crater; and hiking around the rim and returning via the Leeward side.
This tour takes you along the picturesque Windward coast of St. Vincent, which runs alongside the Atlantic Ocean. The highway passes through banana, coconut and arrowroot plantations, and travels through the Byera Tunnel, which was built in 1813 to open the Carib lands to settlement. You leave the highway at Rabacca to where the foot trail begins a 2½ hour exhilarating and challenging hike.
The foot trail leads you through a canopy of bamboo ridges, lowland forest with patches of cultivation and then into tropical forest with a profusion of tree ferns, tall trees festooned with bromeliads, lianas and moist shade dappled with sunlight. You emerge from the shade into a zone of vegetation stunted by altitude, breeze and frequent cloud cover, and then you continue to an alpine-like zone before the last stretch of scree to the crater itself.
The view is breathtaking and well worth the hike. Lunch is eaten at the top of the volcano while enjoying the panoramic view. The journey down is less challenging and takes about 1½ hours.
Other volcano tours include swimming and a mud bath in the new crater; scaling by rope into the old crater; and hiking around the rim and returning via the Leeward side.
how this holiday makes a difference
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Environment:
This tour takes guests into areas of diverse geography, even before reaching the starting point of the mountain. We limit the number of tourists to this environmentally fragile area, and guests are cautioned not to litter or pick the vegetation. A reusable bag it used by our guides to pick up anything left from other groups. Guides encourage guests not to litter, but will pick up trash from their group and others in reusable bags along the trails and beaches. ‘What you carry in, you carry out’. They also inform visitors of the fragility of coral reefs; no touching or anchoring near them. We attend workshops and support all government wildlife preservation and conservation policies and are government custodians to Polly, an indigenous and endangered St. Vincent Parrot, (Amazona guildingii), born in captivity. Community: When available we employ Forestry Department and other local specialists to guide guests into the rainforest. Their extensive knowledge of the volcano’s history, its topography and related vegetation enhances the overall experience for visitors. In our on-going effort to help the local economy and individual entrepreneurs, lunches (sandwiches or rotis - spices, potatoes, meat and/or vegetables in a flour dough), are made primarily with local products (the bread or dough, meats, etc.), with fresh fruit snacks from our organic orchard or roadside vendors. The water comes from Vincentian springs, and it and the soft drinks are bottled on the island. The rum punch uses alcohol made at local distilleries, along with fresh and bottled tropical fruits, which grow here in abundance. Additionally, the walking sticks, which we supply to our guests, are made from Vincentian hardwood trees, and are designed by a local craftsperson. As are the reusable coconut bowls and utensils. Primarily we use locally grown and manufactured products. When not supplied from our own organic orchard, we buy fresh fruits for snacks from roadside vendors. We encourage visitors to buy locally made souvenirs and use locally handcrafted walking sticks for the hiking tours. This season we will implement the use of locally made coconut bowls, forks and spoons. We aim to give visitors insights into the history and culture of our people and encourage tourists to attend local sporting and cultural events. We provide in-house manual and regionally certified training to local guides. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |