Bajan Backcountry by Eco Jeep – Barbados!

Bajan Backcountry by Eco Jeep – Barbados!

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I love an island where you can smell the pungent humidity in the air, seeping into your pores like sunshine. I love a country where the billowing clouds anchor in the bay of the sky like tallship windjammers. I love a country where the sun varnishes the calm sea into an antique hammered copper plate. I love a country where the view is like Neapolitan ice cream, the sand, and sea and sky a tri-color of blanc, indigo and rouge. I love a country where the birds trill in the bushes, out of sight, the background music to a living soundtrack.

I love Barbados for these reasons.

Click For Bajan AdventuresThe best way to discover the interior of Barbados is on an unique safari with the Land Rovers of Island Safaris Adventures. Philip, my driver, picked me up at my South Coast hotel, and then we made the rounds to assemble the other eight passengers that rode in the back of the open, but canopied British jeep jitneys. It was a day of rum punches and bushwacking adventures.

After everyone was buckled up in their bucket seat, Philip clipped on the headset microphone so everyone could clearly hear his narration of the history and ecology of the island.

We skirted most of the heavy traffic going to work in the capital of Bridgetown as we circumnavigated the back route hinterlands to the Scottish military outpost, Gun Hill, in St. George Parish, overlooking the South Coast and Bridgetown. It was a magnificent view as we piled out of the 4x4. Suddenly we were joined by 11 other blue or red striped safari jeeps, and we would play a routine of tag all along the day's route. But first — some rum punch. Then Philip picked up a brown chack-chack in the road, resembling a honeysuckle pod, used by island bands as a rattle.

Island Safari Barbados
Sunset Crest Motors
Sunset Crest
St. James
Tel: (246) 432-5337
Fax: (246) 422-1966
islesafari@funbarbados.com

They also have a safari operation in Antigua.
The company offers many types of tours:

The Adventure Safari is about eight hours and leads you into the eastern and northeastern part of the island.

The Land and Sea Safari is about eight hours and it explores the eastern countryside by 4x4, and then you sail on the Tiami Catamaran on the western or Caribbean side of the island, where you can swim and snorkel with turtles.

The Jeep Safari and Kayak Tour visits the Scotland District and then kayaks coves and caves on the Atlantic coast, with encounters with tropical marine life.

The Discovery Safari is a half day safari along the southeastern and eastern shores.

The Beach Discovery Safari is a 2½ hour beach safari along the secluded eastern beaches. The company will also tailor any safari to your whims and wishes.

Most historic points of interest along the safari adventure are administered by the Barbados National Trust (426-2421). Gun Hill, built by the Scottish Fusiliers, never fired its cannons, and in fact, the island of Barbados was never considered a strategic point by the Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, or even the British navy, who commanded the island for most of its modern history.

We departed Gun Hill with the first rum punch under our belts. There are 900 miles of paved road on the island, but we were on safari, so we took the bumpy route through the sugar cane fields. The cane grew high and we were lost in the maze of green lush. Philip pulls up to chop a couple of cane stalks for chewing and chomping on at the next rum punch stop. Then we were splooshed into the "Pigsty", so named because there is always knee-deep water in the gully. "You don't want to be here in a hurricane," said Philip. Did you know that hurrican (sic) is an indigenous Amerindian/Arawak word that describes these horrific winds?

Suddenly we were high and dry, looking down on the Pigsty from the 250-year-old Molasses Bridge, held together by the mortar of molasses and eggs, one of the strongest spans in Barbados.

Because 70 miles of Barbados coastline is the closest landmass to the African continent, slavers first came to Barbados to use the island as a slave distribution center for the rest of the Caribbean. But slavery was outlawed in Barbados long before Britain or the United States emancipated their slaves; the country became independent in 1966, with a parliamentary system based on the British system of government. There is very little land sold for development, it is saved for agricultural purposes, so there is plenty of green space on the island, and all the beaches are public, even in front of the luxury hotels dotting the coastline.

We were off to visit Edge Cliff, so named because it is the edge of a cliff. The wind blew a streaming constant from the Atlantic Ocean 140 feet below. Yes, it was time for rum punch and a snack of sugar cane stalks.

Later, we passed Malvern House Plantation, now a colon clinic with riding stables. Don't ask about any analogies. There is an old sugar factory across from Malvern House. Philip pointed out an Indian Almond tree, similar in appearance to the poisonous Machioneel. The croplands were planted in sweet potatoes and yams, with young sugar cane growing between the sweet potato rows. The sweet potatoes will mature first, so farmers get more use from the same acreage.

We pass the Andrew Sugar Cane Factory that still produces more sugar cane mash than the modern factories. It is not the biggest, but it has been in operation for over 116 years. There are two types of molasses, but the black strap variety is used in Barbados for rum. The local Sugar Cane Research Institute is nearby, the #1 home for cane species in the world. The first whites in Barbados were indentured Scots and Brits serving petty crime sentences of 5-7 years, and they developed the first cane fields. They harvest cane now with combines. They don't burn the cane like on other islands, so they can cut the cane back for additional growth and cuttings. Come to Barbados for the annual "Crop Over", a celebration of the traditional cane-cutting era, held in July and August each year.

Read this entire feature FREE with photos at
http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/globe02/Carib02/barbados/safari/safari.html

By Kriss Hammond - Jetsetters Magazine Editor - at www.jetsettersmagazine.com

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