ST VINCENT & THE GRENADINES
actually investigating tarantula habitat,” says Matthew, when I meet him in the tiny settlement of Pauper’s Land on the south coast. “But we knew we’d found something new.” The subsequent scientific paper, inadvertently pinpointing these exquisite jewelled creatures, saw them poached into endangered territory by 2018. “People want them as pets,” explains Matthew’s friend, Roseman Adams, another of Union’s home-grown conservationists and co-founder of the Union Island Environmental Alliance. With the help of partners like Fauna and Flora
International, the alliance has since put boots on the ground to deter poachers. They’re a small team but, standing 6ft tall with shoulders seemingly as wide, Roseman is an entire army in himself, albeit one with a disarmingly easy charm. He rounds up six alliance guides to help us explore Union’s peaks, where the lizard’s range is contained in a small tract of forest. “It’s one of the healthiest dry forests in the Caribbean, home to many endemic species. But development is encroaching,” says Roseman of Union’s nascent tourism industry. The guides stride ahead through the trees, bringing
back two geckos in a lensed specimen dish that magnifies the spectacular circular markings on their tiny 3cm bodies. Then they’re released again, location undisclosed. “We’ve learned to be careful,” says Roseman. “Union is one of the poorest islands in the Caribbean. And these creatures are much more valuable to us alive.” The alliance organises tours, the only way to see the geckos, along with sustainable turtle-spotting, and raises money for Union’s ultimate challenge: water security.
“We’re reliant on rain for drinking water,” says Roseman
as we putter along Chatham Bay in his electric tuk-tuk, getting a wave from everyone we pass. “And people are suffering more shortages with climate change.” He points out rain-capture tanks funded by the alliance. Elsewhere, I spot wells in various states of disrepair, the island’s free-roaming goats and cows in attendance. “Another issue,” says Roseman. “Free-grazing causes crop shortages and erosion. And we need our vegetation. It’s trees that attract rain on tropical islands.” Known as ‘Young Buffalo’, it’s clear Roseman is not easily deterred. “It’s often about simple solutions, but it takes a unified approach,” he says. We’re able to shelter from the heat thanks to one such
simple solution: shady walkways through the mangroves at Ashton Lagoon. An ill-placed causeway to Union’s airport cut off water to the lagoon, home to the Grenadines’ largest mangrove forest. Strategic flush holes engineered by local environmental group SusGren means they’re thriving again — as are the fish, bees and migratory birds that rely on them. Roseman beams. “This is one of the best birding spots in the Caribbean now.” From Bequia, a two-hour ferry ride away, I can see the
Grenadines laid out like jewels. A pickup truck taxi makes short work of the hilly hinterland, climbing through fragrant forests of ylang ylang, cashew and nutmeg to the lookout at Mount Pleasant. Named ‘island of the clouds’ by its early Arawak tribal settlers, Bequia’s sky is clear today, and St Vincent, the Grenadines and even Grenada rise out of the water like stepping stones, enticing travellers onwards. I resist, however. With its string of undeveloped
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