World views from the author of First with the News, a memoir of life on the front line: Travel to St Lucia

Even when it rains in St Lucia the locals refuse to be downhearted. They call it liquid sunshine, a phrase that helps to explain the ever-cheerful temperament of the St Lucian people and the extraordinary lushness of the tropical forests and tree-covered hills.

It is one of the most sumptuous islands in the Caribbean, blessed with an ever-green landscape. One of the finest views is of the twin mountains known as the Pitons which, though divided by about a mile and a half, look from a distance like inseparable twin peaks. In fact, so close it seems not beyond the possibility for a climber to leap from one to the other.

In the early morning before the sun rises, the Pitons look soft and ethereal, but climbing them by day in the heat, they are rock-hard, unforgiving and a challenge even to the most experienced hill-walkers.

The best way to see the Pitons at any time of day or night is from the windowless Room 7F, called Royal Palm, at the Anse Chastanet Hotel, landscaped into the tropical hillside overlooking Soufrière Bay in the southwest of the island.

It’s windowless because Nick Troubetzkoy, the Canadian architect-owner of the hotel, wanted his guests to absorb the full impact of the surrounding environment, especially the Pitons across the bay, without any form of obstruction, neither glass nor wall. The effect is sensational. It is truly a view with a room.

Mosquitoes are kept at bay by a row of lampshades with yellow light bulbs that swing in the breezes. Mosquitoes are not attracted to the colour yellow. But to be sure guests are not vulnerable to the tropics-loving insects, you sleep at night in a four-poster bed enshrouded by mosquito nets.

When you awake in the morning, the Pitons are sitting in the space beyond the room, like a giant watercolour painting. By that time, the legion of multi-coloured tropical birds are busy calling to each other, filling the air with the sound of flutes and piccolos.

Meno, a local employee of the hotel who calls himself the father of the jungle, knows every bird and every plant in the tropical forest that sweeps down to the beach. St Lucia warbler, gray trembler, black-whiskered vireo, belted kingfisher, hummingbird and the sweet little St Lucia Pewee, Meno loves to point them out during his 6am bird tour of the forest.

When he points at plants he always starts with a memory of his grandma who taught him the healing powers of the forest when he was growing up. He says she saved his life with regular doses of ginger root tea at a time when he was suffering as a child from serious asthma . She always turned to Mother Nature as her local pharmacy.

But not all the trees and plants in the forest have medicinal qualities. The sandbox tree with sharp protuberances up and down the bark, he calls the “monkey don’t climb tree” or the “ouch ouch tree”.

Enjoying the wondrous bird life in St Lucia is one of the joys of holidaying on this island. Lying on the beach at the Sandals Grande St Lucian resort in the north of the island, you can spot the magnificent large-winged frigate birds as they swoop down to the water to snatch fish.

In November last year (2016) Sandals Hotel with its glorious sweep of sandy beaches and the Anse Chastanet shared one secret in common, although it was not a secret for long. During his two-week visit to the Caribbean, Prince Harry stayed one night at Sandals in a cordoned-off wing not far from the room where I was staying. His security entourage were everywhere.

The following day he flew by helicopter down to Soufrière in the south to a helipad, perched on a mountain behind Anse Chastanet. The helipad was also constructed by Mr Troubetzkoy to cater for his wealthy guests staying at the Anse Chastanet’s extraordinary sister hotel, Jade Mountain. This is a monument to his architectural genius and beloved of celebrities who like to hide away in total seclusion in the hotel’s guest “sanctuaries”, each room equipped with infinity pools. Prince Harry was shown around before heading off to St Vincent but had no time for a swim.

For lesser mortals, the trip from Jade Mountain down to the beach involves a wait for a hotel minibus or a long trek down endless steps to get to the bottom. More than 300 steps! Even longer when you make the return journey.

Prince Harry did not have time either to go walking with Meno, my tropical forest guide. Or to venture to the Fond Latisab Creole Park in the south, where Canice Thomas and a family of helpers have turned 11 acres of tropical forest into a unique display of St Lucia’s cultural heritage.

He has planted more than 100 species of fruit and spice trees to remind the younger generation of St Lucians as well as tourists of the island’s past wealth-providing exports. Once famous for its bananas, St Lucia many years ago lost out to cheaper fruit exports from South America.

Every leaf you pick has an instantly identifiable aroma: bananas , mangoes, oranges, papayas , cashew nuts, cinnamon, cloves, and many other varieties.

To complete the one-and-a-half-hour tour of his tropical forest farm, 54-year-old Canice invites you to watch and then participate in a bout of Creole dancing, nothing too energetic in the heat, more like a slow, gentle movement of the feet and hips.

Had he lingered for more than 24 hours, Prince Harry could have learned how to make his own chocolate with a visit to the Hotel Chocolat, also in the south, where a St Lucian girl with a loud, penetrating voice, explains the intricacies of converting cocoa and sugar into an edible choc bar. Everyone has to have a go, but the results are not always successful or edible!

*Saint Lucia Tourist Board

www.saintluciauk.org

Email: sltbinfo@stluciauk.org

Tel: 0207 341 7000

*Sandals Grande St Lucian Spa & Beach Resort

www.sandals.co.uk/St_Lucia#

*Anse Chastanet

www.ansechastanet.com

*Virgin Atlantic

www.virginatlantic.com

Trips

*Fond Latisab