St Kitts and Nevis is a unique place. A Caribbean nation composed of two small islands, and 50,000 people. English speaking, stable government with English law roots. Free education K-college on the island, 98% literacy rate, currency pegged to the dollar, abundant geothermal energy beginning to be tapped. I’m starting to sound like the Minister of Economic Development.
The Monkeys
There are an estimated 60,000 green vervet monkeys on the island, mostly in the mountains and rainforests, as we only occasionally see them in our area. We did see a troop scamper across the golf course during a recent walk. The monkeys are native to Africa and were introduced here around 300 years ago by trade ships. The population has increased markedly since the collapse of the sugar cane industry, and they are a menace to local farm crops. The monkeys are smart and eat almost anything.
Mongooses
We also have mongooses (the preferred plural of mongoose), which were purposely introduced to control the snake population. We see these guys scurrying around from time to time too. Low to the ground with large flat tails and wary of humans. So they do keep the snake population in check, but they eat a lot of other things too, like bird eggs. Today they are considered an invasive species.
Usually, I use my own photography in these blogs but I have yet to photograph monkeys and mongooses, so I grabbed these images from the web.
Sugar Train
Between 1912 and 1926, the sugar companies built a train track that looped around the island to transport sugar cane from the fields to the factory in Basseterre. International competition ended the sugar industry in 2005. A new industry is making use of a large part of the track: the same engine now pulls open air passenger cars full of cruise ship tourists for a hefty ticket price.
Other Stuff
The mango trees are loaded with fruit now, so there are mangoes all around for eating. There are several large trees on the church property and so free mangoes for every interested party after church.
We also have a cashew trees here. This is the first time I have seen cashews while still on the tree. The nut is the fruit of the flower, attached to the Cashew Apple, which is actually a swollen stem. What a strange looking combination.
Here’s an example of our local fruits on the kitchen counter this morning. Fresh pineapple, mangoes and stubby apple bananas, all grown locally. The benefits of living in a tropical climate.
Some more random photos of the beautiful clouds, wildlife and the common sight of roaming chickens.
Around Basseterre
A few more photos around town. There are a lot of old, non-working cars around. Cars and minibuses are the main form of transportation here. I suppose it costs money to dispose of old vehicles, so it’s easier to just leave them somewhere….
There are also a lot of old shipping containers turned into small restaurants or stationary storage garages. I suspect this is common throughout the Caribbean island.
And a few more photos documenting life here.
We continue to assist in our local congregation, as well as in local charities run by other organizations . We are still investigating new opportunities as we become aware of them. It has never felt right to take pictures at these events so no photos here yet. More about that in a future blog post!
Next Up: Well, more of St Kitts and an excursion all of two miles away to the sister island of Nevis!
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