Guadalupe West Indies

Soufriere is the French name for sulphur mine, but also the name of an active volcano located in Guadeloupe, 10 kilometres from its capital, Basse-Terre. It is the tallest mountain in the Lesser Antilles, and rises 1.467 metres high. Therefore, they use to call it the Big Soufriere, in comparison with other two Caribbean volcanoes: Soufriere Hills in Montserrat and La Soufriere St. Vincent in Saint Vincent. These three stratovolcanoes are part of the 9 active volcanoes of the Lesser Antilles. Big Soufriere is quite a young volcano, as it was formed approx. for 200.000 years. It’s the only active volcano in Guadeloupe for 10.000 years.

The last eruption of La Soufriere took place in July 1976 and led to the evacuation of more than 70.000 people, but no loss of life. It was a bit of a controversy between two scientists: Claude Allègre and Haroun Tazieff. The latter thought it was not necessary to evacuate as there was no obvious risk of a big eruption, and he was right. The evacuation was lifted on November 1976. After 3 months of exile the population of Southern Guadeloupe could get back to their house and resume normal life. Nevertheless, the volcano left its mark in the capital causing severe economic disruption as Basse-Terre lies below.

Nowadays, the volcano stands proudly and defiant. Haroun Tazieff mentioned a possible eruption before the end of the last century but nothing happened. The real risk of the eruption is not because of the thick magma, as there use to be Pelean eruptions with glowing avalanche of hot volcanic ash. Indeed, the initial phases of the eruption are characterised by pyroclastic flows that contain a much higher proportion of gas. La Soufriere, as many stratovolcanoes, forms a lava dome which closes the crater and leads to a sudden explosion when a critical volume of magma and gas accumulates.

There is a path to get right to the top of the island. It’s a medium 3-hour walk. Going past Saint-Claude on the way to Bains Jaune, from the parking you have 4 kilometres in circle. Don’t suffer by breathing sulphur!

The travellers Palm is not a tree but a plant, which is originally from Madagascar. Although it used to be included in the banana family Musaceae, It’s not a real palm. It belongs to the family Strelitziaceae like bird-of-paradise flowers. The ravenala madagascariensis is the official name, and it is the unique member of its genus, although it’s closely related to the South American Phenakospermum and the Southern African Strelitzia. The cream-coloured flowers of the ravenala are hermaphrodites. They are pollinated by bats and lemuroids. The brown fruit is a capsule with three shells where many seeds can be found. The seeds are usually surrounded by intense blue fibres which attract the birds.

Its actual name is due to the big quantity of water that can be held in its stems and be used as an emergency drinking supply. Its huge leaves stand like a fan and their dish-shaped base retains the rainwater, which would allow the travellers to quench their thirst. In fact, if you slash the trunk with a machete at the end of the rainy season, you might collect up to one liter per slash of a very liquid sap, which taste is fairly similar to water. Moreover, the trunk can reach 10 metres and the whole plant can be up to 20 metres high. Its shape and height help to spot it from far away in case of thirst emergency.

Due to its impressive beauty, the travellers palm has become a tropical ornamental plant that everybody would like to have in the garden. It requires sun and moderate water. You’ll find travellers palms in many private gardens on the Guadeloupian archipelago, but also in a natural environment. Another symbol that travellers can’t miss!

The hummingbird is a bird of the family Trochilidae. It’s one of the smallest birds in the world, although its main feature is the fact that it is the only bird which can easily hover in the air and fly backwards. It usually has a bright and colourful plumage, mainly metallic green. The male neck is often bright red, blue or emerald green.

The hummingbirds’ family comprises 100 kinds of birds, which are divided into more than 300 species. These birds live mainly on flowers nectar to gain calories in order to fly properly. They obtain proteins from little insects. This diet based only on simple carbohydrates is rich in energy and compulsory to make its extremely exigent flying style possible (flapping their wings up to 80 times per second). Another special feature of the hummingbird is its beak, which size is almost always different from one species to another. Each beak is specially designed for one kind of flowers. This distinction allows the hummingbird to fit in an ecological niche and avoids fights between species.

The most common species that you might see in Guadeloupe are the Antillean crested hummingbird (Orthorhyncus cristatus), the blue-headed hummingbird (Cyanophaia bicolor), the purple-throated Carib (Eulampis jugularis), the green-throated Carib (Eulampis holosericeus), the white-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) and the ruby-topaz hummingbird (Chrysolampis mosquitus). If you’re a photographer, you should find it easy to take a perfect picture of a hummingbird, while it’s fluttering to feed on a flower. It’s worth a good souvenir! If you go for it, don’t worry, as you’ll have many opportunities to meet one of them. No surprise that the hummingbird is one of the symbols of Guadeloupe.