The wild side of the Spice Island: Most people are drawn to the Caribbean island of Grenada because of the beaches – but the walking is also spectacular

Above, a Mona monkey clatters into a treetop in search of small yellow fruits (nicknamed “monkey apples”). A mongoose scampers across the path.

A hummingbird with a shiny green head and a strange beak flashes past.

“It was a red-breasted hermit,” says my guide Simon Green, source of all knowledge of Grenadian fauna. ‘Very rare. You don’t see that in the lowlands.”

We are almost on top of Mount St. Catherine, Grenada’s highest mountain (757 meters), an active but safe volcano, and not a soul in sight – and nature comes out to play. In the past, on Grand Anse Beach, tourists and locals would take their constitutions before breakfast and enjoy the soft sand and the rising sun. But mine is a very different type of trek, more of a scramble in places like the rocky path climbs under the jungle canopy.

Most people visiting the Caribbean stick to the gentle waters, but a growing number of ecotourism initiatives have sprung up, many offering guided hikes to the more remote inland regions of some of our most popular holiday islands.

Tom climbs Mount St. Catherine (photo in background), Grenada’s highest mountain at 2,757 feet

Simon Green’s Hidden Treasures hikes in Grenada are one of the best. The ride up and down Mount St. Catherine takes about five hours and covers about seven miles.

You start on a farm with pigs, goats and chickens – as well as all kinds of fruit and vegetables, plus of course cinnamon and nutmeg. Finally, Grenada is known as the Spice Island. Along the way, as the trail climbs, Simon stops to pick fruit from wild plants, allowing me to pick wax apples (a delicious rose/apple flavored crunchy fruit), mummy apples (a bit like peaches) and juicy guava . Bamboo groves occupy the lower reaches, as do aromatic incense trees, giant hardwood trees and long hanging vines (as if Tarzan lives nearby).

It wasn’t always so green and beautiful here. “After hurricane Ivan in 2004, all the vegetation was gone,” says Simon. “There are only a few suitcases left. It was heartbreaking.’ But this rare occurrence – Grenada lies below the usual “hurricane belt” and is therefore a popular anchorage for yachts – was quickly rectified as the plants grew back. “Nature’s resilience is incredible,” he says.

Such is the view from the summit of Mount St. Catherine, with the entire island (21 miles long and 15 miles wide) below and the sister islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique in the distance.

The landscape around Mount St. Catherine seen from the shore. The drive up and down the summit takes about five hours and covers about seven miles. Image courtesy of Creative Commons

A strange hook-billed hummingbird flits by on Tom’s walk (file photo)

Tom sees tourists and locals at Grand Anse Beach “enjoying the soft sand and the rising sun” (above)

Tom stays at the Mount Cinnamon Hotel (pictured) on Grand Anse Beach

To see Grenada from such a height is to realize what a truly remarkable place it is.

It is about the same size as Barbados, but with 50 percent less population. The interior is lush and hilly, with deep valleys perfect for waterfalls, where local boys are only too happy to put on a daring diving display.

And of course there is history. The US invasion of Grenada in 1983 – or liberation – remains an integral part of the understanding of the former British colony.

In the distance, you can even see the outlines of Union Island in neighboring St. Vincent and the Grenadines see.

Along the way, we’ll stop to drink fresh water from a spring—much of the island’s bottled water comes from this southwest corner of Grenada.

Then we stop again for a Caribbean beer in the charming coastal town of Victoria. Until then we felt we deserved it.

THE BEST VACATION STATS IN THE CARIBBEAN

SAINT VINCENT: The La Soufriere Volcano Hike is approximately seven miles long. Bring a light jacket as it can be cold at the top and wait five hours (alltrails.com).

ST. LUCIA: Walk to the top of one of the Caribbean’s landmarks: Gros Piton. The summit is at 800 meters and the round trip is about three miles and takes about two and a half hours (islandroutes.com).

DOMINICA: The Waitukubuli National Trail stretches 114 miles and winds its way across this beautiful island. Choose which part you want to do and pass towns and forts. Along the way, see the hideouts of former runaway slaves (avirtualdominica.com).

The hike from La Soufriere Volcano (photo) on St. Vincent and the Grenadines is approximately 11 kilometers long

TRINIDAD: From Mount Saint Benedict to Mount Tabor near the town of Tunapuna takes about 90 minutes, about 4 km (alltrails.com).

GUYANA: Are you feeling fit? Then join a five-day tour to Kaieteur Falls, with guided hikes, hotels along the way, and four to eight hours of walking each day (dagron-tours.com).

JAMAICA: The hike to Jamaica’s highest point (7,401 feet) in the Blue Mountains covers six miles and takes four hours (blueandjohncrowmountains.org).

Join Dagron Tours on a five-day tour to Guyana’s Kaieteur Falls (above).

BARBADOS: The Barclays loop starts in Barclays Park in the parish of St Andrew in the north and stretches seven miles, takes three and a half hours and offers spectacular coastal views (wikiloc.com).

TOBAGO: The Gilpin Trace hike in the Main Ridge Forest Reserve takes two hours and cuts through the heart of the rainforest (visittobago.gov.tt).

ST KITTS: It takes about four hours to climb and descend the 1,100 meter high Mount Liamuiga. You climb through the rainforest and reach the rim of a volcanic crater with amazing views and a chance to see the neighboring islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten (stkittstourism.kn).