With the exception of Cuba, the insular nations of the Caribbean possess relatively few World Heritage Sites, with none of the other countries currently containing more than one. The two that were along my route were both Natural Sites, and both connected to the region’s volcanic past. Islands, in general, often host interesting and unique ecosystems, thanks to their biological isolation, and, in this case, that combined with their obvious esthetic beauty have earned these two natural areas places on the List. Natural Sites, which are often relatively large, may require a considerable amount of time in order to fully appreciate their important aspects, unfortunately, with the delays, heat, and travel complications I have previously mentioned, I did not have as much time at both of these sites as I should have spent, but I was certainly able to realize their overall importance.

The first I visited was Morne Trois Pitons National Park, in Dominica, which is located twelve kilometers east of the capital, Roseau, beginning at an elevation of eight hundred meters above sea level. With a 5:00 PM ferry departure scheduled on my final day on the island, I had only that morning available to visit the park. Still feeling tired from the previous day’s steamy ride to the north of the island, I decided to take my bike to the park entrance using local transport, walk around the site for a while, and then ride back down to the town. Normally, I would consider such a choice to be a real poseur maneuver, however, the access road was even steeper than the one that wore me down on the previous day, and, had I ridden both ways I wouldn’t have had much time at all available at the site, so that choice seemed warranted. Once there, the Park was beautiful and interesting, as expected. In the area that I hiked, the predominant vegetation form was tropical montane thicket, which contains many ferns and small palms, and is a biome I have had little previous experience with, so that was my most lasting impression.

The second of the two Sites was on Saint Lucia, the rather unimaginatively-named Pitons Management Area. The two Pitons of this site, Grand Piton and Petit Piton, are ancient volcanic plugs, which, due to their extreme steepness, remain covered in pristine natural forest, and provide one of the more iconic scenic locations in the Caribbean. Once again, I was running late on my last day on the island, partly because of the heat, but also because I spent a little too much time birding earlier in the day. Consequently, I chose not to ride all the way to the site, instead stopping early at my lodging for the night and taking local transport to the main viewpoints around the site. That meant that I really wasn’t able to walk the trails around, or up, the Pitons, which was unfortunate. However, the forest I would have seen would have been similar to the one that I had walked through earlier that same day, so I didn’t feel too bad about that. The impressive visual appeal of the Site was readily apparent in any case.