Botanical Gardens

Now to explore further afield. There are road-side stands and little market stalls wherever you go … coconuts, bananas, homemade juices, in the smaller ones … more variety, spices, locally produced honey, etc. in others. Best sticking to where the locals shop. (Sorry … I included the photo in the Martinique post)

North toward St. Pierre took us through Fort de France – we’ll have a chance to visit before we leave on Friday. A small fishing village looked enticing so we detoured to see. A red-roofed church, old balconied buildings reminiscent of France and New Orleans graced a square and decorative fountain. As Glen described in his post “Parlez vous …” it did indeed possess a public convenience (something increasingly appreciated the older we get). And it was free. One of those self-contained units which open at the push of a button, instructs you to stand back as the door slides closed and allows you to do the necessary. The automated hand washing dispenser was a little over enthusiastic … hence Glen’s damp appearance! A detached mechanical voice then instructs you to exit, whereupon the door closes and an entire cleansing commences … rather like a giant dishwasher!

Past the local boulangerie and patisserie … we stopped to admire some of the very colourful buildings … before plonking our bottoms on a shady bench overlooking the fishing boats in the bay. Perfect for eating the sandwiches we’d brought. Suddenly, out of the shrubbery strutted a big rooster … followed by another … both taking great interest in our food. A disgraceful squabble broke out with much flapping and squawking, and after the victor had successfully run off the interloper, he peered hopefully in our direction, only to find we’d polished off the food. He looked quite crestfallen.

The town of St. Pierre is tucked up under the looming volcano – Mount Pelee. Back in 1902 it erupted … wiping out the entire region … and remains active today. Narrow, one-way streets … two-story buildings in faded pastel shades – their lower frontages covered with tall, skinny wooden shutters … when open they reveal the actual front doors. It has an air of weary shabbiness about it … while still holding on to its previous history and glory.

The parking lot at the Botanical gardens was almost empty when we pulled in .. just one other car. After a very modest fee … with map in hand we stepped into a lush, sun-dappled wonderland of pathways, tumbling streams, suspension bridges and a backdrop of 17th century ruins – the former sugar estate of one Guillaume d’Orange. As much a botanical garden as a zoo, it was truly magical. https://en.zoodemartinique.com/habitation-latouche Large Green Iguanas wandered freely over the grassy slopes … grazing or ousting the much smaller but brilliant green anoles https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/36363-Anolis-roquet. There was a lot of head bobbing and posing among some of the big males – showing off their spikey backs and impressive dewlaps. As I was busily photographing the huge Kapok tree, Glen nudged me … 3 feet away, and on a collision course, was a particularly splendid iguana specimen. I stood my ground and videoed him as he sauntered past my toes.

Across a swaying suspension bridge, an aviary of brilliant blue and yellow MaCaws, two of which flapped down and accommodatingly posed for their photo. There was a troop of diminutive Emperor Tamarins with long Fu Manchu moustaches daintily navigating ropes across the pond, as easily as a wide highway. Further along, a series primal sounds stopped us in our tracks .. somewhere between a deep, guttural huff, growl and cough that resonated right up through your feet. That had to be a big cat. Sure enough, a gorgeous jet black puma reclined on a bamboo platform … was he communicating to the two cougars in the adjacent enclosure?

A shy giant anteater … a rather lonely black vulture, although he tucked into his raw meat with gusto … nocturnal creatures … a butterfly enclosure … agoutis …. and for some reason, a family of racoons. Through a double-doored enclosure entrance – a flamboyance of bright pink and scarlet … as a flock of shocking pink flamingos honked and glided snootily about their pond … intermingled with stunning scarlet ibis. What a sight!

The parrot aviary could be heard long before it hove into view …. rainbow lorikeets – as though someone had emptied a paintbox onto the bird feeder … green amazons … soft grey africans … and some particularly noisy peacocks. Just as we were exiting the zoo, I glanced through the large picture window overlooking the Capybara pond. “Wait … is that …?” … A ripple across the water’s surface, and out popped a large rodent head, in perfect profile … its eye looking right at the camera. Wonderful. If anyone finds themselves on the Island of Martinique, this absolutely is a MUST see place.

It was now 4 o’clock … we should be able to make it back before it got dark at 6. There was just the small matter of traffic jams — before, through and out the other side of Fort de France. Total gridlock! Nothing moved … except the motorcycles. Insinuating themselves (at speed) between lines of traffic … continuously beeping and tooting their horns as if to say “Watch out … make way”. We actually lost count of the ambulances on that 3 hour trip …. how many were for these reckless riders, I wonder?