The facts I knew about Grenada before visiting one of the Caribbean’s prettiest and more obscure islands this spring could be counted on one foot of a three-toed sloth. I knew the racing driver Lewis Hamilton hailed from here, and the Americans somewhat improbably invaded the place in 1983. And as a dedicated twitcher I knew it was home to one of the world’s most endangered birds, the Grenada dove, a shy, eccentric creature which prefers to scuttle along the ground rather than fly.
For a few days of my stay on the island, I was going to be sharing the Grenada dove’s prime territory – Mount Hartman. If you wanted a setting for the next James Bond film, you could hardly improve on Mount Hartman Bay Estate House, the Gaudí-style hideaway at Lance Aux Epines on the southern coast. Except, I decided, tucking into an exquisite breakfast of homemade golden apple juice followed by Peruvian eggs (speciality of chef Roger, Grenada’s most talented cook), this might be a Bond film with no baddies. Certainly the presence of the Grenada dove, means Blofeld and his white cat would not be welcome. Built into the side of a hill, with a grass roof and interior waterfalls, the seven bedroom suites and the vast, airy living room of the house look over an idyllic, yacht-strewn bay. There is a 27-metre infinity swimming pool and a very powerful speedboat, but the house’s organic, curvy lines (all done with steel, cement and chicken wire), combined with wonderful food and service, create a thoroughly benign, almost Hobbit-like ambience.
Across the bay is Mount Hartman National Park, the dove’s last major habitat, part of which has been sold by the government of Grenada to become the site of a Four Seasons hotel, golf course and 150 luxury villas. Environmentalists protested that this could spell extinction for the endangered dove, which happens to be Grenada’s national bird. But an environmental impact assessment forced the developers to scale down and redraw their designs to include a dove sanctuary. And as building work got underway during my stay, the talk was of a win-win, not a rush to concrete and high-rise at the expense of the environment, but ecologically sensitive development, preserving Grenada’s rich and lush natural assets and using them as a magnet for eco-tourism.
In September 2004, Grenada must have felt in danger of extinction itself: Hurricane Ivan struck the island, which lies just south of the official hurricane zone, so ferociously that over 90 per cent of buildings were damaged. As one Grenadian told me, with typically forgiving Caribbean wit, normally hurricanes only have one name, but this time they changed the rule: Ivan acquired the additional moniker of Rufus. Nearly 40 people died, and wildlife and forests suffered. Signature hotels such as Spice Island Beach Resort on Grand Anse beach were also badly hit; but the owner Sir Royston Hopkin decided to rebuild and upgrade at the same time: a symbol of the Grenadians’ courage in the face of adversity.
Four years after Ivan, there is remarkably little sign of the storm’s deadly assault. The two main churches in St George’s, the charming island harbour-capital, still lack roofs, and you will come across ruins in unlikely places, such as the tennis club beneath Fort Frederick where I played three sets with a delightful and hospitable local: the concrete courts are still there, next to the roofless and derelict clubhouse and changing rooms. But nearly everything has been rebuilt, to a higher and more hurricane-proof standard than before.
Sir Royston Hopkin believes in the end Ivan/Rufus did the island a back-handed favour. ‘I feel good about Grenada: environmental awareness has increased. I’ve seen tremendous degradation in the region, caused by lack of knowledge. But now we know you have to protect national assets; organisations such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank are using their muscle to retain and regenerate the environment. If you don’t do the right thing, you don’t get funds.’ Like all good hoteliers he is a stickler for detail: ‘We use solar panels to heat all our water, go easy on the air conditioning and compost waste for the gardens, which produce tomatoes, cabbages, fruit – not enough for the whole hotel, but significant.’
Grenada is not just beautiful (and if you want white sand, turquoise water, swaying palms, this is the place for you): it is also fertile. The young volcanic soils are among the richest in the world; rainfall is high, at between 80 and 200in annually (that’s wetter than Cumbria, but don’t worry, the climate is a good deal warmer and sunnier). Nearly everything you plant here will grow at frightening speed. Mangoes give three crops a year. But most importantly, Grenada is one of the world’s major producers of spices.
Cinnamon, turmeric and cloves grow here in abundance, but by far the most important spice is nutmeg. You can see why this spice was once worth its weight in gold: the beautiful dense-leaved nutmeg tree actually delivers four products in one: there is the fruit, used for jams and jellies; then the strange skullcap-like red coating of the nut called mace; the nut shell, used for pathways; and finally, right at the heart, the pungent nutmeg itself. Nutmeg plantations were devastated by Ivan but the spice is making a comeback. It is one of the reasons why the buccaneering British entrepreneur Peter de Savary, the man behind Skibo Castle in Scotland, the St James’s Clubs in Antigua, London, Paris, New York and Los Angeles, and Carnegie Abbey Club in Rhode Island, has targeted Grenada for what he says will be his last ‘pioneering, break-your-neck effort’ in lifestyle tourism.
