What You Will See On Welcome Tours St Kitts

By George Richardson


Think Caribbean islands and you think about lazing on sunny, sandy beaches, sipping on exotic beverages with umbrellas and munching on fresh pineapple slices. The last things you want to think about are noses and grindstones. How do the locals get any work done? And yet, they do. On the island of St Christopher, the primary language is English and the literacy rate is 98 percent. The island is also home to a veterinary school and two schools of Medicine. Although the island is only 18 miles long and five miles across, one of the best ways to learn your way around is by taking advantage of welcome tours St Kitts (the informal, affectionate name of the island).

Apart from medical schools, what is it about the Sugar City that sets apart from other exotic islands in the Caribbean. The 45,000 residents, many of whom are of African descent, refer to themselves as Kittians. Warner Park Cricket Stadium hosted the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, the largest fortress in the eastern Caribbean, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Like many Caribbean islands, St Kitts is built on volcanoes. Here, there are three distinct volcanic mountain ranges. These are Mount Misery, where the highest peak of the volcanoes, Mount Liamuiga, is found, the Olivees, and the Verchilds.

Since the government closed down the sugar industry in 2005, tourism has been the major driver of the Kittian economy. There are, however, fewer resorts and a lower density of tourist population than you would find on other islands. Other industries that help bolster the economy are agriculture (with the exception of sugar), transportation, manufacturing, and construction.

In 1996, a music festival was held to attract tourists. It was called the Shak Shak Festival and featured Arrow, Nu Vybes, and Nigel Lewis. Held annually during the month of June, the event has been renamed the St Kitts Music Festival.

A major employer is the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport. Large enough to receive and handle commercial wide-bodied jumbo jets, it takes in flights from London (flight duration 11 hours), New York (flight time 6 hours), and Miami (duration 6 hours). Here, there are jobs for baggage handlers, customer services reps, and forklift drivers, among others.

Closer to the ground, there is a ferry service between the island and its neighbor, Nevis. A narrow-gauge railway encircles the island and caters to tourists more than it does the island residents. Built in 1912 to carry sugar cane from the farms to the factory, it now runs tours on specially converted open-air, double-decker carriages.

Famous names to arise out of the tiny island nation include singer Joan Armatrading, international footballer Keith Gumbs, and Felix Dexter, actor and comedian. The island provides an ideal for trainee runners, as evidenced from the number of sprinters that hail from St. Kitts. Among them are Kim Collins, Virgil Hodge, Desai Williams, and Tiandra Ponteen. Among the more notorious alumni of St. Kitts are George Astaphan, the doctor who doped Ben Johnson with steroids, and Bertil Fox, professional bodybuilder turned murderer.




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