

Issue 147 (September/October 2017)

Puerto Rico’s Cueva Ventana offers visitors a stunning natural view of the Arecibo valley

Datebook | Caribbean Events Calendar (September/October 2017)
Events around the Caribbean in September and October, from Diwali in Guyana to the World Creole Music Festival in Dominica

The Lüders affair | On this day
One hundred and twenty years ago, a minor dispute in Port-au-Prince escalated into an international incident, with the German navy threatening to bombard the city. James Ferguson remembers this episode in the long history of foreign powers meddling in Haiti’s affairs

Redonda rescue — saving its native species | Green
Tiny Redonda, with its steep and barren cliffs, is home to colonies of seabirds, rare lizards found nowhere else — and, until recently, hordes of invasive goats and rats. But a new restoration project aims to return Redonda to its original inhabitants. Erline Andrews learns more

An Aegean Sea archipelago diary | Travellers’ Tales
The islands of the Aegean Sea are the original archipelago, which has lent its name to scatterings of islands everywhere else in the world. Under the baking summer sun, Philip Sander explores the Cyclades, from picturesque hill villages to ancient ruins to glistening bays, and feels oddly at home

June Soomer: a voice for all | Backstory
As head of the Association of Caribbean States, appointed in 2016, St Lucian June Soomer keeps regional integration high on the agenda. She tells Shelly-Ann Inniss how her career as historian and diplomat prepared her for this trailblazing new role

Lethem, Guyana | Neighbourhood
Far from Georgetown and the Atlantic coast, Guyana’s raffish border town is a gateway to neighbouring Brazil — and to the adventures of the Rupununi, with its rolling savannahs, misty mountains, forests, birds, and beasts

St Vincent & the Grenadines — one destination, 32 islands | Escape
Near the southern end of the Antillean chain, St Vincent and the Grenadines is one country made up of thirty-two islands. Welcome to the charms of Caribbean Airlines’ latest destination — from the clear turquoise water of the Tobago Cays to St Vincent’s volcanic black beaches, to the gingerbread cottages of Mustique and the boat-builders of Bequia

Word of mouth (September/October 2017)
Hook, line, sinker: a fishing tournament in Antigua means equal parts exhilaration and exhaustion, and a one-off public holiday commemorates the First Peoples and indigenous heritage of Trinidad and Tobago

Richard Georges: “I let the tides tug me along” | Q&A
With his debut book Make Us All Islands shortlisted for a prestigious Forward Prize, BVI poet Richard Georges is the latest Caribbean writer to make a splash beyond home shores. He talks to Shivanee Ramlochan about the special challenges of writing from a small place

Jason Jeffers: stories like ours | Snapshot
His passion for film started when he was growing up in Barbados. It led Jason Jeffers to make the award-winning short documentary Papa Machete, and to found the Third Horizon Caribbean Film Festival in Miami. What these initiatives have in common, he tells Nailah Folami Imoja, is a dedication to telling Caribbean stories and changing the way the world imagines our islands

Best of brew — Caribbean coffee | Cookup
Coffee grown in the Caribbean is some of the world’s finest. Pricey Blue Mountain coffee from Jamaica’s high elevations is celebrated by connoisseurs — but can locals actually afford it? And what can Trinidad and Tobago’s farmers learn from Jamaica as they seek to revive their own coffee production? Franka Philip talks to the experts about the present state and future prospects for the business of coffee beans