Zoo de Martinique and Le Precheur

Welcome to Martinique! A French overseas department known as the Isle of the Flowers and that nickname is well deserved. 

We got off our Cruise ship around 10:30 and very quickly found a taxi driver who would take us to the rental car agency (and an ATM, so we could get some Euros to pay him). Despite my poor French and the limited English spoken, we quickly got our Renault mini bus loaded with bags and kids and grandparents and started our road trip.

We headed north of Fort de France (the largest city in Martinique), up the Caribbean coast, to the small beach side town of Le Carbet. Our first stop was Restaurant 1643. I'm not even kidding, this might be the best meal I ever had. All of us kept saying how everyone else was missing out because they didn't order what we did. The setting was beautiful, the food was terrific, and it set a great tone for the rest of our day.

Just a few steps away is the Zoo de Martinique. You might wonder why I chose to visit a zoo of all things. Well, this one is more than just a zoo.

The zoo was built into the ruins of Habitation Latouche, a huge plantation, and many of the animal habitats are built into the old stone structures. The old plantation house, where once Paul Gaugin visited, now is home to turtles, snakes, and monkeys.

In addition to the animals, there is an exhibit on Caribbean pirates, historical information about the habitation, and beautiful gardens all around.

The iguanas are free roaming, luckily the caymans are not.

This structure is what used to be the hospital. This plantation was apparently big enough to need it's own clinic.

The monkeys of all varieties are fun to watch, but these in particular were fascinating. Their prehensile toes and tails were so useful, it was like they had 5 arms.

We managed to time out visit to animal lunch time. We were always right on the heels of the zoo keeper feeding the animals, so they were all pretty active.

The old rum distillery was one of the larger and more intact pieces of the old habitation. Sugar cane and rum are still big industries in Martinique, but not to the extent that they were in the 19th century.

This Grey Crowned Crane was so defensive of his little babies, he kept trying to intimate us away from the enclosure. We didn't want to ruffle his feathers, so we didn't stay long, but it was sure entertaining. The babies were very cute, they look like baby chicks on stilts, but they lacked the stylish head fluff and vibrant colors of their parents.

We arrived at the aviary just in time to see the flamingo and scarlet ibis lunch time.

The last exhibit was an aviary housing lorikeets, a sloth, peacocks, doves, and a sweet little tortoise. At first the Lorikeets thought we might be there to steal their nectar. Once they realized we weren't coming for their food, they didn't seem to mind or notice us at all.

After an afternoon at the zoo, we were all a bit sweaty (it's humid and HOT in Martinique) so sitting in the air-conditioned car sounded pretty good! We drove just a few more kilometers up to the northern end of the island to the town of Le Precheur in the foothills of Mont Pelee. We really put Lee through his paces as our designated driver; steep hills, sharp turns, and narrow roads with a 9 seater van is a challenge. And did I mention it was a manual transmission? The roads were all pretty smooth and well maintained, but driving in Martinique can still be...a bit harrowing. Getting up the hill to our hotel was an adventure, but apparently the other road leading there was a lot less steep, so thanks GPS for taking us the hard way.

We arrived at a beautiful little hotel Village Pomme Canelle. It felt like an oasis in the jungle, with fantastic ocean views. Immediately after checking in, the kids NEEDED to go swimming. The sunset was beautiful, no regrets.

 

Lee, Laszlo, and I headed down into the orchard attached to the hotel after swimming. If you're picturing a big flat area with trees growing neatly in rows, let me remind you we were on the side of a mountain. It was somewhat terraced, steep, and uneven ground with a wide variety of fruit trees. They told us we could pick and eat any fruit that we wanted, so we got out our phone flashlights and explored in the dark. We found bats, fireflies, and a good number of pomegranates and starfruit. We had fresh fruit for dinner, supplemented by left overs from lunch and a few snacks from a convenience store down the hill.

I think we were all happy to have good internet again after a week on the ship without it, so we turned on Netflix for the kids and just relaxed. Day one in Martinique was a big success! All except trying to put Arthur to bed, but let's be real that rarely goes well.