Saturday, April 2, 2016

Welcome Tours St Kitts And Nevis

By George Richardson


Most people go to the Caribbean islands for the sunshine, sandy beaches, and breath-taking scenery. Others go to study medicine or to go to vet school. There are three institutions of higher learning on the island where visitors and residents can get a medical or veterinary degree in between umbrella cocktails and tanning sessions. English is the national language here, and the island has a literacy rate of 98%. There are welcome tours St Kitts to suit every interest.

Medical degrees aside, there is much to distinguish the Sugar City from other idyllic Caribbean islands. There are approximately 45,000 permanent residents who call themselves Kittians. The majority of Kittians are of African ethnicity. The island has its own UNESCO World Heritage site, and that is Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, which happens to be eastern Caribbean's most substantial fortress.

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.

From about 1812 to 2005, cane sugar was the driving force behind the island's economy. In competition with European producers, the Kittian sugar cane industry became less profitable, the government decided it was no longer viable and closed the industry down. Now tourism is the main industry. Native islanders also make their living in construction, other forms of agriculture, manufacturing and transportation.

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.

The island is served by Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport. Flights arrive daily from New York and Miami and twice weekly from London. The flight time from London is 11 to 12 hours. From Miami, flights take three to five hours, and a flight from New York will set you back between six and seven hours.

A regular ferry service connects St. Kitts with its sister island, Nevis. There is also a narrow gauge railway, formerly built to connect the sugar farms with the sugar factory. The railway was built in 1812. Since 2003, double-decker, open-air carriages conduct half-hour tours lasting three and a half hours around the island.

For a tiny island, St. Kitts has produced a number of notable names. Many of these are sprinters and include Tiandra Ponteen, Desai Williams, Virgil Hodge, and Kim Collins. Felix Dexter, actor, writer, and comedian, Calypso musician Konris Maynard, and Lord Hercules George Robert Robinson, governor of the island from 1830, are among the other Kittian luminaries. The island is not without its black sheep, and is responsible for producing professional boxer, Bertil Fox, who was ultimately convicted for murder, and the nefarious George Astaphan, the physician who prescribed steroids for Ben Johnson.




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