North America

Many people think of the USA and Canada, but Mexico is part of North America too, as are Central American countries. The Caribbean Islands don’t really belong to any continent, but are included here.

The 3 Northern Countries

Canada

With a lower population but the same landmass as the USA, Canada is packed with rocky mountains, pine forests, maple trees and national treasures like Val-Morin and British Columbia. Here you may come across a grizzly bear on his trip to find fresh salmon at the river. Canada is also home to a strong environmental movement.

Mexico

Marshes, forests, mangroves and beautiful beaches on blue Caribbean waters, one of the oldest civilisations, and the Mayan pyramids and Yucatan Peninsula are legendary. Find rosewood, walnut, ebony and mahogany trees and exotic wildlife: jaguars, pumas, turtles and pink flamingos.

USA

With its influence, you may be surprised to learn that the USA contains only just under 5% of the world’s population. The city of Portland in Oregon is often called the greenest city in the world, and California is up there too – the town of Carmel is ‘most dog-friendly city’. The USA is home to breathtaking natural scenery like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park and Alaska. Manatees swim the shore of Florida, the north is home to bears and antelopes, and Boston is popular for visiting whales.

Central America

Belize

The only country in Central America where English is the official language, this is on the Caribbean coast and lined with coral reef and island keys. This is a rainforest paradise jungle, and contains the longest barrier reef in the western hemisphere.

Costa Rica

With tropical, cloud, dry and oak forests, this tiny country covers 0.03% of the planet, yet holds 6% of all its creatures. Popular species include green and hawksbill turtles, great blue heron, Scarlet Macaw, manatees, humpback whales, bottle-nosed dolphins and coral. Also nearby is the beautiful Cocos Island.

El Salvador

This small central American country is the only one with no Atlantic coastline, nevertheless you see dolphins and whales passing through its Pacific waters. Its ‘shade-grown’ coffee farms are home to endangered wildlife. The Stinking Toe Tree has ‘big fat toe’ branches and edible fruit that that leaves a foul lingering smell!

Guatemala

This is Mayan country (half the population derives from this ancient race). There is rich culture everywhere. This small country has stunning wildlife like jaguars, pumas, tapirs, howler and spider monkeys. Birds include Quetzals, scarlet macaws and storks.

Honduras

This country is full of blue waters, green jungles, white mountains and Pico Bonito National Park. Find tapirs, white-tailed deer, jaguars, toucans, whilst at sea enjoy bottle-nose dolphins, parrot fish, kapok trees (the fluffy seeds are used in bedding), bony-plated armadillos and lovable sloths (they give birth upside down!)

Nicaragua

This large country’s name means ’surrounded by water’. A rainforest delight for monkeys, three-toed sloths, giant lizards, iguanas, anteaters, white-tailed deers, tapirs, guardabarranco birds and turquoise-browed Motmot (‘clock birds‘). At the ocean, find turtles and the world‘s only freshwater sharks.

Panama

The most southerly country, this is mainly hills and mountains, with over 500 rivers, rainforest and cloud forests. It holds the record for the most species of birds seen in one day, and is also home to the Smithsonian Institute for Tropical Research. It’s surprisingly not the home of the Panama Hat – that’s from Ecuador.

Caribbean Islands

Most of these are in the southeast Gulf of Mexico, and are a chain of islands surrounding the Caribbean Sea. Many are close to Florida.

 

Anguilla

A peaceful little place blessed by tropical trade winds, this is a religious island (it has a church every two square miles). With 12 miles of white powder beaches and clear blue waters, who would not dream of lazing here awhile? Local wildlife includes hermit crabs, mangrove cuckoos, red-footed tortoise and tiny orange butterflies.

Antigua and Barbuda

With warm winds and safe harbours, these islands are famed for their unbroken coral reef. Barbuda is practically empty and famed for its pink sand, coral reef and Frigate Bird Sanctuary housing the most aerial of waterbirds. Antigua has 365 beaches – one for every day of the year!

Aruba

Cooled by trade winds, miles of beautiful beach and thousands of friends you have not yet met, the reef here plunges to depths of 110 feet where octopus, moray eel and barracuda thrive. Donkeys were the main form of transport here once. Happily, locals now look after them in a special sanctuary.

Bahamas

This has the world’s longest underwater limestone cave, secluded islands and so much wildlife (iguanas, flamingos, American redstarts and parrots), that there are more non-human species than people. The water is so clear that visibility is an amazing 200 feet. Of the 100 plus birds here, 28 are not found anywhere else on earth.

Barbados

This is the home of dream beaches and tidal pools that house ghost crabs and sea roaches, as well as sea moss that is made into a local health drink. Add Harrison’s Cave with its underground bubbling streams, thundering waterfalls, deep pools, mahogany trees and sea anemones, and you have paradise on earth.

Bermuda

This ‘pink sand’ paradise is not in the Caribbean, it’s hundreds of miles north of the Bahamas, just 600 miles from North Carolina. The tropical reef is home to millions of creatures. You can also find whistling tree frogs, sea turtles, white-tailed tropic birds, indigo bunting and Great Kiskadee (his call sounds like ‘qu-est-ce que dit?’)

British Virgin Islands

With powder sand beaches and lush green mountains, banyan trees and volcanic outcrops, this is where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic in a sheltered cove of calm shores and beautiful coral. Local marine delights to admire are drum fish, octopus, starfish, golden moray eels and spiny lobsters.

Cayman Islands

As the peaks of a massive underwater ridge, these islands are just 400 miles from Miami, and home the hawksbill turtle and black-billed whistling duck. The ‘seven-mile beach’ of coral sand is actually just 5.5 miles now, due to annual erosion.

Cuba

Famed for Havana cigars and vintage American cars, this island has 4000 miles of coastline and is home to the world’s smallest frog and bird, migrating land crabs, and bee hummingbirds whose wings beat at 80 beats each second. They are so small, people mistake them for insects!

Dominica

Not to be confused with the Dominican Republic (next), two thirds is covered in tropical rainforest, rivers, streams and waterfalls. It’s the whale capital of Central America, with 22 species. The only country where sperm whales live all year round.

Dominican Republic

Situated on the Tropic of Cancer, this is a blend of European, African and native Indian culture. With mountains and valleys, and the lowest point of Lake Enriquillo, this island also has 100 miles of beautiful beaches and 30,000 square miles of lush tropical islands – with more native birds than most places.

Grenada

Known as ‘The Isle of Spice’, these three islands are famed for food, flowers and calypso music – so musical, the local buses play reggae! The coast is marked by small bays and characteristic white or black sands. No new building can be higher than a palm tree. No doubt the local Grenada Dove is happy about this.

Guadeloupe

These ‘butterfly’ islands contain 50 beaches (many only reachable by foot). You can find sand of all kinds (white, black or gold), plus pebble beaches, coral reef, palm trees and big surfing waves. At night, millions of frogs sing to you. In the rainforest, listen to sugar birds, black woodpeckers and moorhens.

Haiti

This large island was devastated in 2009 by a huge earthquake, and is still picking up the pieces. The island used to be lush and had suffered beforehand from deforestation. We must help them and their native wildlife. Many North American birds migrate here – indigo buntings, warblers and swallows.

Jamaica

Just 600 miles south of Miami, most people think of Bob Marley, and it‘s true this is Reggae Country. But it‘s also a beautiful mountainous land with over 120 rivers and springs, limestone cave labyrinths, gushing waterfalls and mineral springs. Bog Walk is a tropical watershed forest, and another attraction is Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

Martinique

One of the ‘Windward Islands’, this is the Pompeii of the Caribbean, with underwater shipwrecks due to a volcanic eruption in 1902 at Mount Pelee. Elsewhere, mountains are surrounded by dense forest, waterfalls, rolling hills, rivers and coves. In the south, find ‘petrified trees’ – these are fossils, not scared trees!

Montserrat

Home of cooling trade wind breezes, black sand and magical frangipani and red hibiscus scents, this island was a haven years ago to Irish Catholics. Today they have a shamrock on their passport, celebrate St Patrick‘s Day and even the ‘bam-chick-a-lay’ dance looks Irish. Find Montserrat oriole birds and mango, papaya and coconut trees.

Netherlands Antilles

Just off the Venezuelan coast, this is all hills, volcanoes and scenic mountains. Find whiptail lizards basking in the sun, and geckos using their suckers to climb up walls (locally named the ‘plakipak‘ or ‘sticky stick‘). This is also the home of the Cuchubi – the Caribbean mocking bird.

Puerto Rico

This mountainous country was once covered in rainforest. It’s still home to 300 miles of beach and a dry forest filled with cacti. Also home to the little Coqui Frog with his ko-kee chirp, and Rio Camuy – the third largest underground river in the world.

Saint Barthelme (or St Barts)

 

This small island is most unusual, with a lot of Swedish influence. With 21 beaches, there are warm water sharks, green sea turtles, and migrating whales and dolphins.

 

Saint Kitts and Nevis

This lush tropical paradise looks more like the South Pacific, and consists of a dormant volcano covered in tropical rainforest. The ground rises up to a cloud forest filled with green velvet monkeys. Full of old plantation houses. Lovely.

Saint Lucia

Set in the middle of the eastern Caribbean, the forest here dominates the mountains, whilst your nose enjoys the scents of jasmine, scarlet chenille and wild orchids. The island is at the top of an underwater volcano, giving great coral reef and marine life like turtles, nurse sharks, seahorses, angel fish, and golden spotted eels.

Saint Martin

 

This is the smallest Caribbean island. The Simpson Bay lagoon is landlocked, yet large enough to sail in. The surrounding waters contain sea turtles, sharks, rays and octopi.

 

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

These 32 islands together form a lush tropical rainforest and heaven for divers. Containing the oldest botanical gardens in the western hemisphere, you can also see pods of whales and dolphins, green turtles and beautiful birdlife like hummingbirds, whistling warblers and the St Vince Parrot.

Trinidad and Tobago

With more than 450 birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians (and more than 620 types of butterflies), this is South America in one Caribbean Island. Tobago is smaller but has one of the highest bird densities on earth, and contains the oldest protected rainforest in the world. Trinidad is larger and known for partying and the steel drum.

United States Virgin Islands

Comprising three islands (St Thomas, St Croix and St Jon), these are nicknamed Rock City, Twin City, Love City (and Small City for the local Water Island). The north shore is famed for its seahorses.