Page 22 - DreamScapes Magazine | Winter 2022-2023

SPECIAL FEATURE
The Caribbean Sisters
Barbuda
Wellness, Wildlife and Cuisine on
Antigua and BY DARCY RHYNO
The morning dawns softly over Valley Church Beach, Antigua. I awake at Wild Lotus Glamping in my cosy bell tent to
the hush of waves and chattering of birds. After a night on the beach, sleeping in an antique brass bed as if beneath the stars, I pop outside for a quick dip in the warm sea, then a rinse in my personal, outdoor shower.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY
22 DREAMSCAPES WINTER 2022/2023
Next to my bell tent, five more rest like giant octopi on the sand in Antigua’s only glamping experience. At the far end of the beach, I can see Sheer Rocks, named one of' the Caribbean’s best restaurants in 2018 and 2020. Last night, seated at a cliff-edge table overlooking the moonlit sea, I enjoyed one of the finest dining experiences of my life, savouring local roasted pork with buttery anise squash and tempura onions.
As my appetite stirs with those edible memories, co-owner Chloe Johnston appears like clockwork with a breakfast for champions. There’s Antiguan black pineapple and mango, croissants, passion fruit from the vine behind my tent, and a pot of tea.
When I tell her how unusually refreshed I feel after a night sleeping on the beach, she says, “Yes, it’s difficult to describe, but everybody can relate to nature and feeling small with the ocean around you. Ecotherapy is the effect of nature on wellness, and we’re in the perfect environment for it.”
WILD ISLANDS
Perfect indeed. With 365 beaches, Antiguans like to say they have a beach for every day of the year. Local fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood and meats make for an exceptionally tasty and healthy cuisine while national parks and reserves make for outdoor adventure.
On a guided tour to Wallings Nature Reserve, I emerge from a forest trail onto an open mountaintop with ocean views. Volunteers are digging clumps of lemongrass from the rich, volcanic soil and planting fruit trees in their place. Here, that tasty herb is an invasive species. I pull up a clump and sprinkle some cayenne powder around a sapling, which works as an insecticide.