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The Guadeloupe Reserve was created in 1992. Its central part covers 21 000 hectares, it is quite original and has some really remarkable traits. The reserve is on two geographically separate sites. In the west of the Island, the tropical forest of Basse-Terre is watched over by the highest point of the Lesser Antillies (West Indies): the volcano of La Soufrière (1467 meters) which is still active and which last erupted in 1976. Between Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, the Grand-Cul-de-Sac Marin, a vast bay of 15000 hectares is made up of a series of protected ecosystems.
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The animal mascot of the National Park is the racoon but also present is the black woodpecker (called "tapé" [i.e. crazy] in Creole) and the largest insect in the world the Hercules beetle Dynastes tityus (L.). The tropical forest, which is completely uninhabited, is home to over 300 species of trees and bushes, some of which can reach a height of 45 meters, in spite of the presence of man who, for centuries, has decimated numerous species. In the lagoon, sea-floor "meadows" are highly appreciated by turtles and teem with fish (parrot fish, box fish, scorpion fish).
Among the corals, among the giant sponges and the soft corals, urchins and fish thrive. The shoreline is covered by mangroves where four species of tree dominate, but also by flooded forest, swamps and mud flats. Sedentary and migratory birds share the area: pelicans, terns, freshwater species like moorhens, ducks, herons and kingfishers.
| Region : Guadeloupe
Département : Guadeloupe
Latitude : 16°00' à 16°27' north
Longitude : 61°27' à 61°48' west
Altitude (min/max) : -100 m / 1 467 m
Main ecosystems: tropical rain-forest coral reef mangrove |
Central areas: 16 330 hectares
(including 2 115 hectares marine zones)
Buffer areas: 22 377 hectares
(including 5 000 hectares of mangrove)
Transition zone: 31 000 hectares
(including 15 000 hectares marine zones and 10 000 hectares of lagoon)
Approximate population: 225 339 in 1990
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