St. Kitts & Nevis · KN

Mount Liamuiga

Mount Liamuiga is the dormant stratovolcano that forms the rugged, cloud-wreathed heart of northern St. Kitts. At 1,156 metres (3,792 ft) it is the highest point in St. Kitts and Nevis, and a single steep climb through rainforest takes you from sea-level farmland to the lip of a vast volcanic crater. Formerly known to islanders as Mount Misery, it was renamed Liamuiga—the old Carib name for the island, often translated as "land of clouds"—around the time of independence in 1983. This is the Caribbean hike people travel to St. Kitts for: a jungle climb rather than a stroll, where you haul yourself up muddy root-ladders and knotted ropes until the canopy falls away and a half-mile-wide bowl of green opens beneath your feet. On a clear morning the rim looks out across the whole island and to the neighbouring peaks of St. Eustatius and Saba.