Antigua & Barbuda

Overview

Cricket is a huge sport here and this tiny nation has produced several genuine all-time world greats of the game. Cricket fans will certainly not be short of locals to chat with.

Barbuda was inhabited by hunter-gatherers from 2,900–3,000 BC, sometimes referred to as the Ciboney. Arawaks were present on Barbuda and Antigua from at least 1,000 BC. Their population on Barbuda peaked between 1,500 and 800 years ago. They were probably displaced by the Kalinago by the time Columbus landed on Antigua during his second voyage in 1493.

Early settlements by the Spanish and French were succeeded by the English who formed a colony on Antigua in 1667. Slavery, established to run the sugar plantations on Antigua, was abolished in 1834.

Most electrical sockets outlets are type A or B (the type used in most of North America). Most hotels are 110V, but there are some reports of 230V.

Experiences

The highlight of Antigua are its beaches. Locals will tell you that there are 365 beaches on Antigua alone; enough for every day of the year. While this may be apocryphal, it is true that they are all beautiful. Some are secluded and quiet, while others have beach bars and water sports. Choose your fancy.

Culture and food

The national dish is fungie (pronounced foon-gee ) and pepper pot. Fungie is a dish very similar to the Italian Polenta being made mainly of cornmeal. Other local dishes include ducana, seasoned rice, saltfish and lobster (from Barbuda). Local confectionaries include sugarcake, fudge, raspberry and tamarind stew, and peanut brittle. The various restaurants around the island sell both local and international food.

On Saturdays you will find many drive-by barbecues at important road crossings all over the island. They serve rice and chicken, dumplings, soup, etc. Sometimes they even have a sound system for entertainment.

Sunday is the day when the culture is most reflected in the food. For breakfast one might have saltfish, eggplant, eggs, bacon, sausages, or lettuce. Dinner may include pork, baked chicken, stewed lamb, or turkey, alongside rice (prepared in a variety of ways) and salads.

Planning your route

There is however a fleet of local buses, usually minibuses with about 12-14 seats, which run set routes (you can tell from the number on a circular badge on the upper right corner of the windscreen as the bus approaches you) and you can wait at a stop or walk along the road and hail a passing one. They're very cost-effective ( much cheaper than a private taxi), and will stop wherever you want to on the route, although the network only really covers the main roads. There is also no set timetable but one usually passes every 10-15 minutes. The drivers are speedy and it can be an adventure!

There are various car rental agencies, so they're unlikely to be hard to find. Search online car rental portals, or look at Google Maps for companies that may not be listed on the portals.

Sights and landscapes

Both of these islands have very irregularly shaped coastlines that are dotted with beaches, lagoons, and natural harbours. There are reefs and shoals that surround the islands on all sides. Because of the low amount of rainfall, there are not many streams. On neither of these islands can sufficient quantities of fresh groundwater be found.

Antigua and Barbuda consists mostly of its two namesake islands, Antigua , and Barbuda . Other than that, Antigua and Barbuda's biggest islands are Guiana Island and Long Island off the coast of Antigua, and Redonda island, which is far from both of the main islands.

Rainfall averages 990 mm (39 in) per year, with the amount varying widely from season to season. In general, the wettest period is between September and November. The islands generally experience low humidity and recurrent droughts. Temperatures average 27 °C (80.6 °F), with a range from 23 °C (73.4 °F) to 29 °C (84.2 °F) in the winter to from 25 °C (77.0 °F) to 30 °C (86.0 °F) in the summer and autumn. The coolest period is between December and February.

Officials quoted by Time indicated that over $100 million would be required to rebuild homes and infrastructure. Philmore Mullin, Director of Barbuda's National Office of Disaster Services, said that "all critical infrastructure and utilities are non-existent – food supply, medicine, shelter, electricity, water, communications, waste management". He summarised the situation as follows: "Public utilities need to be rebuilt in their entirety… It is optimistic to think anything can be rebuilt in six months … In my 25 years in disaster management, I have never seen something like this."

Background

Archaic-period hunter-gatherers called the Ciboney were the first culture present in Antigua and Barbuda. Carbon dating has established the earliest settlements started around 3700 BC. They were succeeded by the ceramic age pre-Columbian Arawak -speaking Saladoid people who migrated from the lower Orinoco River . They introduced agriculture, raising, among other crops, the Antigua black pineapple ( Ananas comosus ), corn , sweet potatoes , chillies , guava , tobacco, and cotton. Later on the Caribs settled the island.

The English settled on Antigua in 1632; Christopher Codrington settled on Barbuda in 1685. Tobacco and then sugar was grown, worked by a large population of slaves transported from West Africa, who soon came to vastly outnumber the European settlers.

Travel guide text compiled and adapted from Wikivoyage article (contributors) and Wikipedia article (contributors). Sections were selected and reordered for this guide. Text is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Check current arrangements with your travel consultant.