Lesser Antilles nature side | France TV & You

“Great escapes: From Guadeloupe to Saint-Martin”

The Lesser Antilles may be small, but they always have something to offer that you don't know about.

Sabine Quindou

How have Guadeloupe and Saint-Martin managed to preserve their lush nature? How has this preserved nature become an asset for these two territories? This is what Sabine Quindou will try to understand through her meetings on these two jewels of the Caribbean.

Nicknamed “Butterfly Island”, Guadeloupe is among the favorite destinations of the French. Located more than 6,700 kilometers from the metropolis and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Caribbean Sea to the west, it is made up of two islands with very varied landscapes and separated by an arm of the sea, the Salt River.
Renowned for its beautiful heavenly beaches, this island explored by Sabine Quindou has many other attractions. On one side, Basse-Terre, its tropical forest and volcanic landscapes, and on the other, Grande-Terre, its steep cliffs and rural areas. Originally, the Amerindians called Guadeloupe Karukerathat is to say “the island of beautiful waters”. A reference to its many rivers, waterfalls and hot water pools. The island was later named Santa Maria de Guadalupe by Christopher Columbus, before its name was Frenchized and it was renamed Guadeloupe.

One of the first emergencies in the face of global warming is to replant the mangroves… Many fish come to reproduce here: this is really where the life of a tropical sea begins.

Guy Belair, naturalist guide “Bel’Mangrov”

It is with a great skipper that Sabine Quindou approaches this discovery of Guadeloupe. Rodolphe Sepho has already participated in three Routes du Rhum and is preparing for the Transat Jacques-Vabre in 2026. With him, she will not only sail, but also hike in the forest crossed by rivers, where she sets off to meet other sports and nature enthusiasts. Each in their own way, like their other interlocutors – young and even very old – fights for the protection of their island and mobilizes to make its benefits discoverable to as many people as possible.

In Saint-Martin, territory of 96 km² shared between two countries, Afro-Caribbean culture is very present. But the origins are diverse: there are one hundred and fifty different nationalities.
Sabine Quindou sets out to discover the island with lovers of this piece of land and ardent defenders of its traditions and biodiversity.