Guadeloupe, French Caribbean

Safety and Medical care

In Guadeloupe, you will find a modern and widely available Medical care system. If necessary, hospitals, clinics or doctors will do their best to help you. When traveling, it is very important to be very careful about health and safety issues.

Guadeloupe is a safe island in terms of criminality. However, it is still better to be cautious in an unfamiliar environment (avoid some neighborhood like Boissard, Laurisicisque and Carenage at night). Therefore, always keep an eye on your belongings and foremost on your travel documents and critical items.

Sun

The greatest danger to visitors on the island is overexposure to the sun. Therefore, don’t hesitate to use sunscreen abundantly, and to protect your skin by working on your tan gradually to avoid sunburns. You should also be careful to headaches and solar insolation. In the Caribbean, sun protection is a matter of health.

Mosquitoes

Moreover, the tropics are well known for the profusion of mosquitoes, especially during rainy periods. You should protect yourself from their bites first to avoid the annoying itching, but also because they might transmit nasty tropical diseases such as Dengue, malaria, or Chikungunya. The best thing to do is to regularly apply repellent, especially at dawn and dusk. There are also other ways to defend yourself such as burning coil devices that repel mosquitoes.

Fauna and Flora

When exploring the island, most of the animals seem more dangerous than what they really are. Besides the very rare fer-de-lance snake on Martinique, most of the animals that will get your attention because of their size or their bright colors are not harmful. However, be careful to the trees marked with red paint by the locals, they are called Manchineel trees and they put out a very toxic sap. Therefore, you should neither stand under one in the rain nor taste its little green berries.

In addition, always wear fins when snorkeling and be careful to sea urchins. Moreover, the coral can be very sharp so you shall watch out for it and always look around you while exploring. Locals will always give you the best pieces of advice when it comes to the swimming and diving conditions, both in the sea and in the rivers.

Food and Water

Finally, the tap water is drinkable in most part of the island, but you can find local bottled water in shops and restaurants. Fishing is a very common activity in Guadeloupe, so you will have the chance to taste delicious local food and fresh fish. However, always ask locals if you want to eat fish that you have caught yourself. Remember to always be very careful when it comes to health and safety issues while traveling.