Grenada , West Indies : If you love nature, you’ll fall for Grenada …….. I know I did.

One of the best reasons to visit is to make tracks into the 3,800-acre rainforest at Grand Etang National Park . Spend a couple of hours in the company of Telfor Bedeau tramping along a trail he makes with his razor-sharp machete, and he’ll fill you in on everything from the plants and birds to Shakespeare and his love of life.

The happy-go-lucky Bedeau started hiking for fun in 1962 and 44 years later he is still enjoying his favorite pastime. The sure-footed senior hardly looks his age, except for his grey hair, but rest assured he is fit! He hikes daily and to date has covered well over 10,000 miles in the park, rowed around the island solo, in both directions, and climbs Mount St. Catherine regularly.

Charles and his new bride, Dee Dee are from New York , and we’re all in for the long trek, surrounded by huge mahogany and gommier trees. Our guide starts out with the machete tucked into the homemade sheath on his hip, but before long he is slashing at razor grass and overgrown vegetation, listening for birds and keeping an eye out for the elusive Mona monkey or Grenada dove in the treetops. Sometimes we spot frogs and lizards frolicking among the forest ferns, as bamboo trees tower over us and banana trees grow with abandon.

Soon it starts to rain (what else happens in a rainforest?) and our guide hacks off huge leaves from the “umbrella tree” (they look like supersized banana leaves) and hands them to us, but Charles declines. My guess is that they won’t keep us dry, but hopefully we won’t end up soaked to the skin. About one-third of the way into the hike we come across a large body of water on our left with vegetation poking out from various angles. It’s amazing to see the ever-changing scenery. Look out for lobster claw flowers, orchids and other epiphytes hanging onto tree trunks.

My ornithologist friend, Phil, would be in bird heaven here. I must tell him about the birds with local nicknames like"little doctor bird" (Antillean crested hummingbird), "soursop" (Lester Antillean tanager) and the "gree-gree" (broadwinged hawk.) Other common sightings include the Lesser Antillean swift, Antillean euphonia and the purple throated Carib. The mongoose, opossum and armadillo population also thrive here. There are ants too, crawling up and into dead tree trunks, but if you leave them alone, they won’t trouble you. Insects abound too, but we can only hear the eerie sounds as they fly around.

Bedeau jokes about the “girlfriend” who regularly comes from overseas to see him, their moonlight boat rides and his sailor days. He is so hilarious you hang on to every word and at times that can be quite treacherous. Instead of watching my step (in hiking boots no less) I trip over a fallen tree limb and end up whacking my elbows on a prostrate tree trunk, but laughing so hard my sides ache. At least my cameras emerge unscathed! I am amazed that not once does our intrepid guide miss a step, and he’s wearing jellies! Maybe I should get a pair for my next trip into the rainforest.

I emerge from the 3,800-acre rainforest, wet, hungry and muddied, but not before photographing my guide and new friends standing near the sign for the Mt. Qua Qua trail. Totally exhilarated, I sit on an old wooden jetty, pull off my boots and socks, roll up my pant legs and soak my weary feet in the warm waters of Lake Grand Etang, a volcanic crater lake 13 feet deep. It’s here our hike ends. Ah, what a life……. I do envy you Telfor Bedeau!