Land Rovers are the great leveller in this tropical island paradise
A week in Barbados driving Land Rovers was one of my most enjoyable assignments as a journalist, says David Phillips
PEOPLE of all races, creeds and colours from all corners of the world drive Land Rovers. From the third-world farmer scraping a living with the help of his venerable Series Land Rover to the rich man in his new Range Rover, they have one thing in common — the love of their vehicles.
Nowhere is that more true than on the small but vibrant island of Barbados, as I discovered more than 25 years ago when I went on one of my most unusual assignments for Land Rover Owner magazine.
Towering plantations of sugar cane add to the jungle-like experience. Later they become the essential ingredient for the island’s famous rum distilleries
I was invited there by Island Safari — a small company with a fleet of modified Defender 110s that it used to take tourists to the more inaccessible corners of the island. I was promised great off-roading, fantastic scenery and the chance to sample plenty of intoxicating rum cocktails. I mean, how could I refuse?
The Island Safari team of happy Bajans
I spent a week with Island Safari manager Ralph White and his team of a dozen or so professional off-road drivers — half of them white, half black and all great mates who lived in the same sort of houses in the same sort of streets. They’d been to school together, socialised together and shared the same tastes. They didn’t call themselves black or white: they called themselves Bajans. They were terrific fun.
Convoy of tourist-laden Land Rovers exploring coastal tracks in Barbados
We climbed the island’s rocky bits, explored the vast sugar plantations and drove to countless beaches and coves — every one of which looked as though it should have been the location for a Bounty advert. It was all white sand, clear blue ocean and palm trees. Paradise indeed.
There were plenty of tough off-road sections on the island
The days were spent off-roading in those Daktari-striped Defenders and Ralph even took me into an old stone quarry where he had created his own off-road course complete with hills, side slopes and even mud.
They love their rum on Barbados
Barbados is a former British colony — something you are reminded of when you visit the capital, Bridgetown, which has its own Trafalgar Square, complete with Nelson’s Column. There are even fish and chip shops, although in Barbados they sell flying fish that is marinated in lime juice before being dipped in batter and deep fried. Now I’m a greatfan of goodold British fish and chips, but the Bakjans take my favourite takeaway to a different level.
A local fisherman chatted enthusiastically about his beloved Series III
This was of course soft-roading. There were none of the discomforts you come to expect in remote corners of Africa or Asia. But there were Land Rovers everywhere, including plenty of Series IIIs that were well-preserved in the kind, sub-tropical climate. Everybody from the millionaires on affluent Sandy Lane to the fishermen on the beach loved Land Rovers and would stop to talk about them.
It was in Barbados that I first appreciated how the Land Rover is probably the world’s greatest leveller
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