That’ll look good on my insta

OPPOSITE PAGE TOP ROW FROM LEFT Ladera Resort is the perfect spot for a selfie kiss. Photo: Kaitlin Sparkman Swing out over the calm waters of Rodney Bay at Sandals Grande Saint Lucian resort. Photo: Krista Baciu Soufrière. Photo: Audie Alexander, shuttergk.com MIDDLE ROW FROM LEFT Picture yourself here on the edge of Jade Mountain’s cascading pools. Photo: Brian, WhereintheworldisB Is Sugar Beach resort’s yoga platform the ultimate place to unwind? Photo: Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort BOTTOM ROW AND MAIN PHOTO Caille Blanc, Soufrière. Photo: Benjamin Arnulf

THIS PAGE LEFT: Get back to nature at Diamond Falls in Soufrière. Photo: Alex Marshall RIGHT: Magical Marigot Bay at sunset. Photo: Caille Blanc, Soufrière, Benjamin Arnulf

If you want your feed to be the envy of your friends, head to these Instagrammable spots in Saint Lucia

More than a billion people now use the photo and video sharing platform Instagram at least once a month and many of them are being influenced to travel as a result of what they see posted there. Half of the people aged 16 to 65 in a recent survey said that they had been influenced to book a holiday based on seeing Instagram posts of a destination. A large proportion even say their choice of holiday destination has been driven solely by how good it will look in their Instagram feed.

Saint Lucia is made of the stuff that nature-lovers dream of. The heart of the island is covered in pristine rainforest that is home to thousands of species, many of them only found on Saint Lucia Super natural Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia has five endemic species of bird – the Saint Lucia parrot, the blue and yellow St Lucia Warbler, the striking Saint Lucia Oriole, the Lesser Antillean bullfinch and the delightfully named Grey trembler.

The Saint Lucia parrot has vibrant green, red and blue plumage is one of the most striking of the parrot family and is known locally as the jacquot. Saint Lucia’s national bird was once found all across the country but now is found only in the country’s central mountain rainforest. Visitors are lucky to still see it there. The bird’s range has been severely curtailed by habitat loss.

In 1975, it was believed that the population of Saint Lucia parrots numbered fewer than 100 and famous naturalist Gerald Durrell’s wildlife trust was asked to get involved. The trust set up a captive breeding programme at its zoo in Jersey. In 1989, the then prime minister of Saint Lucia returned to the country with a pair of breeding parrots and the numbers of jacquots has recovered to perhaps as many as 500. Despite the increasing numbers, Saint Lucia’s national bird is still considered vulnerable.

Hummingbirds are a common sight across the island and many visitors to the country’s luxury resorts will spot them in the early mornings and evenings in their extensive gardens. Many birding visitors head for the 600-acre estate at the Anse Chastanet resort. For more information, visit birdsofsaintlucia.com. Saint Lucia’s scariest inhabitants are perhaps its snakes: the Saint Lucia Viper, the Saint Lucia Boa, the Saint Lucia Racer and the Saint Lucia Thread Snake. The Saint Lucia Viper, or Fer De Lance, is the only poisonous snake on the island.

Rarer still are Saint Lucia Racers. It is

Saint Lucia’s national bird. Photo: Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

The rare Saint Lucia Racer. Photo: Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

believed that there are perhaps fewer than 20 alive today and all of these live on Maria Major, part of the Maria Islands Nature Reserve, off the south-eastern coast. On the mainland, their population has been eliminated by mongoose and other alien species.

The Maria Islands Nature Reserve, established in 1982, is also home to the Saint Lucia whiptail lizard.

The lizard is greenish brown with bluegrey markings with yellow highlights, a little reminiscent of the Saint Lucia flag. The whiptail population is estimated to number less than a thousand although in 1995 a small number were translocated to Praslin Island off the east coast in an effort to grow the population. The whiptail remains critically endangered. The islands are also a major nesting site for migratory birds from Africa which makes the islands off limits between May and August but there are