Trail Notes

Monkeys in St. Kitts: Where to See Them and Why They Outnumber People

September 7, 2026

St. Kitts has a population problem, and it is not the two legged kind. Somewhere in the forested hills above our trailhead, tens of thousands of green vervet monkeys are living their best lives, and by most estimates there are close to twice as many of them as there are people on this island. You read that right. The monkeys outnumber us.

Ride our rainforest trails long enough and you will hear them before you see them, a rustle in the canopy, a flash of grey green fur, a chorus of chatter as a troop scatters off into the bush. Here is the story behind St. Kitts’ other permanent residents, and what to know before you go looking for them.

Stowaways From the 1600s

These are not native wildlife. St. Kitts’ African green monkeys, sometimes called vervets, arrived with French colonists in the 1600s, brought over on ships as pets from West Africa. Some escaped, some were let loose, and with no natural predators on the island and plenty of forest to disappear into, they did what any sensible stowaway would do. They stayed, multiplied, and made the place home. Three and a half centuries later, their descendants are as much a part of St. Kitts as the sugarcane trails our ATVenture rides run through.

More Monkeys Than People

Estimates on the exact number vary depending on who is counting and when, but the figure you will hear most often locally puts the monkey population at somewhere north of 60,000. Compare that to a human population hovering around 51,000 and the math is not close. St. Kitts is genuinely one of the only places on earth where you are outnumbered the moment you step off the plane, and the locals in question do not carry passports or pay departure tax.

Where They Actually Hang Out

Vervets keep to the forested slopes and the central mountain range rather than the beaches and resorts, which is exactly the terrain our tours run through. The rainforest above Wingfield, the hillsides toward Brimstone Hill, and the old estate roads cut through thick bush are prime real estate for a troop looking for fruit, leaves, and flowers to raid. St. Kitts even has a hill named after them. If you want a shot at seeing monkeys instead of just hearing about them, you have to get into the trees, and a tour bus on the coast road is not going to cut it.

Riding Straight Into Their Neighborhood

This is where an ATVenture has an advantage over pretty much every other excursion on the island. Our ATV Adventure and Side by Side Safari tours run estate to estate through exactly the kind of dense canopy and quiet trail that troops favor, at a pace slow enough to actually spot movement in the branches. Our guides ride these trails every single day and know the stretches where a sighting is likely, the same way they know which ruin wall is worth stopping at. Ask your guide where the troops have been active lately. They will know.

Smart, Social, and Not Shy

Vervets live in troops, communicate with a genuine vocabulary of alarm calls and chatter, and are sharp enough to have made a real nuisance of themselves in local gardens for generations. They are curious animals and will often hold their ground and watch you rather than bolt, which makes for a great photo and a good story back on the cruise ship. It also means the same rules apply here as anywhere wild animals and people share space. Enjoy them from your machine, keep a respectful distance, and never offer them food. A fed monkey is a bolder monkey, and bolder is not better for them or for the next guest who rides through.

A Sighting Is a Bonus, Not a Guarantee

We will be straight with you the way we are about everything else. Monkeys are wild animals on their own schedule, not employees, so we cannot promise a troop will show up on cue. What we can promise is that riding through their actual habitat, quietly, on trails they use themselves, gives you a real shot that a highlights bus tour simply does not. Guests ride out for the history and the adrenaline and come back talking about the monkeys they were not expecting. That is the island doing what it does best.

Ride Into the Territory Yourself

Our ATV Adventure runs about three hours, estate to estate, for $110 USD single rider or $180 USD double, with room for 2 to 6 guests per group. Drivers must be 16 or older, passengers 6 and up, no experience required. Helmets, goggles, and bandanas are provided, and every ride starts with a full safety briefing before the convoy heads out into vervet country.