Trip to Trinidad and Tobago

4/25-5/10/2002

Several years ago I heard about Trinidad and Tobago and the wonderful birding to be done there so I have long had a desire to go there. This year it finally was possible to go and best of all there were six of us “MAD birders” who could go together. (MAD birders are followers of MaryAnn Danielson - our beloved birding teacher and leader.) The six of us were, Nancy Hay, Patricia Pauch, Joyce Bartlett, Susan and Jerry James, and Penelope Bowen. The trip was led by Edward Rooks, a native of Trinidad who currently lives in San Jose and is a naturalist and a professional wildlife artist.1 In addition to us there were seven other people, Pam Negri and Ted Forsberg from Seattle, and Joan and Bill Page from Tucson, and Jerry Day from San Francisco and Norma Cabot and Jean Fisher from Santa Clara County

Trinidad and Tobago are located about 10 degrees north of the equator so they have the wonderful tropical rain forests plus the coral reefs of the Caribbean. April and May are supposed to be the dry season with only small amounts of rain but wouldn’t you know it - this year is totally unusual with lots of rain to the point that some days we were totally rained out. But we have lots of stories to tell and with a little embellishment we can party on for years to come telling of the torrential rains we experienced. (If you read my stories of Australia there is some similarity here - why do I always hit the unusual rain storms!) The two islands are small so we were able to cover much of the islands without changing hotels too often and we visited a lot of different habitats. The islands are beautiful and very interesting. My overall impression is of green green green. It is more of a South American style rather than British - most homes are small and simple. Many homes are built up on stilts or some kind of open area under the living floor. Very elegant and well kept homes are next to small cottages as well as some very poorly constructed shacks. The country side and the cities are very mixed. One unfortunate impression that remains is the amount of trash that is everywhere. Paper, plastics, garbage, and many bottles are strewn around the country side and in the cities with little attempt to keep it tidy. The country does no recycling which is such a tragedy as much of the debris ends up the the ocean and plastic is a big killer of the wonderful turtles that live in the area (they mistake plastic for the jelly fish that they eat). Now on to the daily activities of this trip. I only wrote a few notes each day to keep in mind where I was so I am writing this mostly from memory. I figure if I can’t remember the details they aren’t important.

Thursday 4/25 Nancy, Pat, Joyce, and Penelope left Menlo Park at 4:00 AM in order to be at the San Francisco Airport by 5:00 for our 7 AM departure to Miami. All went well at check in but we sure needed that time - they X-rayed our luggage with the heavy duty machine and Nancy spent a lot of time at the security check point. She had forgotten that she had a small pair of scissors in her baggage and it took the security guard a long time to find them because she didn’t know what he was looking for. Then she got stopped and searched again at the gate (just a random search) but they also said “where is your partner” so I got search too - had to open my back pack and take off my boots etc. So I was almost the last person on the plane but we arrived in Miami where we had to wait for a 2 hour delay for our next flight. We had heard that flights under 4 hours did not serve any food (which turned out to be true) so we bought something to eat at the airport. With the new policy of reducing costs you can be flying or waiting for a total of 12 hours with only one meal served so you had better plan on carrying food with you. I will say this - everyone, the security guards, the airline personal both on the ground and in the air were all very pleasant, professional, and nice. That certainly helped a lot. We flew American Airlines and the extra leg room they have given us was very noticeable and appreciated. We finally left for Trinidad arriving after 11:00 (13 hours after we left San Francisco - they are 3 hours behind us). We were met at the airport by Edward Rooks and a driver from Pax house and arrived at Pax house about midnight. There we were greeted by a very pleasant manager who served us some delicious cool drinks and most welcome cucumber sandwiches. We were assigned rooms and were in bed and asleep by 1:00. Pax Guesthouse is at the Mount St. Benedict Monastery in St. Augustine - near Port-of-Spain with a view of the Caroni Valley. Built in 1912 and still used to train Roman Catholic priests for the English Speaking Caribbean. The rooms are simple but clean and adequate. We had a ceiling fan although some rooms had air conditioning but we were comfortable enough. Dinner was served buffet style on a lovely balcony overlooking the city and the plains - it was lovely and the food very good. Breakfast was served individually and nicely done. (By the way we heard Caribbean pronounced Care-i-be-an so that is the way I shall say it!)

Friday 4/26 We were allowed to sleep a little later and had breakfast at 7:15. There are 14 of us in the group and we all met this morning. We loaded up a small bus at 8:00 to go birding. (The MAD birders were all on time - which we soon realized was always early. But Maryann has trained us well.) Peter was our driver and we picked up Edward’s cousin, Courtney Rooks who was to be our guide. We drove to Chaguaramas National Park - a rain forest on the North Western edge of Trinidad. (This area was a US base during WW II.) We spent time birding in a jungle like environment. Courtney is a professional guide and is also working on saving the ocelot in Trinidad. He is director of the Paria Springs Project in Trinidad - an environmental project. He is an excellent birder and guide. We ate lunch at Macqueripe Beach where the American submarines used to dock during WW II, there still were some bunkers there. Some people went swimming. It was hot and humid. We stopped and birded lots of different places and we did drive through Port of Spain. The city has more of a Latino flavor rather than a British flavor. The homes are mostly white and there is a lot of the gingerbread fretwork on the buildings. There are a variety of people - mostly all dark skinned and all seemed very friendly to us.

Saturday 4/27 We birded a bit before breakfast around the guest house. We can bird right off the balcony in the back and look down over the forest for many hummingbirds as well as other birds. We also walked around the gardens and found other birds. It is hot but not too much so. Then we drove to the west coast down to the Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust - a wetland habitat within the Petrotrin Oil Refinery (which was formerly owned by Texaco). Here we had close views of many water fowl and some Scarlet Ibis. We had lunch on the Waterloo mudflats - on the Gulf of Paria and watched the shore birds while there. We did have to eat under a shelter for a while as it was raining - it is hot and humid. This area has the Hindu Temple in the Sea. An Indian Laborer in the 1950’s built this temple by building a platform in the sea on rocks that he carried out on low tide. He was not allowed to build it on land owned by the sugar company so he figured no one owned the sea. The building took most of his life. We drove through Chaguanas and stopped to photo Lion House, a building in the style of northern India dating from 1926 where the writer V.S. Naipaul and his brother Shiva were born and brought up. V.S. Naipaul won the Nobel price for Literature in 2001 for his novel “A House for Mr. Biswas”. The house played the part of the family home in the novel and although it was a hard novel to read - rather depressing I am glad Nancy and I read it. It made it fun to visit some of the places mentioned in the book. After lunch we continued birding on up to the Caroni Swamp where we boarded a boat and went up the swamp in the early evening in order to witness the Scarlet ibis as they fly in by the hundreds to roost in the evening. Truly an awesome sight. It was a wonderful and beautiful experience. We also enjoyed many other birds along the ride plus a Tree Boa curled up in the tree over our boat! We enjoyed another lovely dinner on the deck at the guest house - good buffet dinner.

Sunday 4/28 We left in the morning for a 3 hour drive across Trinidad seeing many interesting towns such as Tunapuna and Matura and then North to Mount Plaisier and our hotel in the small fishing village of Grande Riviere where we had lunch. The food was very good but the service was exceeding slow and we often spent 2 hours here for our meals - a little long for most of us. Our rooms are right on the ocean so we can walk barefoot from our rooms to the ocean. We spent some time in the water - some swam and some just waded - the surf was rather rough but it was a lovely scene. We stopped to talk to some men who were hanging out at a corner. One man had a Lesser Seed-Finch in a cage. He said he got the bird in the forest in Venezuela some 12 years ago. (These birds are very rare due in part to trapping.) Then we went walking up the road behind us into the North Range Mountains looking for birds. A local man accompanied us and explained some of the plants as well as pointing out the birds. He showed us the cloves tree with its fruit and the Nutmeg tree which also produces the spice mace. All these need lots of processing to turn them into the spices we have at home. Also saw lots of cashews - it is one of those plants that must be processed to be safe to eat. Then back to the hotel for dinner and then the treat after dark of seeing the Leatherback turtles come in to lay eggs. We stood around one and watched her dig the deep hole and then lay her eggs. While she is laying she is in a trance and we could touch her - her shell and flippers are so smooth - like glass. She lays lots of eggs and then covers them up before swimming out to sea. This all takes a couple of hours because she is very slow moving and it is hard work. You can hear her breathing very laboriously. This is one of those special and privileged events to see.

Monday 4/29 In the morning you are allowed to go onto the beach on your own to see any remaining turtles so some of us went out at 5:30 AM and were lucky enough to watch a remaining turtle lay her eggs and then continue out to sea. After breakfast we walked up the road into the forest and hiked for four hours in almost non stop rain - no small sprinkles but pounding heavy rain forest rain. (If this is the dry season I can’t imagine what the wet season is like.) We took occasional refuge in some shelter - once with a forest farmer who had a shed for himself while he worked his farm - he probably never had so much company. Finally we called it enough and went back down the hill for lunch. We did manage to see several good birds and good looks at many. We spent the afternoon in our rooms because it was just too much rain. I wouldn’t have minded the enforced confinement so much if I had postcards to write but so far we have not found any postcards to buy nor any stamps. No souvenirs either. But we just read novels and/or napped and tried to dry out without much luck as it was so humid inside that everything stayed wet. I spent time trying to dry out my binoculars which got wet inside again - guess I need to get a new pair as this has happened too many times. They didn’t really dry until I got to the air conditioned airport.

Tuesday 4/30 Some people got up at 5 AM to hike up the same road again in order to see the Piping-Guan up close (which they did) but I couldn’t face a third hike up that hill and I had seen the Guan yesterday in the distance through a scope. After breakfast (which although slow in service was very good - you could have a choice of eggs, pancakes or french toast all of it very good) we met our local guide - a self described “earth man” named Rupert but called Jako. He lives in the forest and has for most of his adult life. He lives with his second wife who has had eight children (he has had 13 - I’m not sure if that number is total or just from his first wife). He looks like an earth man - his hair and beard are long and like dreadlocks - he is missing many teeth. They refer to themselves as the “Earth People”. 2 He led us through the town and the forest and had an extensive knowledge of plants and birds. It is fun to listen to the Trinis talk among themselves. We just look at Edward and he says - “every word is English”. It is very hard to understand them even when they more carefully talk to us. Of course they have very unique expressions and words that we don’t pick up on but most do talk Standard English to us. We walked through the small town occasionally talking to some of the people. The homes are small and some kept very nicely with flowers around. With all the rain everything is very green and lots of blooms. We continued up another mountain and saw various birds until time to come back for lunch. After lunch we went and met the earth man’s wife who has a little shed where she sells some crafts she makes from bamboo. They were in town for the day and would be going back to the forest later on - it takes them about 3 hours to walk to where they live. She spent some time talking to us (the four women). She said it was nice to see us having fun together and then she continued talking about all kinds of things. I wish I understood what she was saying and what she meant - she went on about spirituality and the earth mother and her children and so forth. Several of her children were working with her and seemed healthy and sweet. They didn’t talk to us even when we tried. She was a most interesting person but it was hard to imagine the kind of life she lived - all of her children were born in the forest. We spent the afternoon hanging around and enjoying the ocean and relaxing - and trying to dry out. We were supposed to go on a boat ride but the guy reneged on his contract with us so we didn’t go.

Wednesday 5/1 We drove back to the Port-of-Spain Airport for a 20 minute airplane ride to Tobago passing by the town of Valencia which was the support town for Fort Read during WW II. We arrived at the the Crown Point Airport and “oh joy” at the airport we were finally able to buy post cards - not very interesting ones but our group certainly cleaned them out! From there we were driven a few short blocks to Kariwak Village. This very modern hotel has individual air conditioned rooms with thatched roofs and a swimming pool. The outdoor dinning area is also under thatched roofs and although it was hot and humid we had just enough of a breeze to enjoy a delicious lunch. This place is somewhat of a “new age” establishment with classes in yoga and massages and whole and healthy food. The food certainly was good and served very efficiently and attractively. After unpacking and having a short rest we were driven to the coast where we boarded a glass bottom boat to take out to the Buccoo Reef. There we were able to see the beautiful reef and fish from the boat and then we went to a place where we could get out of the boat and snorkel. It was so lovely and the place was not very deep - less than 5 feet but rough enough that being a swimmer helped. It was so wonderful and I really enjoyed the snorkeling. We then continued on to look at some bird colonies on an island and do more swimming. It is a beautiful spot - just like the photos of the Caribbean in the advertisements. The boat guides were great in helping the swimmers and in describing the corals and the fish. We walked back to the hotel and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. The food is not of a particular cuisine that I can name. All the food has an East Indian influence and is heavy of the sauces, especially curry but not too spicy. Lots of rice and beans are served and also vegetables - especially green beans - and a wide variety of fruits, mangoes and that kind. This was true during the whole trip. I have no complaints of the food - it was all good and healthy and safe. (We also were able to drink the water from the tap as it was chlorine so that was a real travel treat - no bottled water to buy.)

Thursday 5/2 We left at 6:00 AM to bird the sewage ponds (birders always find the sewage ponds anywhere in the world) and we also birded some mangrove marshes. We were supposed to bird the well known Buccoo Lagoon but there has been trouble there - stealing from birders so we didn’t go there. (Adolphus was our driver/guide while we were in Tobago. I really liked him - he was very knowledgeable and well organized.) Then back to breakfast after which we loaded up and headed to Grafton Estate to look for the beautiful Blue-backed Manakin. A charming little bird who performed his dance for us. This place is a sanctuary - left by the former home owner who started feeding the birds after the devastation of the 1963 hurricane which destroyed much of Tobago - not only the developed areas but the forests as well. We had a lovely picnic lunch here - sandwiches and soft drinks along with a rest. From here we went to Arnos Vale Hotel for tea and a bird watch. They supposedly feed the birds at tea time but the tea was disgusting and the bird feeders were filthy so we didn’t stay here very long. After this we went back to Crown Point for a good but excessively long dinner. It sure takes some getting used to the slow leisurely lifestyle in the tropics.

Friday 5/3 We left about 8:30 stopping in Scarborough along the way. Scarborough is the major city in Tobago and is on a hill with a variety of shops. We walked around for a while because Bill needed to buy a surge protector for his computer and four people needed to buy umbrellas that they hadn’t brought with them. The people were very friendly and helped us find what we were looking for. It was fun to spend a little bit of time in the city. From there we went to Fort King George, which was built in 1768 by the British. This area is where the descendants of the early Latvian settlers (Courlanders) make pilgrimages and each year there is a ceremony of memory here. Then we continued on and drove to Speyside - at the north east end of Tobago and the Blue Waters Inn which is right on the ocean - the Atlantic this time. We have a second floor room with a balcony overlooking the beach and ocean. Very comfortable room. Nancy swam for a while and then the group birded the area until there was just too much rain so we returned to our rooms and had time to clean up before dinner and I actually was finally able to write some postcards which I mailed from here. (they still had not arrived by the time I got home - we should really stop complaining about the US postal service). At dinner we were treated to two hours of a local steel band performance. It was so much fun and they were so good. They stood for two hours with those heavy steel drums hanging on their necks and played and played. It is amazing how much variety they can produce just by hitting the drums in different places. It was a treat.

Saturday 5/4 This part of Tobago is wetter and more mountainous than the southwest so there is more luxuriant vegetation. Even so it is mostly new growth because the hurricane of 1963 wiped out much of the forests so it is still growing back. This also may explain why Tobago has a more resort type look than Trinidad because there are many newer buildings since few remained after 1963. Today we drove up to the Tobago Forest Reserve - the oldest protected rainforest in the western hemisphere having been declared a Crown Reserve in 1776. We took the Roxborough to Bloody Bay road. We walked down the Gilpin Trace checking out the birds. It was very wet, muddy, slippery. Fortunately Adolphus had a stash of “third legs” - bamboo walking sticks and at the start of the track there was a man with a trunk full of rubber boots to rent - you have to admire his enterprise. I did rent the boots (for $20 TT - about $3.50 US) and they really helped because it was very deep mud in places - the walking sticks helped a lot also. We walked about 4-5 hours on this trail and saw lots of wonderful birds - good looks too. It rained a lot but in the forest it didn’t make much difference. At lunchtime we got back to the shelter for a picnic lunch and it rained a lot there. We eventually left and went back to the inn with time to clean up before dinner, have a relaxing beer, dinner and then catch up on the bird list - both group and individual lists. Great day. It was also nice to have an air conditioned room because it allowed us to dry out our very wet clothes and equipment. I do get tired of being wet all the time but getting dry overnight helps a lot.

Sunday 5/5 We left before breakfast - at 6 AM for St. Giles island a well know pelagic bird rookery - nesting terns, frigatebirds, tropicbirds, and boobies and Brown Noddys. The boat was small and the seas very rough. I was a little nervous but fortunately we all had life jackets on and by the time we returned things were a little calmer. The birds flying in and out of their nests were wonderful and well worth the trip. Then we had breakfast and went on a bird walk up the road from the inn. Saw some lovely birds until it started raining and we had to stop birding for a while; it was too heavy. We just stood under our umbrellas and “enjoyed” the scenes. Then back for lunch and then got ready for another boat trip out to Goat island and Little Tobago. Goat Island has a home there that was once the vacation home of Ian Fleming. (The name James Bond came from the author of “The Birds of the West Indies”, which was by James Bond.) Little Tobago once had an introduced population of Bird of Paradise but the hurricane wiped them out. We landed on Little Tobago and hiked to the top where we could look down on the Atlantic ocean and the cliffs along them where hundreds of Red-billed Tropicbirds were flying in and out. What a beautiful site to see them. There were also some Magnificent Frigatebirds, Boobies, and Laughing Gulls. Really special. Then we hiked back down and went on the boat - a glass bottom boat and went to the quiet bay of Goat Island - watched some fish and then finally got to go in for snorkeling. This place was different than the last place - it was deeper which gave more freedom for swimming and the water was colder - but very refreshing. We had a woman who joined our boat ride who has been traveling around the world with her husband in a small airplane. They had started in Switzerland seven months ago and would be returning home in another month. It was interesting to hear of some of her adventures - what a trip. They had a web site which I have checked out but not yet read in detail but they covered a lot of interesting parts of the world.

Monday 5/6 We left the Blue Waters Inn after breakfast and drove across Tobago to the airport. After checking in we walked to Kariwak Village where we had a pleasant lunch. Back to the airport where we flew to Trinidad. There we were met by our guide/drivers for Asa Wright Nature Center which is up in the Arima Valley. This is a 90 year old plantation home. Asa Wright, born in Iceland came in the 1940’s from England with her husband. Through the influence of Dr. William Beebe and Donald Eckelberry (an American bird artist) Asa Wright established a nature trust of the plantation and surrounding area. We stayed in pleasant cabins and ate our meals in the Great House where we spent much time on the verandah watching the birds both at the feeders and in the surrounding forest. Here we also saw one of the few mammals on our trip - the agoutis- kind of like tailless, cat sized rats. We had a very civilized tea at 4:00 and then went for a walk in the forest coming back by 6:00 in time for our rum punch - it was quite good. Dinner at 7 was served buffet style - it had an East Indian flavor. Bird list done and then we retired for a comfortable night’s sleep.

Tuesday 5/7 Up and out at 6:00 AM for a lovely forest bird walk. We got to see the delightful White-bearded Manakins displaying on their lek. Lots of hummingbirds as well as many other good looks at the beautiful birds. I love the sounds of the forest and spent some time listening to that. Back for breakfast and then on our trip to see the Oilbirds - the only knows nocturnal fruit eating birds. They live in caves and Asa Wright has one of the most accessible caves. They only lead groups there twice a week and keep the area closed the rest of the time as these birds were almost wiped out by hunting and human disturbances. The hike to the cave was down a very steep and very slippery (from the rain and the mud) trail. And then in groups of four we had to forge the stream across more slippery rocks in order to get to the cave entrance. (I’m glad to report I was not one of the ones who slip and fell - in fact not once on the trip. Maybe I’m getting more surefooted and less clumsy!) Anyway we stood at the entrance to the cave and were able to see many oil birds - most on nests - some young and some adult. They are fairly large birds - I saw one fly and then hover like kites and kestrels do. I have been intrigued by these birds since I first heard of them some 10 years ago so I was glad to finally see them. Back for lunch - another good buffet and then time on the verandah watching the birds. We left around 4 or so to Wallerfield for some night birding. This is an old army base from WW II now mostly a farming area. First we had a picnic dinner preceded by our rum punch ration. (We all responded the same way - with delight that we didn’t miss the 6:00 cocktail hour by not being at Asa Wright!) We had a very nice hot dinner along with some birding and then proceed in our two vehicles to the air strip to look for night birds. Despite some very heavy rain that we had to sit out and wait to stop we had excellent looks at some nightjars, potoos, and owls. I also saw a very bright shooting star travel all across the sky - I always find that a thrill. One of the better night drives I’ve been on - these guys were fantastic. The guides were brothers (Rudal and Jogie) and we mostly drove with Rudal. He has been guiding for 24 years and when not guiding he is a taxi driver which explains partly why he knows practically everyone he passes. They both live near Asa Wright so they know the area well. Jogie was especially good at getting you on the birds - no pretending with him! They were very knowledgeable of the birds, and plants and the history of the area. I asked one of the guides at Asa Wright about training and he said they do go to school to study and then get a license to be a guide that has to be renewed every year. I think it is great that tour guides are treated as professionals.

Wednesday 5/8 Another 6 AM bird walk and we had the thrill of see a Bearded Bellbird. You can hear him clacking all day long but they are often hard to see so that was fun. We also had great looks at an Ornate Hawk-Eagle as it flew in to perch above its nest. Then we also got great views of the Channel-billed Toucans. There is always a new thrill with birding. Then it was back for breakfast and load up for a trip along the Blanchisseuse Road - a 22 mile forested mountain road going north from Asa Wright to the North Coast. We stopped along the way to enjoy lots of birds and then we had another great lunch at a beach and walked along the coast. Nancy went swimming in the river that flows into the beach here. Then headed back for some verandah birding, rum punch, and then dinner.

Thursday 5/9 Up and away after breakfast for a long drive to the Atlantic Coast and the Nariva Swamp. We stopped at lots of places along the way and again saw wonderful birds. We had lunch at Manzanilla beach. The Atlantic sure is rougher and darker colored than the Caribbean. We saw these beautiful blue things on the beach and were told they were Man-of-War jelly fish. We watched them come in and out and move - they are beautiful but needless to say no one went in the water. We just enjoyed the scenes. I talked to the lady guard who had unlocked the restroom for us. She said they only let the tourists use it because the locals trashed it too much! She also talked about the liter and especially how it was going into the ocean. She talked a long time about her country and the environment but I could only understand about half of what she said. But I gather she was decrying the lack of care and concern people showed for their environment. I will say it was hard to ignore the trash that was all along the coast - it is so beautiful otherwise. We continued on down the coast looking for various birds until we reached our destination when we saw the Red-bellied Macaws flying in. We stopped and enjoyed good looks at them as they came in to roost in the Royal Palms. We were served rum punch and cookies - a perfect end to a great trip. We arrived back to Asa Wright in time for a slightly later farewell dinner where we all said our goodbyes. Some people were staying an extra day or two. 8 of us were leaving Friday morning ... early.

Friday 5/10 Up at 4 AM for a 5 AM department. The evening before they brought us a tray of hot water, sandwich, and banana so we were able to have a snack breakfast. The guard came at 4:45 to carry our suitcases up the hill to the vans so we loaded up and were off. All went smoothly - we checked in and then the flight left on time. Since it was under 4 hours from Port-of-Spain to Miami we did not have a meal but they did give us several servings of drinks plus a granola bar so we made it to Miami - quickly went through customs - and got on our flight home to SFO and actually arrived early in SF. We did get a meal on this flight so we didn’t have to arrive starving. Walt and David can no longer meet us at the gate because of security so we expected them at the baggage claim area but they came up the stairs just before that and I turned the corner and there was David’s welcome handsome face. I was surprised! It was good to see him and it is good to be home but oh I did have a great time. It was fun to travel with the six of us who already had traveled together and we had some common training. Maryann would have been proud of us as her students. Edward was a great leader, very knowledgeable and pleasant to be around. Although we had a little too much rain - that in itself was an adventure and makes for some great party stories. Trinidad and Tobago is a lovely country, the people are very friendly, there were lots of interesting sites to see as well as the birds. I really enjoyed the two weeks I spent there. I saw a total of 188 bird species in Trinidad and Tobago, 156 in Trinidad and 66 in Tobago. 44 were new birds for me (1 new family).

Penelope Bowen 5/20/02