On the beach at Charlotteville

[C] We have been staying in a very nice small flat with a kitchen/dining/sitting room as well as 2 bedrooms, which opens onto a narrow verandah onto the little road in front of the fishing beach. We swam there the first day we arrived, among the boats, but we have usually walked a mile to Pirate's Bay, an even nicer beach. The coral there is very good, and we have really enjoyed snorkelling, and sitting on the beach - though it is hard to keep out of the sun in the afternoon, way too hot for us! Behind is a steep tree clothed valley, with a few paths, where I have gone in the early morning to birdwatch, seeing lots of forest birds.

We have attempted to walk in the surrounding hills, but have been thwarted by heavy rain, which trapped us (under a small shelter) for over two hours on Flagstaff Hill, drenched to the skin! We spent the next day mainly reading in our nice little flat, looking at the rain falling on the sea, and watching the frigate birds cruising hopefully around above the laughing gulls and Royal terns, looking for a free lunch. The day after we got a guide to take us into the rain forest on the Main Ridge, but once again rain drenched us - we are beginning to realise that rain forests do mean just that - lots of rain! We took the bus down the Atlantic coast to Scarborough and on to Bon Accord, where we spent the first two nights of our trip - tomorrow evening we will be flying home, looking forward to seeing family and friends, but sad that our adventures are coming to an end.

[S] I am planning to 'revisit' some of the blog entries for the places we have visited and add photos and perhaps further comments.

Aerial Combat and coral reefs

[s]
We have now spent a couple of days in Speyside, on the Atlantic coast of Tobago. Off Speyside is an island called Little Tobago which features in the David Attenborough series 'The trials of Life'. Red-billed tropic birds nest here, but they are subject to the attentions of a larger bird, the Magnificent frigate-bird, called here the 'Man of war' bird, which obtains its food by pulling the long tails of the tropic bird when it is flying back from fishing. The tropic bird then regurgitates the fish it has swallowed (intended for its chick) and the attacking bird then catches and eats the regurgitated food. We saw this happening, as well as seeing the very graceful tropic birds fly to their nests (unmolested).

After the trip to the island by boat we did some snorkelling on the nearby Angel coral reef from the boat and I took some pictures (underwater).
We went for nice walk on a trail near here this morning and saw some birds, but the best thing was the spectacular views of the rocky surf-fringed coast and islands.
Tomorrow we leave for Charlotteville which is on the Caribbean coast and has a sheltered bay where you can swim. The bay here does not seem to be safe for swimming - there is a beach facility with changing rooms etc and notices saying 'swimming prohibited'. Also the actual beach is very narrow.

Blanchiseuse on Trinidad's North coast

[s] - a quick note while awaiting the ferry!
We have arrived in Trinidad and spent the first night at a Benedictine Guest house near a monastery on the southern edge of the Northern range. The view over the plains was spectacular, but Cath did not see many birds, though we had a couple of nice hikes among the forested valleys.
We then traveled by bus via Port of Spain to Blanchiseuse, on the North coast. This has a very pretty sandy beach as well as some potential for hiking. It was not safe to swim in the sea as the surf is very strong (we did paddle) but we hiked up to a nearby river pool and had a swim under a small waterfall. Cathy did the whole thing and climbed up to an upper pool and was washed down the waterfall (more accurately waterslide) more or less inadvertently due to the strong flow of the river - rather painful in fact.
In the evening we went to look for leatherback turtles which lay their eggs on the beach at night during March. As we were walking along at 9:20 PM (in the dark) we noticed something throwing sand about. Briefly I though it was a person lying there and idly throwing sand down the beach but we quickly realised that it was a smallish leatherback turle preparing the hole for its eggs. The animal was about five feet long and has large front flippers that it uses to move about the beach and create the initial pit, while it uses its back flippers to dig the deeper hole for the eggs, and we watched while it completed the hole, laid its eggs and then covered them up, a process that took until nearly 11:00 pm. It then move back into the sea and disappeared. This was a very memorable experience - these animals come from as far away as Australia.

Later we hiked part of the way to Paria along the north coast l (there is no road for about 25 miles). The trails in Trinidad were made for shifting cocoa crops to the processing stations. However little or no cocoa is grown now and all the chocolate is imported.

We are now heading for Charlotteville at the east end of Tobago, but will first take the 5 pm ferry from POS to Scarborough, Tobago.

We are sorry to hear that Claire is in hospital and hope she will improve.

Back to Georgetown (with very little sleep)

[s]
We got the bus from Iwokrama, which is supposed to leave at 15:00. It arrived at 17:00 and then went to the ferry which was just departing for the opposite bank. After a long wait the ferry returned and the bus and a couple of 4x4's were loaded and the ferry set off. However another truck then arrived so the ferry returned t0 pick this up and we then crossed, a relatively slow and smelly (diesel fumes) process. It was pouring with rain and all passengers were meant to get out while the bus reversed onto the ferry, and during the passage. only Cathy and 2 others did in fact last the voyage outside the bus, returning to the it soaking wet. Originally we had been told that the bus would get to Georgetown at 23:00 (11:00pm). But it became clear that a more likely time was 2:00 am.
The road is heavily potholed and uneven in places so often the bus was going at walking place and lurched about like a boat in a rough sea. Eventually we reached Linden (on the way) at 2:15. After this the roads are tarmacked. However progress seemed slow, with some passengers getting off, (in the case of a young woman we waited till her family came to pick her up!) and we finally arrived at 4:15 and then had to get a taxi to the hotel. This made the total time 12 hours. I did not sleep on the bus though Cathy amazingly managed to.
Still we have made it back in time for the flight to Trinidad early tomorrow morning, and were able to see the ethnographic museum this morning - sketchy details of the various Amerind tribes, which were very interesting, having met so many from at least three tribes at the resorts we have visited, where they are hosts. rangers, drivers, boatmen, cooks and waitresses. This evening we went back to the Botanic Gardens to watch birds - it is one of the best birdwatching sites in the coastal area. We saw a tree with hundreds of Great egrets roosting in it.

The Interior of Guyana

[s]
Here in the interior of Guyana, there is no mobile coverage, no landline and only one road which is not surfaced. Near here in the Iwokrama forest there is a crossing of the Esquibo river using a ferry than runs once an hour during the day. This is on the main road between Georgetown and Brazil. We are expecting to take the bus back to Georgetown tomorrow, but are waiting to hear if it it necessary to leave today (there is some suggestion the bus will not run tomorrow). Yesterday the bus was late due to heavy rain and the peope in the room next to us (who took the bus here from Georgetown) said that it took 12 hours to get here, mainly due to scheduled and unscheduled stops includng customs and immigration checks - there are no border crossings, but smuggling is a problem here.
The river could be a highway but there are lots of rapids and a profusion of rocks and sandbanks during the dry season especially. During the rainy season, the level rises and some of the rapids become more passable.
Because there is no phone communications, only VHF radio, sorting out problems can be hard. For example, the bus does not always run, which is why there is some uncertanty about our travel plan. We are not getting a quick answer. Another example: when we stayed at the Lodge on the river, their generator broke - they ordered spares but they failed to turn up so that the boat was left waiting for the man who had gone to collect the spare part consignment from the bus (which failed to appear). Apparently the bus quite often breaks down. You have to get out of the bus when there is a steep hill and on the ferry even if it is raining.
There is internet here provided by satellite, but it is a bit slow and yesterday after doing a long blog entry, there was a heavy rainstorm. The connection was down for about 45 minutes until the storm cloud had passed.
The government is installing a fibre optic connection and we saw it being laid but it is not working yet. I assume this will provide landline and faster internet.
The power here is by solar cells with a battery system but there is a generator. However the generator does not run all day, and yesterday, when the connection failed, I began to think the power might go off (it does sometimes go off in the evening before the generator is turned on). However, this place is better than many lodges we have stayed in because there is power in the evening (so that you can read etc) and the internet is usually OK.
The main staple food here is cassava or manioc, which is a root, a foot or two in length. It may need grating and washing as when it grows in poor soil, it contains prussic acid (which is very poisonous) but this can be removed by washing grated cassava. Cathy is eating quite a lot of cassava products as it is gluten free.There are also yams and maize. I suppose people keep chickens, but I noticed at the airport that eggs were being flown in large quantities.
We met a lady who was a peace corps volunteer here who sad that she had not been able to get food reliably where she was posted - sometimes meat and chicken was offered but she did not always find out before it ran out. She had previouisly done two years with the peace corps, but was finding this assignment hard, as she was not getting enough to eat.

Some wildlife encounters

After Kaiteuir falls (see the pictures below),

we returned to Georgetown, where we arranged a 10-day trip into the interior of Guyana with a specialist tour agency.
We set off by an internal flight which was itself quite an experience as the aircraft are small. We sat behind the pilot and could see the runway ahead as we took off as well as the navigational instruments such as the altimeter.

The planes use dirt runways in the bush:

We went over some coastal plains which is where most people live and most of the crops are grown, and then flew most of the time over continuous forest.

We flew to a place called Annai where there is a kind of 'Lodge' or hotel called 'Rock View' which is set between the Savannah and the start of the forest on a range of small hills. This is quite a dry area, and has a different set of flora and fauna to areas further north.
Here is a view of the Savannah:

We went for a walk in the forest (up a small hill) first and saw some interesting birds and had wonderful views over the plains below. We then went back for a relaxing day at the Lodge, where we swam in a small swimming pool both morning and afternoon, and expored the grounds, looking for birds and lizards the rest of the time. Later we went for a walk in the Savannah with Hendrix, the bird guide and saw some birds that Cathy was very enthusiastic about called thick-knees ( a bit like English stone-curlews). We could see the Amerind Village with its circular thatched meeting place (most of the houses have concrete and corrugated iron roofs).

Rock View seems to have been a developement of a cattle ranch by someone who had come to work here (I think on the road - see below) and then settled locally. He was away, but his oldest son seemed to be mainly running the establishment. It has grounds with large trees, a cashew farm and a vegetable garden which was very good for birds. During our stay we saw a large iguana which had fallen out of a tree (they tend to live in trees).

We saw quite a few birds there, including a fork-tailed flycatcher by the swimming pool.

After two days here, we headed for another lodge accessed by river. On the way we stopped with Hendrix and walked along the road for a mile or so at a spot where there are some small lakes to bird-watch. When we reached the Ginep Landing on the Rupununi River we were met by Kenneth the bird guide from Karanambu Lodge and another boatman, and had our first enjoyable river trip in Guyana. The day was sunny, with a breeze; the river was fairly low with sandy sides rising above us, covered with trees and bushes, with savannah behind, Kenneth called out the names of the birds as we passed (13 of them completely new to us, including the Jabiru, a huge stork like bird - the largest in South America, I think). And when we arrived a young man was fishing from a boat with a giant offer swimming alongside.

The lodge on the river is called Karinambu and was originally set up as a centre to rehabilitare giant otters. It had two at the time we were there and though they are normally in their very comfortable enclosure, we could see them swimming as we did when we arrived or when we were in our cabin, being taken for a swim. They do bite and we were warned to keep a safe distance - one of the staff showed us her scars!

We went on a number of river trips and treks here and saw a lot of birds and other wildlife. We were taken to see the giant anteater (picture above) that roams the Savannah, where it feeds on termites that it scoops up with a long sticky tounge. It is a most peculiar animal, and has a kind of rolling gait. They are capable of putting up a fight if attacked using the claws used to rip into termite mounds which are made of a kind of termite cement and are thus quite hard.

We saw a fish in one of the nearby lakes called an Arapaima. This can be up to 3 metres long. It is now protected as it is good to eat. It is an air-breathing fish whch enables it to live in water that is low in oxegen. The parent fish look after their small fry. The guide showed us a patch of water that was turbulent, and then we saw the mouths of the small fish emerging to get air. This happend every so often. The guide said that the adult would also emerge occasionally, to breath and to frighten off predators. We could see a kingfisher trying to swoop on the fry and each time abandoning the attempt. Shortly we saw why the attempts were abandoned when the huge parent fish (the male we were told) lunged up and partially emerged (which scared away the kingfisher). There is a head of an Aripaima here in the Iwokrama Lodge and it is about 25 cm wide.

We saw a bird lekking here called the capuchinbird. This bird looks most extraordinary when it displays, puffing up its feathers in a ruff round its ears and producing two bright orange kiss curls from its rump!
After Karimba we went further towards the north to stay at Surama EcoLodge, which is built and run by an Amerindian village, for one night. The transfer was first by river and then by road. The road is the (only) road from Georgetown to Brazil, it is not surfaced, and is full of potholes. The traffic is very light and one morning when we birdwatched on the road only one car past during 90 minutes.

Unfortunately I was ill during the afternoon at Surama and this limited what we did for the day of arrival and the subsequent day. Cathy enjoyed being canooed down a small river where there were lots of birds, but sadly the young guide was less good than Kenneth, and lots of bird sightings were not identified. She also went on a nocturnal walk, but saw little excepting spiders. However we went the next day (as I was feelng better but not 100%) on a shorter trip than the one originally planned. The revised trip was to see a Harpy eagle nest which involved a one hour trek into the forest but we were rewarded by a fine view of a harpy eagle chick in its nest (which is at the top of a Brazilian Cedar, a huge tall tree).

We then spend a day at the Atta Lodge where we went on a canopy walkway - an elevated walk through the forest. However this was a bit of a disapointment as there was less to see than when we went onto the road the next morning. But you appreciate how tall the trees are when you are so high up and they still tower above.

After this we were taken to the place we are at now, Irokama River Lodge (on the river Esqueibo). On the way we saw a Jaguar, which eventually turned off into the forest where I was able to get a picture of it. This was thanks to the driver who saw it as he taxied slowly along. Everone was very pleased to see it as this is the most sought-after sighting. In total we saw the Jaguar for about 25 minutes. We should be in Georgetown by Wednesday for the flight to Trinidad, so hopefully there will be further updates then.

Don't go near the edge

[S]We are just back from two days at the Kaieteur Falls,a high-volume waterfall on the Potaro River. The drop is about 750 feet, and at the time we were there, there was a lot of water flowing over. The Gorge into which the water falls is surrounded by sheer cliffs and you can walk right to the edge, though there are notices asking you to stay 8 feet frm the edge (because of the 750 foot drop). The spray and patterns of water from the falls are very spectacular.
Swifts nest on a cave behind the wall of water and they fly behind occasionally, and in the evening flock spectacularly overhead and swirl, like the starlings over Brighton beach, before disappearing behind the water in large groups to roost. We could not reach the bottom of the falls (it is totally inaccessible except to climbers with long ropes) but we did some bird and frog watching is the surrounding area. There is a bird there called 'Cock of the Rock' because it makes a nest on rocks, and the male is bright orange. We saw the male bird several times and caught a glimpse of the brown-coloured female whcih is much harder to see.
The area has many large Bromeliads. In the water that collects between the leaves, tiny frogs live (as well as hairy spiders, tiny pink crabs and some sort of beetle. The tiny frogs have a call rather like a ringtone. They are notable as the source of poison for amerindians' blowpipe darts - they contain curare, whch paralises muscles in mammals. The male is golden colour, but is rather shy and hard to glimpse but we did see them as well as the drab brown female.

To get to the falls we took a light aircraft - the outward journey was in a 13-seater, but many seats had been removed for freight (much of it food for the Amerindian village nearby). It was quite fun although a bit scary in a way and we were sitting directly behihnd the pilot.

Comming back the aircraft was even smaller, and we did find on both flights that the noise level made conversation impossible. However we had a spledid view of the forest and the mountains around the waterfall as well as a view of the falls themselves from the air. We passed mining sites where gold and diamonds are found. it is open cast mining and the gold and white sand with pools of water where they pan for the gold made a sharp contrast with the green of the surrounding forests. We crossed mile after mile of rainforest which makes up to 90% of Guyana - stunning to see so many trees and to think of the undisturbed wildlife which flourishes there.

Tomorrow we take another plane back into the interior where we will spend 10 days at various nature reserves.

Rainy days in the rainforest

[Cathy]We have just spent 4 nights at Adel's rainforest resort on the Pomeroon River north-west of Georgetown. It usually takes around 3 hours to get there - 45 minutes in a taxi, 35 minutes in an open speedboat acros the Essequibo river, weaving between several of its large islands, another 40 minutes in a taxi along the coast, and finally another 35 minutes in a speedboat down the Pomeroon. It took us a lot longer as the first taxi journey involved stopping at an ATM to get money and the last boat journey ws delayed, as the resort wanted to pick up three other tourists who arrived a lot later! So it was nearer 7 hours in the end - and the Essequibo river trip was very hairy, wet and windy, with nothing but a tarpaulin to pull over your head to protect you - so much for looking for interesting birds!

[s] The Esquibo is about 23 miles wide at its mouth and there are 350 islands in the estuary. The rivers here are big - the Pomeroon is about the width of the Thames at London Bridge.

[C]The resort was lovely when we got there - 3 linked wooden houses on stilts, simple rooms with bathroom and a cold shower and mosquito nets on the beds - entirely essential as we soon found out. Its only functionning source of electricity was solar panels, and as it had rained a lot that day we had to sit in semi-darkness and use lights as little as possible. Because of all the rain we found we got very muddy exploring the grounds next day. It is a 60 acre fruit farm, and we saw the citrus, guava, mango and avocado trees, but had to jump narrow drainage trenches between the rows, which were very full and squishy, or balance on narrow planks to cross the wider ones! We got very muddy. There was supposed to be a "nature trail" round the perimeter, but it was overgrown and impassable. So between the flooding that was already affecting it when we arrived and the continuous rain until the last day of our stay we were very much confined to barracks. Luckily very comfortable and attractive ones, and the gardens around the house were full of interesting birds.I saw around 60 species during our stay despite the downpours. the birds had to eat, so couldn't stay hidden all day. the most charming were a pair of Trumpeters (I kid you not: see http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2009/10/04/the-grey-winged-trumpeter/ for more information) which spent the day patrolling the grounds keeping the dogs in order, but flew across the river to roost in the trees at night.
The food was good and I'm sure I put on weight eating three cooked meals a day and having such little exercise. We were looked after by a family of Amerindians from the Arawok tribe. Agnes the matriarch was in charge of everything (the Guyanese-American owner whos grandmother was born on the estate visits from time to time). Agnes' son and grandson, sister and niece in law do all the work of looking after guests and keeping the place gleaming. Others are employed to tend the crops and grounds, but it has all got very neglected, so many of the tress are smothered with vines. Ther were other guests to chat to - a Dutch couple of our age, with their daughter who is here with VSO, and later a Guyanese family. We visited Wakapoa, the village where Agnes' family lives by boat in pouring rain, getting very cold and wet. It was very interesting to see the school and the health centre which serves the extended village with houses scattered all over the waterways and savannah, dependent on samll dugout canoes, or speedboats if well off to use these facilities. We spent a lot of time on the verandahs staring out at the rain and looking for birds, but finally got a chande to go up the narrow creek with a slow speedboat and dift downstream without an engine to watch the birds. And that day it barely rained!

We are now back in Georgetown, which we found was so badly flooded while we were away that they abandoned their national independence Day parade. all seems fine now. We are off to Kaieteur Falls early tomorrow morining for 2 nights.

South America - Guyana

[Samuel]
We are now in Georgetown, Guyana. We are booked to go the the Kaieteur Falls next week and prior to this are trying to arrange a short trip to a rain forest area near Georgetown. Later we hope to visit further up-country areas.

There are a lot of birds in the town and we have seen eagles several times plus the usual small birds like Grackle and Kiskadee. We have looked around Georgetown which has several timber buildings dating from the colonial era such as a cathedral and government buildings, as well as a lot of newer timber building. The newest buildings are however mainly concrete. Some of the timber buildings appear abandoned - termite attack may be one reason. In Brasso Secco, much of the floor of the wooden building we were using was being replaced due to termite damage.

On the flight in from Trinidad to Guyana, one could see that the country near the coast was mostly forested, and the forests extent through much of the interior until they give way to Savannah in the far south. So there is plenty of wood. There is also plenty of water with several large rivers including the Demerara which we saw as we arrived.

There are many species of birds to see (so many that Cathy is concerned about how she will manage to cope). There are quite a few mammals too, though many are nocturnal so it remains to be seen how many we will see.

A village in the Northern range

[Samuel]
We are staying in a village called Brasso Seco, with a family of Spanish origin, who run the village shop and also teach at the village primary school. We have gone for a hike to a nearby waterfall which was pleasantly cool in the midday heat. We didn't take a guide, as the paths round here are broad and well maintained, and we were told we couldn't miss the falls. in fact we walked past the place where we should have turned off, between two small rivers, and walked for a further half-hour beyond, through some very muddy stretches. Luckily we met a man repairing the underside of his pickup - not surprising it needed it, as the ruts were very deep. It seemed impossible for a vehicle to traverse such steep and waterlogged paths. He told us the way back, and commented that they had been saying for ages that it should be better signposted. So instead of a two and a half hour walk it was in fact three and a half there, though less back. And I had already been birdwatching on my own in the hills for two hours at dawn! The glorious thing about Brasso Seco is how safe it is. Everywhere else in Trinidad we've been warned not to walk alone, but here, where the village depends on its ability to attract tourists to its lovely trails we could go wherever we wanted. Everyone is very friendly and asks about the birdwatching.

This village is situated in the Northern range of Trinidad, and one can see the hills towering above. The hillside are covered with lush vegetation, though there are abandoned cocoa plantations along the track, as well as active banana plantain and cristophene (a kind of cucumber-like vegetable). There are lots of birds and lots of butterflies, many of them large, colourful and very beautiful.



We went on a couple of other morning walks - tired out by our all day marathon to the falls - once down a track to a spot on the river where Cathy swam - though it wasn't really very deep it was wonderfully refreshing.

And the next morning we did a circular walk up the hills above the village and back down at the other end. it was a steep climb, and took us three and a half hours. The views into the valley below were spectacular, the trees towering above us magnificently, but we didn't see many birds as the canopy was too high.

Home cooking in the hills

[Samuel]We are staying up in the Hills at a site called Alta Vista where there are some cabins in the forest (with a caretaker/cook on site)and we get cooked Caribbean food for breakfast and dinner. It is quite nice but can be a bit heavy. We've had a lot of fish as the owner seems to go fishing (out on the sea) among a lot of other activities.
We are right in the higher forest and nearby is a bird watching centre (ASA Wright) which incorporates a large tract of land. They feed the birds and have a large veranda to watch them, though we think we actually saw more birds at the Eco farm in Tobago.
They also do tours showing some birds, though these are a bit limited, but we did see some good birds (I will leave the description of this to Cathy).
Tomorrow we go on to Brasso Seco, which is a village in the forest further North.
It is cooler up in the hills but when at Asa Wright yesterday, it rained a lot and we got extremely wet. However it is a drier today (at least only a few showers in Arima, were I am at present).

Port of Spain to Arima

[Cathy] We arrived here on Friday 4th Feb by ferry from Tobago. The car-ferry catamaran does the journey in two and a half hours, and amazingly I wasn't seasick - I have been known to be seasick on a dinghy off Brighton sea-front with hardly any swell! We saw a tropic-bird on the way over, which pleased me a great deal.
Our guest-house was cramped but very convenient for walking into the centre of town, and for the wonderful Panorama - one of the preliminary heats for the Steel bands wanting to participate in the main Carnival in early March - which we watched on Saturday night in a street just round the corner. We explored the town later on Friday after we'd settled in, and walked round the Queen's Park Savannah which is park sports ground and arena for steel band performances in the Carnival. On Saturday we went into the center of town, bought our flights to Guyana, and spent some time in the fascinating museum. It was large and tiring - I was rather glad that only half was air-conditioned. It was far too exhausting to concentrate without that, so we had to abandon those sections, however interesting. the rest focusing on Geology, natural history and industrial development of Trinidad was really fascinating.

Next day we took a bus to Arima, where we were met by our hosts from a very friendly guest-house, who took us straight off to a village in the rain forest, Lopinot, which had a lovely park laid out for liming-picnics - whole families settling in for a day's relaxation with food, loud music and paddling. Despite the bustle I saw lots of lovely birds - yellow oriole, lineated woodpecker and a greyish saltator (I know...look it up!). The dominant birds everywhere are the vultures, black vultures circling all over the centre of Port of Spain and the turkey vulture circling every valley in the Norther Range rain-forest. There was a small village museum where Parang music making was going on, with lots of visitors participating, led by the village guide who played the cuatro - a small guitar. Our host [ie hotel owner -S], Matthew, turned out to be a great[?} box base player. It's a large wooden box with a stick and thick string that you pluck, while holding the box steady with your foot. The guide told us about the history of the village, which apparently has been awarded a peace prize for the way its multi-ethnic community works so well together. In fact one resident was playing really blaring music which we found really annoying and one feels must have annoyed their neighbours even more! Matthew took us up to see a cave in the towering rocks above the village, and on the way he showed us cocoa plants growing. He opened one and showed us the cocoa beans nestling against one another in the thick pod, surrounded by a sweet white viscous substance, which I enjoyed sucking. The bean itself isn't edible till this white stuff has been removed (by dancing on the beans barefoot in the old plantation days), the beans dried and cooked.

Next day Matthew dropped us on the main rain-forest road to do a bit of unaccompanied birdwatching. The forest and the valleys and high peaks all around us were lovely, though we didn't see an enormous number of birds. The highlights were the white-tailed trogon and the tufted coquette - a very frilly and unlikely looking hummingbird. There were laden lorries trundling past from the stone quarried higher up the road, which was a bit wearing, but we revelled in our freedom to bird watch unaccompanied. We have felt a bit claustrophobic here in Trinidad. All the rooms have bars on the windows, razor-wire adorns most walls, and we have been constantly warned to go nowhere alone as it is far too dangerous. We were accosted by one or two beggars in Port of Spain, but we never felt at risk. But we did feel intimidated by kind people approaching us to say this street really wasn't safe, we should go somewhere busier! They weren't a threat, just being helpful, but it made us anxious.

Later that day we went to the Caroni Swamps to see the famous scarlet ibis coming in to roost as evening falls. It was a two and a half hour trip through the swamps with boa constrictors, mangrove trees whose roots were festooned with small clams and crabs thrown in.


Also any number of egrets and herons, as well as the glorious sight of the flocks of scarlet ibis gleaming in the sunset light as they flew past us.



The icing on the cake was a pygmy kingfisher that crossed the front of our boat to attract our attention, and then obligingly posed on a nearby mangrove root until the entire 25 pasengers had had time to photograph it!

Today we have been to the Arena dam where we watched jacana, purple gallinules and grebe on the reservoir, hawks as well as vultures over the surrounding countryside, plus little marsh and water tyrants (yes!) flitting through a pretty corner of marsh surrounded by small trees. We walked back through the strip of rain-forest that lines the path, and were photographed for a local brochure which is being produced to encourage more bird watchers to come here! Samuel is finding the pace a bit wearing, so we are having a quiet afternoon now - he's not so keen on birdwatching as I am and would prefer to walk more steadily I think. But he is very patient, knowing how much pleasure I get from it.

Tomorrow we are going on a birdwatching trip with a guide from the Asa Wright Centre, who is going to pick us up from here with our luggage and at the end of our tour will drop us at our new accommodation in the middle of the rain-forest at Alta Vista staying in a log cabin, right by the wildlife reserve. We will stay 2 nights there (maybe more if we like it). We then plan to go to Brasso Secco to do some hiking, and hope we will be able to continue the blog there.

More on turtles, a visit to Scarborough (WI) and a wet day in Castara

[Samuel]
Yesterday we went to Arnos bay and did a bit more snorkling. I saw a very colorful fish that looked like a Moray eel, and Cath saw a cuttlefish, as well as other colourfull fish and coral. There was a turtle in the bay, but neither of us saw it. However we could see it coming up for air, and an American (US) couple we were talking to on the beach did see it up close. We suspect it is the same one we saw last week as it is a similar size.
We think that the one we saw last week is a hawks bill turtle. This species eats sponges, and there are some large yellow formations in the coral which we believe are sponges (though not like the ones that you have in the bath).

Today we took the bus to Scarborough, which is the relatively tiny capital of Tobago, with 18,000 inhabitants. We had an excellent lunch of local fare such as flying fish Callaloo and fried plantains after seeing round the fort constructed (and fought over) by British, Dutch, French (and possibly Spanish) colonial powers. There is also a small museum in the fort showing some Amerind remains, as there was a significant Amerind population here when the Spanish arrived, but they have been either assimilated into the introduced population or wiped out by 'colonial' activity , such as plantation development or by disease.

The museum also had some information on the slave plantations and the so called 'slave revolts' that occurred during the late 17C and early 18C here.

We had a quick look at the Botanical gardens and the shops and markets before returning on the bus (after a 15 minute wait for it to arrive - it runs every hour but seems to take more than half an hour to go from Scarborough to Plymouth and then more than half an hour to return).

[Cathy] The next day we went to Castara, a fishing village further up the west coast which is a popular tourist destination, despite its isolation from all main roads and shops. It has no big hotel like the area to the south of the island around the airport at Crown Point, but lots of guesthouses. We had planned to go on there from Arnos Vale to stay for several days, but couldn't bear to leave our Eco Farm with all its woods, birds and oranges in the end. In fact most of the day we were in Castara it rained heavily and steadily. This shouldn't happen at this time of year as it's the start of the dry season, but it is clearly running late this year (last year there was a serious drought at this time). We've had two days when a good half the day of more has been torrential rain.

Luckily there were two glorious sunny hours and we went straight into the sea (in turns - one is needed to guard the binoculars!) to snorkel. There was a beautiful coral garden with delicate plant-like corals, much prettier than the damaged stone corals that predominated at Bucco, which had so disappointed me, and the fish were lovely as well. It was just off the small beach, to the left of the big fishing beach which dominates the pretty bay. We had to round the rocks and disappear from the sight of the watcher on the beach, but the helpul staff at the bar just behind us said they would send out rescue parties if we didn't return! We got to know them quite well by the end of the day, as we had to seek shelter, plus drinks and lunch, from them fairly often for the rest of our time there! I saw my first brown booby (don't laugh, you lot from Hanover drop-in!!) fishing in the bay. It's a bit gannet like in its behaviour - most of the Tobago boobies are to be found on the North- East point, which we hope to visit at the end of our trip.

When we got back from the outing Samuel's camera, left behind in the taxi on the way to the airport, was delivered ( many thanks to Emily and James who found it and sent it on), so we walked straight into Plymouth to buy our ferry tickets for the next morning. Tinidad, here we come!

Rainforest, lowland lakes and a riverside walk to the Falls

[Cathy] We had a wonderful trip to the rainforest with Peter Cox, a really enthusiastic and knowledgeable bird guide, and another couple from Turtle Beach Resort nearby, who were also keen birdwatchers. We drove up the winding coast on the west of the island, stopping to admire spectacular views or to see birds on the edge of the road. When we eventually reached the road that crosses from west to east through the rain-forest we stopped every mile or so at spots where Peter knew we would see birds that were endemic to this area. It made both me and Shirley a bit car-sick, getting in and out so often, but it was worth it for all the birds we saw. Later on we hired short rubber boots and ventured along the trails into the rain-forest, which seemed high and dense to us, with lots of low shrubs and lianas. In fact this is fairly new growth for a rain-forest as most of it was decimated during a rare hurricane in the 1960s. Bird highlights were the white-tailed sabrewing hummingbird, red-legged honeycreeper, and blue-black manakins (who we observed lecking, a dance so spectacular that it featured in David Attenborough's Life on Earth - several males jump up and down on a bare branch in a clearing, jumping over each other and making a distinctive clicking sound with their wings). We glimpsed a white-throated Spadebill, which Peter was very excited about as it is a real rarity.
On our return we stopped to photograph a rare pink orchid, flowering in the branches oa a tree beside the road, and then drove back along the eastern Atlantic Coast, windier with real rollers on the beach - better for surfing and less good for snorkeling than the side we have been on. We saw a cayman (small crocodile) basking at the mouth of a little river. A really great day, though very tiring!

[Samuel] On Saturday night, Cathy cooked some Callalloo which is a local dish - a soup made of leaves and Okra. This was excellent. She also prepared a fruit salad from the oranges and grapefruit in the gardens around the villas.

We haven't been able to bear to leave this paradise - instead of moving up the coast to Castara as we'd planned we are staying on here. Cathy is up at 6.00 every morning birdwatching for two hours or more in the 12 acres of grounds, though she has some difficulty avoiding the three dogs joining her, and has to plot to creep past them or pretend she is leaving the premises to avoid them scaring the birds! She has now seen all but seven of the 41 birds that are resident on the Eco farm, and is getting more confident at identification, and even some calls.

We booked a guide on Saturday to take us to the Lowlands, south west of Scarborough, the main town in the south. There are several lakes in the hotel grounds, which a guide can take you to. The wildlife on each lake was very varied - Anhingas (cormorant-like) and herons on the deepest, cayman (but we didn’t see any), and wattled jacana, pied-billed grebe and sora with Southern lapwing on the banks in the next reed-filled pools, one of which (perhaps both) were sewage farms. Finally our elderly guide took us along a boardwalk through the mangrove swamps - as it was low tide no herons were visible, and sadly we failed to see the mangrove cuckoo that had been seen earlier in the day. [Samuel]The mangroves were very spectacular, but we did not see any crabs, only their holes, due to the tide.

[Cath]On Sunday a young local man who used to work at the Eco farm but is not a professional guide led us on a walk along the Courland river to the Highland Waterfalls. The walk was lovely and led through a tree-covered valley rising steeply above the river, completely deserted. We had planned to walk this by ourselves, but our host was concerned that we might get lost and that it was a bit out of the way to wander unaccompanied, so recommended our guide, who was able to tell us lots about the plants and trees, though less about the birds, but when we saw the two different species of kingfisher to be founed on Tobago there wasn't much doubt which was which. The afternoon was really magical, peaceful and relatively cool, and the falls were lovely. Our guide used to go and swim there as a boy, but we didn't go in.

Follow that turtle!

[Samuel]Today we spent on a nearby beach in a secluded cove with a reef across most of the mouth so it was fairly calm. Here there is some slightly degraded coral going quite close to the water's edge, with fan corals and nice formations in the deeper areas plus quite a few fish.
The high spot was seeing a turtle (I think only one but we cannot be sure). Both Cathy and I saw it, and it was possible to get quite close. However the turtle soon decided that it did not want any company, and headed off at a rate I could not match even with fins. It was quite small and therefore presumably a young one. Its shell was very striking. Turtles breed (lay their eggs) on beaches here and there is a program to protect them, as the eggs are vulnerable to damage (and to lizards and iguanas).
[Cathy] It was only the second time I have ever snorkelled (the first time ws on Sunday at Buccoo reef) and I was quite nervous, as there was no-one to keep an eye on me, as Samuel had done last time. But in fact it was so absorbing watching the fish and all the strange coral formations that I hardly noticed time passing. i particularly enjoyed swimminf for some time above a shoal of grey-blue and fluorescent blue fish, which someone later told me were called Blue Tans. They appeared to be browsing on the coral and were a tight knit family group.
Back at our lovely Adventure Eco Farm I spent the evening wandering through the dense trees in the valley below our cabin, and saw several Blue creested motmots perched on lowish branches, unbothered by my proximity. This morning we saw a great flock of orange-winge Amazon parrots in the trees above us as we breakfasted outside - so a little bit of paradise here, I feel!
Tomorrow we are going on a trip through the rain-forest, further north.









Tomorrow we go on a rain forest bird watching trip.

Beach, birds, bats and snorkling on the coral reefs

We arrived in Tobago on Thursday, and spent the first two days quite close to the airport where there are mangrove swamps that are good for birds. The hotel was in a residential area behind which are swamps, so we found that we could see quite a variety of birds just walking the streets nearby in this quiet area.The sea is nearby so the first evening we had supper in a a bar and watched the sunset over the sea and the brown pelicans fishing, diving into the sea at an angle, surfacing and lifting their beaks as they swallowed their catch.

The next day we went to Store Bay, a beach near the airport and swam, and sorted out a mobile phone that would work near the airport, as my phone decided it didn't like making calls, though texts were fortunately fine.

The following day we moved on to a place called Buccoo, which is on a bay with a reef extending across the mouth. The first day we walked up one side along the sand and then headed inland through more mangrove swamps to a coral sand beach, Golden Grove, and had another swim - this time I tried snorkelling but I did have a slight altercation with a glass bottomed boat that came past whose captain did not seem to think I should have been there at all (but I think he was not looking - and got a shock when he saw me splashing). I was keeping a good lookout myslf as this is one of the hazards of snorkling, and I was able to get out of this way, but we kept closer to the beach after that! In the water, there was not much to see - a few small fish. Later on when we had walked back to the beach by the village, Cathy tried snorkelling and got some help from a Canadian couple we had previously met, as she was nervous about this.Poor Samuel got badly bitten by sandflies lying on the sand while she swam. Cathy was more fortunate, thoough at the time she was cross that she couldn't rest - two boisterous beach dogs prevented her sitting down at all!

The next day we went for an excursion in a glass bottomed boat to see the reef. The view of the reef through the glass bottom was not very spectacular, however we were taken to a place to swim with snorkels and this was a different story - the reef seen like this is most spectacular and there are many varieties of fish and coral, though I did not find the coral as spectacular as some places I have been to. Cathy did very well to snorkel with very little preparation, and agreed it was well worth it.

We also swam at a clear water area nearby where you could find shellfish and small fish in the sand. On the way back we (apparently) passed a turtle, but it was only visible as a dark shape in the water.

Later on, we went for a walk to a bird sanctuary but this took a bit too long, and although we saw a few varieties of birds, we were too tired to really apprciate it.

In the evening, there was a event called "Sunday school" where there is a steel band, food stalls, drinking and dancing. The event went on till quite late and we had to retire well before the end, but it was great fun, though I did not sleep quite as well as normal as the festivities were dimly audible for some time.

The next day, Monday, we moved on to an eco villa on a bird sanctuary (Adventure Eco Farm and nature reserve) just beyond Plymouth on the Carribean coast. It is from here that I am making the firt proper entry on the blog.
There is an amazing variety of humming birds here as well as other birds, such as the Blue-crowned Motmot, which is a bird with a blue head and a raquet tail (when mature), and many other species.
The hummingbirds are attracted by feeders. At dusk the hummingbirds vanished and were replaced by bats clustering around the feeders. I have never seen so many bats close up - and there are several varieties, though so far we've not investigated the species and their habits.

It has been a rather busy start to our trip, so we expect to stay here for a few days and relax, though we have booked a rain forest tour for Wednesday with a guide. The Eco Farm site is covered with tall trees, under which fruit trees such as oranges and mangoes grow in a wild sort of garden or rather wilderness with frogs lurking in the long grass. It is called "Adventure Eco Villas" and is also described as a organic farm, though it does not seem to be farmed in the normal sense as fruit is left to lie on the ground, but some must be picked up as we have just been given a bowl of friut salad grown here (for our desert) and marmalade is made and sold. We were asked to create a new template for the marmalade labels,a way of thanking the owner for free access to the internet.The fruit is eaten by birds and other animals as Cathy saw parrots taking grapefruit in their beaks and then walking down the tree to eat them on the ground.

We have everything pretty well ready. I hope it stops raining in Tobago by the time we set off!