Tobago.

Back in May, I went on a familiarisation trip for my job with Reef and Rainforest Tours, (www.reefandrainforest.co.uk) to Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago. It was a very special trip which enabled me to really get to know both counties and see a good spread of each countries' natural highlights.

(Brown pelicans © Ian Loyd Reef and Rainforest Tours)

I started the trip with a week spent on Trinidad and Tobago. The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is a twin island country which lie just off the northern edge of South America. Despite being so geographically close the two islands are quite different in their culture, geography and biodiversity. Trinidad is distinctly South American in its wildlife and ecosystems and is just seven miles off the coast of north-eastern Venezuela. While much smaller Tobago sits within the Caribbean Sea and offers rich coral reefs, dry deciduous and tropical rainforest, and has a very Caribbean culture with plenty fishing and "Liming" (or sweet doing nothing)!

 

(© Ian Loyd Reef and Rainforest Tours)

Starting on Tobago I enjoyed a variety of tours and sampled many fun and interesting activities including paddle boarding across a reef at night, where we then had the opportunity to swim amongst bioluminescent algae and watch the fish light up the water. I also visited the award winning Tobago Cocoa Estate to see how the local cocoa is harvested and transformed into tasty dark chocolate.

Most of the wildlife action was marine based while on Tobago and I enjoyed my first true coral reef snorkelling in Cotton and Emerald Bays. I was blown away by the diversity and health of the corals here. The abundant reef fish included spotted moray eels, several species of jacks, triggerfish, kingfish, angelfish and I also had sightings of a nudibranch sp, cuttlefish and squid. There was more good snorkelling in the reef offshore from the wonderful Blue Waters Inn in Speyside. Here I saw some magnificent examples of brain corals and had a glimpse of an unidentified reef shark and an adult hawksbill turtle.

I have no idea where they got the name for Blue Waters Inn from?

 

(© Ian Loyd Reef and Rainforest Tours)

The accommodation and services here are superb and it is ideally located for naturalists visiting the island as Little Tobago Island (The islands second largest seabird colony) is just a 30 minute crossing by glass bottom boat away. Little Tobago is mostly covered by deciduous dry forest but is predator free and supports a high density of breeding red-billed tropicbird, brown and red-footed boobies, brown noddy sooty tern and Audubon's shearwater. All of these species except for the shearwater are unmissable on a visit to the island during the breeding season.

 

(Red-billed tropicbird © Ian Loyd Reef and Rainforest Tours)

(Brown noddy © Ian Loyd Reef and Rainforest Tours)

I was lucky to be guided by Newton George on the trip (Tobago's most renowned wildlife guide and former warden of Little Tobago) who enabled us to have a very privileged view of the island's rarest breeding bird the Audubon's shearwater in its nest. 

Back on land Newton very kindly took us to his house where he had set up several hummingbird feeders and even offered us a beer to accompany the spectacle! Top Bloke.

 

(Copper-rumped hummingbird © Ian Loyd Reef and Rainforest Tours)

 

(The stunning ruby topaz hummingbird © Ian Loyd Reef and Rainforest Tours)

I also spent a morning birding in the Main Ridge Forest Reserve, a fantastic tract of tropical rainforest, UNESCO site and one of the oldest legally protected forests in the world. The reserve was established in 1776 to sustain rainfall on the island and in turn maintain fertile soil for agriculture. There is a good trail network through the forest including walks to some attractive waterfalls and viewpoints. Birding here was great with sightings of blue-backed manakin, Trinidad motmot, collared trogon, white-tailed nightjar, cocoa woodcreeper, stripe-breasted spinetail all common as well as the rare and endemic white-tailed sabrewing.

 

 

(Trinidad Motmot © Ian Loyd Reef and Rainforest Tours)

(White-tailed nightjar © Ian Loyd Reef and Rainforest Tours)

 



(White-tailed sabrewing © Ian Loyd Reef and Rainforest Tours)