West Indies Adventure; Trinidad

By Matt Heyden

　

This would mark trip number 5 to Central and South America. Trinidad was in the top 5 on our “to do” list, and this year I discovered something very important to me. NON-STOP air fare from Orlando to Trinidad!! It appears it only runs a short time each summer, and the dates worked perfectly. Our destination in Trinidad would be Asa Wright, long regarded as THE place to bird in the West Indies. Asa Wright is an eco-lodge based on an old plantation from the 1800’s. The trust that administers the property has increased the number of acres under protection to 1500. This is exactly the kind of property we like to visit, in that we feel that if we don’t support eco-lodges, they simply won’t be able to carry on their conservation efforts. More than that, we also feel when we have down time, we can bird the trails. This has always been a big benefit.

Trinidad is about 7 miles off the coast of Venezuela, and is a small island country consisting of the islands of Trinidad, about 50 miles long, and Tobago, much smaller. A very small country indeed, yet believe it or not English speaking, however, with driving on the left side of the road. The population is about 1.3 million, with about 40% of the population of Indian (from India) background, 40% African, 19% mixed, and less than 1% white.

Caligo Ventures is the exclusive agent for Asa Wright in the United States. One of the partners, Larry , put together a very aggressive birding itinerary for us, and warned us that we would be “running and gunning” everyday. That’s the kind of trip that makes Lora happy, and running and gunning is a pretty good description of her.

After a quick 4 hour flight, our driver picks us up at the airport, and we are on our way, in no time. Some of our previous trips used non-English speaking drivers, so this one was wonderful because of the great information we obtained on the way to the lodge. Trinidad is oil rich, and diesel fuel is about $1 per gallon! Japan and Korea ship their used cars to Trinidad, as it is a ready market to accept cars that are right hand drive. So, they don’t buy new cars, and the residents save more than half the cost of a new car by purchasing used ones from Asia. There are cars everywhere.

Asa Wright Nature Center is at 1200’ elevation, so we have to climb some hills on roads that are extremely narrow and winding. We get to the lodge at about 9:30pm Trinidad time, which is the same as our daylight savings time, and are quickly ushered to our room, and urged to get some sleep as we will be getting up at 2:30am to go after some kind of bird that we can only see at dawn, somewhere a long drive off. Well, Larry warned me that since we wanted an aggressive trip, he could certainly provide one!

Eco lodges usually have some things in common, such as no TV or air conditioning. True to form, it’s hot when we get to our room, but there is a ceiling fan and a window with a screen. Waiting in our room are a couple of sandwiches and hot tea, also typical of the attention to detail eco-lodges are known for. As soon as we get into bed, the power is turned off. Well, I guess when they want you to go to sleep, they really mean it! At 2:30, there’s a knock on the door, and I realize that I hate this person, even though I don’t know who it is! The power is still off. Getting dressed was certainly interesting. However, they told us what to bring, so, having a flashlight certainly helped.

Waiting at the main lodge is our Nissan diesel mini bus, and our driver and guide is David Ramlil. He is a Trinidad resident of Indian descent. Joining us would be John and Olivia from Mississippi. These folks are probably some of the most adventurous folks I’ve ever known. For starters, they lived in a camping van for 5 months traveling Australia. They would spend the next two months hopping islands in the Caribbean, before heading back to the U.S.

We head down out of the hills, in the middle of the night, in order to cross the island by dawn. As we enter small towns, there are people everywhere with loud music playing. It’s 3:30am on a Saturday morning. Folks are just hanging out on the main drag through town. Trinidad is a party country. This happens all the time.

At dawn, we arrive in Grand Rivere. We stop on a narrow residential street high up on a hill so that we can overlook a valley. We are after the Trinidad Piping Guan. They had been pretty much hunted to extinction, so they were getting to be very hard to find. Our guide, David is an expert. He has a degree in environmental science, and would amaze us over and over again during the week. This is what you get when you go to places like Asa Wright that are world renowned.

From across the valley, in fly 4 Piping Guans! These are beautiful, huge birds darn near the size of turkeys. At the same time we see trogons, plumbeous kites, and both red crested and lineated woodpeckers. A picnic breakfast is served while we bird. It simply doesn’t get any better than this!

Moving on to other habitats, we pick up yellow cara-cara, band-rumped swifts, tropical peewee, and southern lapwing, before heading back to Asa Wright for lunch.

We wait for lunch to be announced on the famous veranda. Here is an incredible covered porch, about 40 feet wide, looking down over a huge valley. Not one house is visible. The town of Arima is visible far off in the distance. In front and below the veranda are feeding stations. Platforms with fruit, and several hummingbird feeders. Tourists pay to come sit on the veranda and view the birds. It’s that good. Here you will see purple and green honey creepers, white necked Jacobins, copper rumped humming birds, tufted coquettes, blue dacnis, bay headed tanagers, and on and on. There is almost always a uniformed guide on the veranda to help with bird identification. And there are photographers, lots of them.

A loud dinner bell rings, and lunch is announced in the main dining room. It’s a large room that can easily accommodate 50 folks. It has gigantic openings that face down the valley. Huge shutters are closed each night to keep the ocelots out. Meals are buffet style, with a staff member supervising (explaining what everything is). I can’t stress the importance of a buffet to me. I don’t want to wait for anything to be cooked. We want to bird right up to the minute dinner is served, and preferably bird from the table during dinner. A buffet is instantly available, and you can pick and choose. Furthermore, you can go back for more of what you like. There is no reason to ever be hungry when meals are served this way.

The power never did come back on, so I’m looking for the dishes that contain mayonnaise! There aren’t any, so we should be safe. These are Trinidad meals, meaning they represent many cultures. A little Indian, Jamaican, and others. Dress is casual, and you will be seated with others at large tables. We’re talking cloth napkins and table cloths.

After lunch, we sneak off to the secluded swimming hole under the water fall. It’s a short 10 minute walk following the private entrance road. It’s one of the most incredibly beautiful, private and romantic natural pools we’ve ever swam in. However, remembering where are, we also keep alert for two of the most poisonous snakes which are the bush master and the fer d’lance. We did run across one while birding on a previous trip to Central America, so we really never completely drop our guard.

After our cool swim, we want to explore the trail system. The trails are steep, but well maintained. Here we easily picked up white bearded manakin, and gold headed manakins at their leks. We’re birding in May, which is the beginning of the rainy season. The nature center has built a covered resting area half way down the trail, and it comes in very handy. However, it’s worth it as our U.S. birds have left, leaving the ones that we aren’t so familiar with. Easy birding!

At 4 PM each day, tea is served on the Veranda. Today, the conversation centers around the lack of electricity. It appears that the lodge has wi-fi, and some folks are going through withdrawal! The lodge is actually on the grid, with a huge back up generator. During the storm, trees came down, and a power surge knocked out the generator just as it was coming on line. As we were talking and birding, a huge rental generator had been delivered, and was being hooked up next to the generator building.

At 6PM each day, a tropical rum punch is served on the veranda as the light of day fades. I’m still not sure if the darkness was due to the punch, or the fact that the sun just sets that much earlier! When I take the first sip, I am thankful that I wasn’t near any candles or other open flames! Then I realized that they only served it to the guests that were staying overnight and not driving. It was delicious, but when I tried to find out how much rum was in it, the staff just laughed and said: “a lot”.

At 7PM, the dinner bell rings, the lights are back on, we head to the dining room. Joining us this evening would be Peter, the resort’s engineer. He’s had a miserable day wrestling with the power problem. He would join us the next few nights as well. We discovered that he was fifth generation Trinidadian, and as a white man, there would be an interesting history. We learned first hand what it was like to be living in Trinidad, and what his reality was. He had family in Europe and the U.S. He was most likely in his 70’s, and had no intent of living anywhere else.

The following morning David would march us down to see if we could actually find the bearded bell bird. The previous day, we could hear them, as they are extremely loud, but never got to see them. He gave us a clue. They like to have light on them, so they would be in the upper canopy, but in an area of few leaves. And indeed, once we knew that, we got to find one.

Our big trip today was at 4PM, so we had a little time to kill after lunch, and went searching for the old hydro plant. Lora teaches physics, so I knew this would be of interest to her. Hydroelectric systems work on gravity. Collect the water up hill, run it through a pipe that goes down hill, and through some kind of turbine attached to a generator. The dropping height determined how large of a generator could be turned. Peter hinted that it was time to explore hydro again for the nature center.

Hiking along the private entrance road, we saw golden-olive backed woodpecker, straight billed wood creeper, young bananaquits, an ochre-bellied flycatcher, and a beautiful blue browed mot-mot. This road is exactly what I love to bird. Virtually no traffic, silent, with lots of switch backs and stream crossings. Incredible plants such as giant sized heliconias, torch gingers, and two kinds of bamboo. Eventually, we start hearing very loud voices yelling and carrying on in traveling cars and trucks continuing up the mountain past our private gated entrance road. While I thought it odd that so many folks would be traveling together raising hell, I didn’t give it much thought, other than it probably wasn’t a smart thing to attempt to bird the main mountain road. It’s just barely a road with many hair pin turns, ruts and holes, and just wide enough for one car. Yet it’s the only way to the north coast. Wisdom kicks in, and I realize birding along the road with the wild traffic wasn’t such a good idea, so we hike back to the lodge to prepare for our 4PM adventure.

David and the 4 of us head down the mountain passing lots of party goers coming up the mountain. Our first stop is the old Waller Air Field, an abandoned WWII air force base which was the largest in South America. Now, it’s being parceled off for commercial purposes. David is after the last Moriche Orioles on Trinidad. There may be 5 left. He works hard, and produces a male and a female. It sings beautifully, and that’s the reason for it’s demise. They have been trapped and caged for years. Having a caged bird on your porch is a big deal in Trinidad. We’re also finding fork tailed palm swifts, palm tanagers, and yellow cara cara.

Moving on, we head to the Aripo Savannah Agricultural Field Station. One of the projects of this research station is an experimental breed of cattle called a “buffalypso”. No, I didn’t make it up. It’s a cross between Brahma and Asian buffalo. In an old stable, David puts down the white table cloth and pours the rum punch. We enjoy our punch watching the lapwings in the meadows, while he puts out our dinner. A hot meal with real plates and silverware.

We are joined by our security guard for dinner. David explains that for this portion of this trip, he is required to have one of the guards from Asa Wright accompany us in a separate vehicle. This has never happened before on any of our trips. While everyone knows that I’m a little dangerous, this is the first time anyone actually had to get a guard to keep me in line! I want to know if he’s armed. There isn’t one showing. Over the course of our dinner conversation, I learn that it’s very, very hard to get a legal gun in Trinidad. I came to the conclusion that he probably was armed, but that we wouldn’t be seeing it.

When it gets dark, David packs up the picnic and announces it’s tropical screech owl time! In less than 30 minutes, he has found an entire family to watch, and photograph. Then it’s into the van to travel through the fields. Following us, driving with no headlights on is our guard.

David is driving, and searching with a spot light for common pauraques and white-tailed nightjars. This is the easiest birding of our lives. The birds are everywhere, even sitting in the shine of our headlights on this dirt farm path! While driving, David spots common potoos on the top of fence posts. Their eyes glow a huge orange glow in the dark. These fields are filled with fire flies, and when outside the vehicle, I’m amazed by the beauty of this place, and I’m also aware of our guard standing about 50 feet away, silently in the dark.

It’s getting late, and we need to head back to the nature center. The mountain road that leads up to where our entrance road starts is simply treacherous, now more so in the dark. The traffic coming down the mountain is driving somewhat recklessly. It’s the party goers that went up the mountain earlier. On a hairpin turn, David slams on the brakes. We are facing a long string of cars coming down, and the road isn’t wide enough for the vehicles to pass each other. David just sits there waiting for the other driver to back up. He refuses. I’m in the back of our bus, and can see the other driver in our headlights. He was feeling no pain. The pickup trucks behind him had lots and lots of partiers sitting in the cargo areas. They had a small intoxicated army! Our driver starts yelling at them to back up. The only way out of this mini bus is through the sliding door that is now up against a sheer drop off. That would be our choice. Cliff or mob. Swell. Out of nowhere, in our headlights appears a tall man with his face covered by his tee shirt. He is carrying a 4’long machete. David isn’t the least panicked. He’s just very angry at the other driver. In ten seconds, machete man convinces the other driver that if he liked the way he was breathing, he should back up now. And he does.

We carry on our way up the mountain past all the party animals with David laughing. He explains that he knows machete man, and that he is always there when any kind of disturbance occurs. I don’t know where our guard was, other than his vehicle was still right on our tail.

Some important points here. I’m always trying to determine if it is better to simply rent a car and travel on our own in these places. On this trip especially, our guide had access to properties that were closed to the public. Additionally, we would never venture out driving these roads at night. This means that more than half of the 90 or so life birds we picked up this trip, we never would have seen. David is a master at this business, and is well respected and thought of everywhere we go, as you will see. And it made all the difference.

Next point is danger. We’ve never been in any danger that we have been aware of. That said, we recently met a birding couple that was robbed on a birding trip to Belize, and get this, they were with a guide. Even the guide was robbed. To put this into perspective, it’s important to know that they were not harmed in anyway. However the robbers were so poor that they took the birders’ optics, cameras, wallets and their shoes. I tend to think the shoe part was more about immobilizing the birders, or at least slowing them down. We also know of a number of folks that had foiled robbers while they were in cities on their own. All of this leads to our continuing decision to stay at eco lodges, all of which are gated and have 24/7 security. No, it’s not cheap, but so far, we always get back home in fine shape. 

Back to our story.

Back at the lodge, we drift off to sleep listening to the ferruginous pygmy owl that is very close by. Up early, we start our only full day of rain. Not deterred, David has us bird from the van. We stumble upon a mixed flock eating swarming termites. How convenient! All the locals such as golden crowned warblers and white lined tanagers were enjoying the termite banquet. In our travels, we travel up the mountain to the scene of the wild party or “bashment” as the locals called it. There must have been more than 1,000 folks up there based on the mountains of garbage. A wild party like this is also called a harvest. Indeed there were still some huge tents standing where harvest goods would have been sold. They can grow anything here, so use your imagination!

We had lunch under a tent and had time to observe some of the local plants. In Florida we grow ti, crotons and hibiscus. Now imagine not ever having the danger of frost or drought. These plants are as big as houses here. Nearby, we pick up white flanked ant bird, black headed ant thrush, jacamars and bay headed tanagers.

After lunch, we’re back up in the mountains birding in the pouring rain. A car load of guys passes us, and stops in front of us. One of the men in the back seat jumps out with a machete. I’m thinking: “oh, come on, this is getting old”. Something on the ground near the car has caught his eye. He places his machete over something and puts his foot on the blade. Turns out he is catching crabs….giant land crabs. These crabs are nearly as wide as a notebook computer!

If we hadn’t seen this, we wouldn’t have believed it. We probably encountered 20 cars full of folks driving the mountain roads catching these crabs. The crabs walk out to the edge of the road to catch a ride to town, I guess. They get the ride, but I don’t think it’s what they had in mind! The recipe is curried crab with dumplings.

David explains that there are no rules about this, so the numbers of crabs are starting to decline, and will have a long term devastating effect on the population.

The following day, we’re back at the agricultural station, but in the daylight. No guard necessary. We are traveling through the pastures and fields looking for striated heron, spine tails and pinnated bitterns, all of which he easily produces. Later in the day, we are at one of David’s secret places. David has found a family of black crowned parrots. They are not on the birding list for Trinidad. This is a first. We are instructed that when traffic goes by, we are to be looking in other directions so that the locals don’t get curious. If found, they might be captured and sold. David is a very involved conservationist on all levels. Anyhow, this is somewhat typical of how we spent the remainder of our time, except for four really incredible surprises.

The first was night time nesting turtle adventure. I’m thinking: yeah, yeah, yeah, you have turtles. I’m from Florida, and we have turtles too. How wrong I was. We pack up the mini bus at 4 and head to the other side of the island. Road trips like this is what I live for. When I’m not driving, I’m seeing everything from the cars to the buildings and interactions of people. We got through Valencia which was slow and busy. In Matura, we pick up Frances, a turtle guide instrumental in the conservation efforts. David also played a role in getting Nature Seekers set up. In 1990, more than 30% of the critically endangered leatherback turtles were being slaughtered each night. Now, more than 20 full time community volunteers assist with the protection, and in Trinidad, you need a permit to view the nesting turtles.

The roads get smaller and smaller and eventually turn to dirt as the sun sets. We are in the middle of nowhere when the road ends, and tah-dah, here is a stone parking lot for hundreds of cars., just walking distance to the beach. There is a covered pavilion, with some kind of office that is closed, as are the restrooms. However, behind the building are urinals on the outside wall. Out in the open, completely. We’ve seen this many times on other trips, so I’m having one installed on the back of our house in Florida. Hmmm, on second thought, maybe not!

Anyhow, this gigantic parking lot is empty, and I don’t know what to think. David produces the white table cloth, the rum punch, and our hot dinner. We talk turtles over supper, and it turns out that David was very involved in starting the turtle protection movement here. Someone says we are having boat or lote for supper. As usual, I wasn’t listening, but did wonder which dish it was. Oh well, I’m not a foodie, and I’m honestly happy with a sandwich on a beach anytime, so, I’m enjoying myself. A few minutes later, Lora asks; “so, what did you think of it”? As usual, I say; “duh, what did I think of what”? Lora says THE GOAT. Well, like I said, I would always be happy with just a sandwich, and trust me, it does not taste like chicken! Yep, perhaps a little more rum punch will be called for!

Packing up the dinner dishes, we get ready to head down to the beach. Remember, the further south you go in summer, the earlier the sun sets. In June, it’s dark by 7. Other cars are now arriving. In no time, it’s a mob scene. We are just standing waiting for our signal that a turtle has come in, when we realize that baby leather back turtles are boiling right up under our feet!!! Groups of children are on their hands and knees. They are picking up the turtles. David isn’t at all happy. He once again seizes control, and issues orders to the crowds about what they can and cannot do. The guides arrive, and order is restored.

Now add another 500 people. The parking lot is full, about 30 guides are briefing groups and heading down to the beach. There are people everywhere. The critically endangered gigantic leather back turtles are coming in like some kind of invasion! They look like monsters in the dark, climbing up out of the water. Our signal is given, and we were marched down the beach to witness one dig the nest, deposit the eggs, and cover it up. It’s now 9:30, and the crowds are continuing to build. I’m getting really uncomfortable. The crowds are huge. The tide is coming in. There is very little beach to walk back on. It’s pitch black, and if we get separated, it’s going to be a mess. We head back against the current of humanity. The parking lot is full, and folks are parked down the road. There are busses that can’t turn around. Crowds are assembled with guides giving instructions.

David gets the bus extracted out of the parking frenzy, and once again, I think of Asa Wright. They get you in and out first. Folks were still coming in, and we were finished, and escaped much of the building mayhem.

On the way home, David expressed the feeling that he didn’t want us to see such chaos. However, as always my opinion was a little different. I explained how impressed I was that their program had greatly reduced poaching, and even with all the human activity, it was only on about what I estimated to be 10% of the beach. The citizens were being educated, and they loved the turtles. I also now know why there were always so many vultures on the beaches.

The second incredible surprise trip that was so shocking was a trip to Theo Ferguson’s home which he has named Yerette (home of the hummingbird) . Theo and his wife have a magical location on a hill overlooking the Maracas Valley. They have made this home their business. They cater to well off folks that want to see 13 of the 17 species of hummingbirds that Trinidad has, while being fed a wonderful lunch.

There are well dressed folks everywhere, and they are from all over the world. Children are running around with camera outfits that must have cost thousands. I quickly count 21 feeders, and the property is full of plants that are eagerly visited by the hummingbirds. I’m guessing there are about 200 birds present. Theo informs me that when it gets busy, he has to put out 40 feeders!!!

The living room has been turned into his auditorium, where he runs a quick slide show. I notice the presentation is dedicated to the guides at Asa Wright. Again I realize that David has once again built a most special relationship, and indeed has again delivered an incredible experience. Imagine the magnificent ruby topaz hummingbird photographed with such incredible detail, that you can see all, and I mean all the colors.

David is trying to put out lunch for us, and I’m just not there. I’m mesmerized by the birds. I have no idea what we ate, and I couldn’t care less. Thirteen species in one afternoon. Once again, I come to the conclusion that if we ever do relocate to another country, it has to be at elevation, away from the coast, and carefully selected. I asked David what would happen to the property when Theo didn’t want it anymore. He hadn’t really thought about it, so I asked him what a property like this would sell for. When I got done converting 1.2 million tt dollars to U.S. dollars, it came to about $250,000. Expensive, but it has a very good income stream.

I laugh to myself about how difficult we would make it in the states on anyone wanting to do something similar. We’d have food inspectors, licensing requirements, zoning restrictions, sales tax bookkeeping, and of course insurance companies that would not be interested in writing any kind of coverage!

Three policemen are marching around the yard. Yes, I was thinking about taking the little boy’s incredibly expensive camera and then shoving him off the ledge accidentally. But I didn’t do it. Yet the police were there already. Hmm, well no new camera on this trip! Turns out Theo had another group coming in after lunch, so the police were there checking the place out because the wife of the ambassador to China would be there at 3 PM. There can be good money indeed in catering to birders. Hmm, I wonder what kind of camera she’d have!

Our third wonderful surprise was our hike to the Oilbird cave, which is on the grounds of Asa Wright. Oilbirds look like large night hawks, and are in caves during the daylight. They are the only night birds that are actually fruit eaters, and can echo-locate. Before the birds fledge, the babies are actually double the weight of the parents, and quite oily. So, in the old days, I’ll put this as delicately as I can. The chicks were harvested and used for torches. I’m going to stick to my candles. There were a lot of stairs leading down to the cave, but it certainly was worth the trip.

Our fourth surprise was our adventure in the Caroni swamp. This is a huge, 40 square mile brackish swamp. We arrive about an hour before sunset. To accommodate the folks that want to see it, several tour operators are running huge shallow draft boats that seat about 30 folks on pew like seating. We head out in mangrove lined canals. We sneak up on a Cayman. About 3 feet. After kayaking alongside 12 foot long alligators in Florida, it wasn’t that impressive! Boa-constrictors are in the trees up over head. Judging from the reaction of some of the folks on the boats, they were feeling a little creeped out! Further out we are shown a nesting potoo and tropical screech owl.

Moving out to open water, we see all the other tour operators. There are probably 300 customers tonight that have come out for this tour. Our boat stops, and rum punch is served. David put us in the back of the boat, so the other customers wouldn’t be aware of our sunset cocktail adventure. While waiting, we get our first look at a large billed tern. As the sun sets, I’m aware of why we are here. A scarlet ibis flies overhead, and lands in a mangrove as large as a drive-in movie screen perfectly lit. No frost here, so there is never any die back. They are as big as houses. They are so red, and so large, that they don’t look real. No one can be that beautiful. As the sun set, in come another 200 scarlet ibis! Our boats are a long way off, so as not to disturb their roosting for the night.

True to form, we are the first boat to head back. As we get out of the boat, the cloud of mosquitoes arrives, and just in time, we are in the mini bus and on our way.

On our last day, the staff put out breakfast super early for us so that we could get to the airport on time. Asa Wright didn’t miss a trick. What an easy, flawless trip. There is no reason not to do this one. And this brings me to one last note.

During our stay, we met a group from a college in Indiana. The trip leader was 78, and a serious birder. This was her 25th trip to Asa Wright as a leader. That’s how good the trip is, but also how important it is.