Birdchatters,
Here's a reply to my RFI that you may find interesting.
Hi Laurie,
I'm not subscribed to BirdChat so forgive the direct email, but feel
free to forward this to BirdChat , perhaps it would be of interest to
others on the list.
My wife, daughter and I were in Trinidad and Tobago between 03 - 10
October this year and had an amazing experience.
We looked into staying at Asa Wright but hesitated when we saw the
expense, then our decision was sealed when we found out that children
under eight aren't allowed as overnight guests. My wife and I felt
bad about making our five-year-old daughter secure her own lodging so
we had to look elsewhere. You can probably guess that although we
were there to see birds, and lots of them, it was not a hard-core
birding trip. We had to be mindful of incorporating other activities
to keep our daughter engaged and happy. I suspect Asa Wright will
live up to their reputation and you'll have a fantastic time.
Hopefully the immature Ornate Hawk-eagle will still be as predictable
as he was when we visited!
We had a wonderful couple of nights at the Pax Guest House on Mt. St.
Benedict, which lies between Port of Spain and the airport in Piarco.
Pax certainly still exists, at least as of three weeks ago, and it's
still a wonderful place with wonderful owners. Gerald is a birder and
can recommend and put together any trip you're interested in. They're
only 20-25 minutes from the airport, have comfortable rooms, amazing
food, and reasonably good birding. They don't get the diversity of
forest birds as Asa Wright, which is higher up in the mountains and
surrounded by forest, but Pax's location on the southern slope makes
it easier to get to additional birding sites like Nariva and Caroni
Swamps, wetland and coastal sites in the southwest, and some lowland
and savanna sites to the east, such as Aripo and Waller Field (which
we found out is not open to birders, or any visitors, these days as
security tightened up).
Perhaps the best part of Pax was that one of the other guests, an
extremely friendly gentleman who turned out to be the eBird reviewer
for Trinidad and Tobago. Although American, he has extensive,
up-to-the-minute knowledge about birding in Trinidad. He is working
on the island and living at Pax for the time being, so if you go there
be sure to keep an eye out for him. We had interesting discussions
about Trini birding sites and what the local birding scene was like
(especially as it relates to eBird), and on our last night he ensured
I saw Ferruginous Pygmy-owl, Tropical Screech-owl and Common Potoo.
We then moved base camp to the Laguna Mar, a beach resort in the town
of Blanchisseusse on the north coast, so we could spend some time in a
different area of the forest and on the beach. Note that "resort" does
not necessarily mean fancy digs filled with cruise-ship guests. Of
course, the locals are friendly and you'll be taken care of, but you
won't be pampered. Again, we found clean, comfortable rooms with
extensive forest right out the door, and the owner, an elderly German
ex-pat named Fred Zollna, is a trip to hang out with during delicious
meals. We didn't have any formal birding trips from here so I don't
know what options Fred could have set up for us, but we did a hike to
the "three pools" in the Marianne River and he offered another trip to
a popular waterfall site. Simply backtracking along
Blanchisseuse-Arima Road would take you to all the forest sites you'd
get to from Asa Wright, including the nature center itself - we did a
day trip there. George Murphy lists all of the appropriate sites in
his book, "A Birdwatchers' Guide to Trinidad and Tobago."
Those were the two areas we experienced directly. I was also looking
at a resort, Le Grande Almandier, in the northeast of Trinidad, which
is from what I hear the best spot to try for the Trinidad Piping-guan
(though it may be found along Blanchisseuse Road). I was a little
nervous about how far the town of Grande Riviere was from everywhere
else, and I think with good reason. One thing I can say for certain
is distances do not relate to travel times due to traffic in the
populated areas and roads through the rainforest which are narrow and
crooked. And when I say narrow and crooked, picture the narrowest and
most crooked road you can imagine, then divide the width in half and
double the number of bends and twists. There are some 347 switchbacks
and sharp turns from Arima to Blanchisseuse, forcing a 35km drive to
last almost two hours.
This is just the overview, more details and photos will appear on my
blog soon. I've already started the pre-trip planning posts if you're
interested:
http://tinyurl.com/trini-vacation). Of course, I'd be
happy to give you any additional details or thoughts, feel free to
email me directly. Below is the contact information for the places I
mentioned.
Cheers,
Mike Powers
Horseheads, NY
Pax Guest House
http://www.paxguesthouse.comTunapuna, Trinidad
Phone/Fax: (868) 662-4084
email:
stay@...
(use that email, not the one on their website)
Laguna Mar
Blanchisseuse, Trinidad
http://lagunamar.com/Default.htmemail:
info@...
Le Grande Almandier
http://www.legrandealmandier.com/default.htmSubject: RFI Trinidad and Tobago in November
From: Laurie Foss <lauriefoss AT GMAIL.COM>
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:52:42 -0500
Birdchatters,
I have organized a group of my friends to take a trip to Trinidad and Tobago
over Thanksgiving this year. That's rapidly approaching!
I've done a bunch of Google searches for trip reports in that time frame, as
well as done an eBird search for the same. I've come up with only scant
information for that time frame and I wondered if any of you have experience
to offer?
We're doing the usual tours of Asa Wright on Trinidad and their fieldtrips,
then Cuffie River Lodge on Tobago and theirs. Do any of you want to offer
insights or advice for the trip? Any and all would be appreciated.
Thanks a bunch
Laurie Foss
Austin, TX
--
Laurie Foss
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