Tobago and Little Tobago

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Blogger Dougo

Today we were picked up from our apartment by Darlington, a local Tobagoan who was our guide for the day. Our trip was to take us up the coast, across to Little Tobago via a glass bottom boat to view the world's largest brain coral, lunch, then a tour in the rain forest. Unfortunately, they were late to pick us up due a booking error and therefore, poor old Darlington had to basically wing it to fit it all in.

We first drove up the hills to the highest point on Tobago for a walk into the rain forest reserve. The forest was amazingly dense and the cool moist air was a welcome break from the hot, humid climate at sea level. Something that really struck me was the constant chatter of bird's all around us. Tobago and Trinidad have a reputation for being a watchers paradise, but I had no idea just how common the bird life was. We spotted a rare white tailed sabre wing, so tiny and fast that we were really lucky to see it at all, as well as other humming birds and bush pigeons.

Heading down to the sea, we winded our way past beautiful bays, largely untouched by tourism. We were supposed to have lunch at the renowned 'Jemma's Cafe', but she was closed on Saturday so instead we had lunch at a place up the road.

At 2pm we were supposed to go over to the Little Tobago Bird Sanctuary, but being Easter Saturday, all the boat captains had gone home. Darlington found us a fishing boat to ferry us over to the island and back. No glass bottom and thus no view of the Brain Coral that is in every tourist info brochure on Tobago!

Little Tobago was originally owned by a rich Brit who left it to Tobago on the condition it was used as a sanctuary for birds. It is completely different compared to its larger neighbour. For starters, it is hot, really hot and humid. There is no rainforest, only scrub and these means that there is no natural water supply for the thousands of bird's that have made the island their home. Instead, rangers come and poor water taken from large tanks into water drippers scattered all over the island.

Darlington led us to the Atlantic side of the island, whose steep cliff faces are constantly bombarded by the trade winds. High above us, hundreds of sea birds glided constantly up and down on the air currents. We got to see a number of species resting or nesting in the scrub.

A quick snorkel at Angel Reef on the way back in front of a mansion formally owned by 007 creator, Ian Fleming and our tour was completed for the day. Abbreviated as it was due to numerous bungles, we still had a great time seeing the island of Tobago.

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Photos

Englishman's Bay
Another picture perfect bay

The wonderful rainforest reserve
Tobago's dense rain forest, home to hundreds of bird species.

Cocoa pops
This is what cocoa looks like off the tree. The beans are inside the white pods in the core of this big fruit!

Little Tobago Bird Sanctuary
Hiking over to the Atlantic side of the island we were able to view some of the hundreds of bird species resting in the bush.

Boobies!!
Bec got this hilarious shot of a male and juvenile breasted booby (I think that's how you spell it!), no pun intended, resting on the rocks below.