Journey to Tobago, 2002!

Tobago is the smaller of the two islands that make up the nation of "Trinidad and Tobago", just north of the coast of Venezuela. Millions of years ago, these islands were part of the land mass of Venezuela, and so today they have mountain ridges and rainforests much like Venezuela.

One of the better rural roads, the Bloody Bay - Roxborough Road through the rainforest preserve. This is the oldest preserve in the Western Hemisphere, being designated as such over 200 years ago!

A trip through Tobago by car requires death-defying nerve! Driving is British style - left-hand side of the road. Roads are often narrow and winding, and oncoming drivers often don't seem to want to give you much room... This is a typical curve in the North Side Road - houses and hills hug the roadway, preventing you from seeing who or what is coming... I was getting used to it after a few days, though.

We stayed in a lovely private home with the rainforest just behind the house! Every morning the birds would wake us with their amazing racket!

The views from the front yard were impressive.

Lots of birds would visit the flowering shrubs and fruit trees around the house, including many hummingbirds.

Who, me??

This bananaquit, or honeycreeper, visited the flowers for nectar, but also ate bread crumbs from the feeder.

I think this is a blue-crowned mot mot on a branch below the house.

And some very large wasps also visited the flowers.

There are not many trails through the rainforests in Tobago. Lack of tourists is a good-news, bad-news sort of thing. The development of some ecology education centers and "eco-lodges" could encourage ecotourism and create jobs here, as well as make access to the rainforests easier.

A rough day in the rainforest and on the beaches deserves some quality hammock time!