Trinidad & Tobago
WONDERFUL BIRDLIFE ON TWO VERY DIFFERENT ISLANDS, WITH VERY EXPERIENCED GUIDES.
Join Heatherlea's Mike Coleman and expert local guides David Ramlal and Newton George on this birding adventure to Trinidad & Tobago. This is a great birding experience with the added bonus of a full week at the world-renowned Asa Wright Centre, a superb and very comfortable place to stay.
This carefully designed and well-planned itinerary is definitely the way to enjoy the birdlife of these islands. We visit all the key places including the Dunstan Caves to see Oilbirds, the Scarlet Ibis roost at Caroni Swamp and the jewel of Little Tobago, and also include many more special places we know Heatherlea clients will especially like. Not too much exertion, yet a rewarding and exciting birding experience as we seek all the hard-to-find neotropical species. Our exceptional local guides are often booked many months in advance, and there simply isn’t any other way to obtain this holiday — an ideal way to visit ‘T&T’!
Heatherlea at the world-famous Asa Wright Centre
Everyone wants to come here. In this relaxing environment we can take it easy, with comfortable open-air wildlife viewing, early morning coffee, evening rum punch (not too strong!) and a good choice of appetising food at breakfast and dinner. Some groups only stay here for few days; Asa Wright certainly isn’t the cheapest place on Trinidad. We think this exceptional place is well worth a full week of our holiday time, to truly experience the wonders of the forest. Our good relationship with the Centre helps us to offer you a great holiday at a very reasonable price, and here we have excellent value for money.
Begin your tropical birding at Asa Wright, and on the first morning you will probably see 20 -30 new species before breakfast.
A full orchestra of birdsong awaits you on the verandah, with hummingbirds just inches away on the feeders, tanagers and honeycreepers, and bellbirds, oropendolas, toucans, manakins and trogons seen most days. The sheer delight of so many stunning new birds, and the riot of noise and colour is truly unforgettable – one of the world’s most impressive birding spectacles.
However this is only the beginning! We make carefully planned excursions to see the special birdlife of Trinidad, including a visit to the famous Oilbird caves and an evening watching thousands of Scarlet Ibis coming into roost. Nariva Swamp, the primary forest on the road to Blanchisseusse, and other key sites around the island are all included. We spend time looking for the rarest of the island’s impressive birdlife including skulking and secretive Scaled Antpitta and Little Tinamou, and the enigmatic and highly elusive Trinidad Piping-Guan - the only endemic bird on the islands.
We round off with a few days on the glorious jewel of Tobago, targeting the dozen or so species not found on Trinidad, and where your trip over the coral sea in a glass-bottomed boat, culminating in close-up views of the tropicbirds and frigatebirds of Little Tobago, will remain with you always.
This is a relaxed holiday. Each day on Trinidad begins with birding from the famous balcony, and we usually depart on excursions around 8.30 — 9.00 am. Birding in the immediate vicinity of Asa Wright is superb, and many days we will be blissfully happy with ‘lifers’ before breakfast! Some days we will birdwatch in the forest close to the Centre, and there will be free time to explore the trails in safety under your own steam. Optional early morning walking can be rewarding, and with dawn just after 6am, and nightfall at 6pm, expect to establish a rhythm around these times. This really is a classic Caribbean birdwatching holiday.
Itinerary
Day 1 Saturday 11 February
We take the scheduled morning flight with BA from Gatwick to Piarco International Airport in Trinidad and transfer to the fabulous Asa Wright Nature Centre high in the rain forest. The Centre is in a typical valley of Trinidad’s Northern Range, where coffee, cocoa and squash plantations are still maintained, and where natural secondary growth has festooned the abandoned plantation areas with vines and a host of epiphytes. The resultant effect is of being deep in a tropical rainforest, with the comforts of our well-appointed lodge around us – a great feeling.
Above all you will experience the overwhelming presence of the tropical rain forest; a kaleidoscope of bird life, butterflies and wild flowers, all set against the impenetrable tangle of the forest.
Days 2 - 8 Sunday 12 - Saturday 18 February
We awake each day to the raucous noise of Crested Oropendola and a host of other exotic sounds. One of the world’s most enjoyable birding experiences awaits you each morning on the verandah, and we will soon be used to Bananaquit, White-necked Jacobin, Great Kiskadee, Tufted Coquette, Barred Antshrike and Green Honeycreeper, to name just a few. Our first full day will be gentle, as we meet our very capable local guide Dave Ramlal, and explore some of the trails which criss-cross this wildlife sanctuary. We might see Violaceous Trogon, Channel-billed Toucan, Chestnut Woodpecker, White-bearded Manakin darting and displaying, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Bay Tanager, Golden-headed Manakin, Bearded Bellbird and many more. We visit the famous Oilbird colony in Dunstan Cave, using torches to see these fascinating nocturnal birds roosting. This strange bird lives and breeds in dark caves during the day, coming out at night to feed on fruit, which it plucks from trees while in flight.
Because we are here for a long time, there is plenty of time to acclimatise to the tropical heat, so our first day is especially leisurely. After our first day we make trips away from the centre in the company of highly experienced local guides, for a stunning programme of exceptional birding.
Crossing the Northern range to the seaside village of Blanchisseuse we look for Turquoise, Swallow and Speckled Tanagers, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, White-tailed Trogon, Ornate Hawk-eagle, Black, Grey and White Hawks and Bat Falcon, and at the coast we may see our first Magnificent Frigatebird, Brown Pelican, Osprey and Green Kingfisher as we enjoy lunch on a palm-shaded Caribbean shore.
Another highlight is our visit to the Caroni Swamp, an extensive mangrove holding rare wildlife in its interior. Here our day ends with the spectacular flight of flocks of bright red Scarlet Ibis coming to roost, surely one of the natural world’s most dramatic moments. The birds may also include Anhinga, Large-billed and Yellow-billed Terns, Striated and Tricolored Herons, Bicoloured Conebill, Red-capped Cardinal, Black-necked Stilts, Greater Flamingo, Laughing Gull, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Clapper Rail, American Pygmy and Ringed Kingfishers and Common Potoo, but there’s more: Spectacled Cayman, Cook’s Tree Boa, Silky Anteater, this is an exceptional experience!
Our day at Nariva Swamp on the east coast is very different. On the way we might see Savannah Hawk, Red-breasted and Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Southern Lapwing, White-headed Marsh Tyrant and Green-rumped Parrotlet. This is the largest area of freshwater herbaceous swamp in Trinidad, where mangrove trees grow to over 80 feet, and holds Pearl Kite, Silvered Antbird, American Purple Gallinule, Wattled Jacana and we might see Red Howler Monkey and Tree Iguana. We stay until dusk, waiting for flocks of Red-bellied Macaw returning to roost as we sip rum punch alfresco.
The journey to lowland Aripo Savannah and Arena Forest will provide yet more birds. In the savannah, Shiny and Giant Cowbird, Yellow-rumped Cacique, Yellow-headed Caracara, various spinetails and cuckoos, Blue-black Grassquit and Pied Water Tyrant are likely. In the Arena Forest, we could see cuckoos, trogons, woodpeckers and parrots.
Our final day on Trinidad will involve a round-up of anything we may have missed, and might include good views of Sulphury Flycatcher, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, and rare Moriche Oriole, or a full-day journey to the Pitch Lake & Point-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust, where our birdlist will be boosted as we enjoy good birding in a number of locations.
Days 8 – 11 Saturday 18 – Tuesday 21 February
On Saturday morning we transfer to the airport for our short flight to Tobago. Tobago holds a dozen or so species not found in Trinidad, and with White-tailed Sabrewing, Blue-backed Manakin, Ruby Topaz Hummingbird, and Rufous-vented Chacalaca amongst our targets, there is plenty to see.
We visit the ancient Tobagan rainforests with top local guide Newton George to see Red-crowned Woodpecker, White-fringed Antwren, Venezuelan Flycatcher and Blue-backed Manakin, and enjoy a superb day boating across to Little Tobago. Here White-tailed Tropicbird, Brown Booby, Red-footed Booby and Magnificent Frigatebird are the main attractions, though the option of snorkelling above the coral reefs may be available too (equipment provided). This is a special day. We also visit Gilpin Trace, where the feeders have developed a huge following of birds including many specialities, and a local forest walk can produce those final few species.
After a last relaxing morning around the grounds of the hotel, we take an early-evening flight from Crown Point Airport, Tobago back to Gatwick.
Day 12 Wednesday 22 February
Arrive back at London Gatwick early morning.
Accommodation:
The world famous Asa Wright Centre in Trinidad (seven nights), and Blue Waters Hotel in Tobago (three nights). All rooms en suite.
Price includes:
Scheduled flight from London Gatwick – Piarco International Airport, Port of Spain. Return flight from Crown Point, Tobago, to London Gatwick. Airport taxes, land airport transfers airports, ten nights full-board accommodation as above, meals including breakfast, dinner and picnic lunches, field trips as specified, boat trip through Caroni Swamp, departure tax from Trinidad, boat trip to Little Tobago, hotel tips, and the services of Heatherlea Leader Mike Coleman and experienced local guides David Ramlal & Newton George. Max twelve clients.
Price excludes:
Holiday insurance, optional tips to local guides/other staff, drinks, and other personal expenses.
Please note: all itineraries in this brochure are given as a guide only. Actual holiday content may vary according to the judgement of your guide, and elements beyond our control (eg weather).
