Wild Tobago

Let’s go with Faraaz Abdool, photographer and wildlife advocate to find one of Trinidad’s irreplaceable wild treasures. The remote reaches of Trinidad’s heavily forested Northern Range conceal a unique treasure that can be found nowhere else on the planet. Here, verdant hills rise sharply from rugged coastlines, the seaspray-coated vegetation gives way as altitude increases to towering crappo followed by massive mora. These heavily buttressed trees are the stewards of the forest, their limbs festooned with moss and lichen. Their branches are punctuated by bromeliads that push forward spectacular flowers and host entire ecosystems within their leaf-vase structure. The air within these forests remains cool and moist throughout the year, the sounds of water - whether from rain, river, or distant ocean - are constant. Occasionally, just at the crack of dawn, a delicate whistle rises from the green tangle of the jungle and wafts over the canopy - an indication of the presence of Trinidad’...

Faraaz Abdool makes a case for the indigenous and endangered Pawi to be the bird on our highest currency note   Here in Trinidad and Tobago, we are immensely lucky to have some of the most beautiful currency notes in the world. Adorned with artwork and security features, our notes are periodically updated to reflect culturally significant facets of our lives. One of the most biodiverse places on the planet, ours is one of only two countries in the world to have two officially recognized national birds: the Scarlet Ibis and the Rufous-vented Chachalaca or Cocrico.   Our Coat of Arms is adorned by a trio of hummingbirds from the 18 species found here. Birds are also prominent in our currency, with the front of each note featuring a different bird!   Although we gained independence and our own currency in 1962, it was only after the second revision in 1977 that the first birds were introduced on the bills. At this point, not every note had a bird either. The $5, $2...

Faraaz Abdool – engineer turned eco-photographer - talks about the growing niche market for Tobago tourism. What is birding and why is it so important to us? (All photos courtesy Faraaz Abdool) To most of us, the word “bird” is a noun, a word ascribed to various feathered animals that form part of the diorama of our daily lives. We see them every day: the Frigatebirds soaring effortlessly hundreds of feet above our heads and the Bananaquits quarreling over who sat on whose flower last. They all tend to fade into the landscape though. Until we observe some khaki-clad humanoid eagerly gesticulating, all attention focused on some inconsequential facet of what we see daily.  Blue-backed Manakin: The unique geography of Tobago allows one to see secretive forest birds like the Blue-backed Manakin and still be within a half hour of a pristine beach. This is birding, where “to bird” is a verb, meaning the pursuit of a particular bird (or birds) for the sole purpose of seeing...