Wild Tobago

Corpus Christi will be celebrated on June 19 and Trinbagonians will be looking to plant something. Pat Ganase talks with Chancy Moll at San Antonio Farms. Photos by Pat Ganase   The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the next best is now. If you planted one 20 years ago, no doubt you are enjoying the result of that foresight, in fruit or flowers, in the beings that are attracted, in shelter or shade. If you want your children to remember you, plant a tree with them this month.   Gingers grow over ten feet tall, with many flowering forms. This is the Beehive. Known popularly as Hawaiian torches, these gingers are available in colours from white to red. A wide variety of Heliconia – lobster claw – is available. Whatever your religion, we can observe the tradition of putting a tree in the ground at Corpus Christi. That’s the time that the rainy season has truly set in, the soil has been softened. And there is a belief that anything plante...

Pat Ganase invites you to visit the fresh food markets in your area, they are places of nature and hope.   Influence the sustainability of local farming by buying from green markets. Eat fresh and seasonal fruit and vegetables for good health. All photos by Pat Ganase     Santa Cruz, from my earliest memories has always been a magical green valley. From whichever end of the Saddle Road you approached, the green hills embraced the valley through which the gentle river ran. The earliest plantations deep in the area known as La Pastora were cocoa; the far foothills a haze of orange when the madre de cacao (immortelles) bloomed January to March. The Saddle Road, once the leisurely winding connector from San Juan to Port-of-Spain through Maraval, frequented mainly by cruise ship visitors for the serene views, is now a busy thoroughfare.   Chaconia in the Undercover Garden Centre Cameilla and Dominic Pierre of Undercover Garden Centre Citrus gr...

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’...

  Dr Anjani Ganase reminds us that what drains from our islands ends up in the sea. How do we ensure that we do not enrich the coastal waters with chemicals and pollutants from agriculture, manufacturing and yes, household use. All drains lead to the ocean, but do we think about this when we wash our cars, do our laundry, clean our dishes? Nutrient pollution is caused by the nitrates and phosphate compounds that flush into rivers and coastal marine environment from the use of agricultural fertilisers, discharge of high volumes of greywater, and industrial effluent. Nutrient pollution is a growing issue impacting our waterways and the ocean with unforeseen consequences. At the global scale it is rapidly becoming a major concern given the many other large-scale issues that are plaguing regions of the world. Most noticeably, in the Caribbean we see the rise of sargassum blooms in the southern Atlantic, the presence of harmful algal blooms in the northern Caribbean and the expansion...