Wild Tobago

  Dr Anjani Ganase discusses the most extreme environment on earth, the unknown continent, which has been positioned by the international community as a place of conservation, collaboration and human accord.   Extreme environment When learning about the seventh continent, Antarctica, it’s hard to really understand how alien this landscape is. On google maps, there’s nothing but a blank white visual. This is the coldest, driest and highest place on earth. Antarctica is covered in ice – in some locations five kilometres deep. It is a place that continues to defy human civilization, ancient and modern.   Antarctica has some of the lowest temperatures ever recorded – -89.2 C the lowest ever recorded on earth at Vostok Station. Geographically, Antarctica is two parts, East and West Antarctica divided along the Transantarctic mountains with eastern and western faces controlling the flow of ice sheets, either east or west. Mount Kirkpatrick is the hi...

Dr Anjani Ganase discusses the latest findings from research on sharks   Tiger sharks roam seagrass prairie in Bahamas Scientists have discovered the largest seagrass prairie in the world with the assistance of tiger sharks. Along the Bahamas archipelago, the area of seagrasses is estimated to be at least 66,900 km 2 with a upper estimate of 92,000 km 2 , which is roughly the size of Florida. This newly discovered area increases the known area of seagrasses globally by a whopping 41 %. The prairie consists of seagrass beds of varying species and densities, such as the turtle grass ( Thalassia testudinum ) but includes sparse areas of pioneer shoal grass species ( Halodule wrightii ).   While over 2500 surveys were conducted by divers, tiger sharks allowed researchers to extend the area of observation considerably as the tiger sharks were able to roam a much larger areas and swim to greater depth, beyond diving limits of humans (down to 90 m in the D...

There’s plenty to see just below the shoreline of most Tobago beaches. Anjani Ganase offers over and under water views from the Easter weekend at Charlotteville on the northeast of the island. Charlotteville is a favourite one stop shop for a weekend away. Slip into an easy village vibe. Then get to the beaches - so many little sandy coves - within the Man-o-War Bay. Go for a snorkel just offshore, or dive deeper. These sheltered beauties feel untouched and are not crowded. Man-o-War Bay is the largest deep water harbour for the island; and spans about five squared-kilometres. Rural and laid-back Charlotteville presents the iconic Caribbean island vibe, a contrast to the built up coastlines of southwest Tobago.   Rest House Reef, above and below the water, at Man-o-War Bay. Photo by Anjani Ganase Charlotteville Beach The main beach on Man-o-War Bay extends about one kilometre in length and is the focal point of a mainly fishing community. A walk along the beach is the typi...

In the quest to restore damaged and degraded coral reefs, Dr Anjani Ganase and her team have undertaken an approach to research reef types and to allow, as far as possible, nature’s process to lead the way.   The first time that I observed coral spawning was in Curaçao in 2010 during my Master’s research internship. My dive buddy and I - both Master’s candidates at the CARMABI Research Station - were invited to join a team collecting sperm and eggs from Elkhorn corals. Although coral spawning had been observed since the 1980s, scientists were still figuring out the best methods for culturing coral larvae in the lab in order to study the early life history of coral species and for the purpose of coral restoration. Coral spawning refers to the release of coral gametes (sperm and eggs) of the corals into the water column where they mix and fertilize. The coral larvae form and swim down to the reef to settle and grow. This happens seasonally timed by environmenta...