Wild Tobago

Anjani Ganase continues her Antarctic adventures on the Homeward Bound expedition with an adrenalin rush and cold water.   It is the end of the first day, and we still can’t believe that we’ve arrived at the frozen continent. Tomorrow the cohort will have a shocking awakening as we get the opportunity to plunge into the frigid Antarctic waters. In the lead up to the voyage there were avid talks about doing a polar plunge, which is the act of jumping into icy water. Now the opportunity to do the plunge was upon us when we visit Deception Island. My thoughts and emotions walk the line of anxiety and excitement that night. I am committed, in theory, to do the plunge, but will I be able to show up in the moment?   Walking with TT flag. Photo by Moreangels Mbizah Deception Island is a horseshoe shaped volcano caldera that is about 15 km in diameter. A caldera refers to the depression that forms when a volcano erupts and collapses on itself. There are many submerged volcanoe...

Dr Anjani Ganase writes about her travels on the Homeward Bound voyage to Antarctica and shares her photography. In the morning, the rocking of the ship had slowed to a gentle roll, a stark contrast to the rock and shudders of the previous two nights. We had finally crossed the Drake Passage. The Drake Passage sits between Cape Horn of South America and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. Here, three oceans - Pacific, Atlantic and Southern Ocean - converge making it one of the roughest stretches of water to navigate on the planet. You can pray for the Drake Lake, but most of the time you get the Drake Shake. The Island Sky was hoping to arrive at Elephant Island, the most easterly island of the South Shetlands and the place where Shackleton’s team were marooned but we deviated farther south to avoid a storm brewing in the area. We had regular swells of up to four metres with a few waves peaking over eight metres, but the crew insisted that the conditions were...

Syam Nath visited Dominica and the whale sanctuary with its unique families of sperm whales.   Syam leads the TT Cetacean Sighting Network (TTCSN). He encourages sightings to be reported to info@ttcsn.org or @ttcsn_org .   My recent expedition to Dominica was driven by a quest to gain deeper insight into conservation, eco-tourism, and the critical role of biodiversity. A brief 100-minute flight with Caribbean Airlines transported me to this unique destination, known as the Nature Isle. Dominica greeted me with its astounding geological wonders and breath-taking landscapes. I was immediately immersed in a world where nature’s rhythms are the heartbeat of life. The island’s lush greenery and rugged terrain promised a new perspective on environmental stewardship and an opportunity to observe how a small island nation is protecting the natural world.   Dominica's natural tapestry is a rich mosaic of flora and fauna, a living testament to the island'...

Joanne Husain goes to Guyana in search of wildlife and finds an oasis in the heart of the Upper Essequibo where the Yupukari Village is re-inventing how visitors interact with the land.    Caribbean tourism is estimated to be the single largest sector in terms of contribution to GDP, accounting for up to 80% in some Caribbean countries and directly employing over one million workers throughout the region. With only one percent of the world’s population, the Caribbean attracts at minimum three percent of global tourism arrivals and expenditure. Blue skies, white sands, and the bejeweled sea still prove irresistible to numerous visitors annually, but the tourism landscape is shifting.   Communities rather than conglomerates are the new hosts. Community-based Tourism (CBT) places the community at the centre of tourism planning, development and management. CBT aims to improve the residents’ quality of life by optimizing local economic benefits, prote...

  In big ecotourism destinations – Kenya, Guyana – visitors travel miles over a few days to catch a glimpse of their iconic species. Trinidad and Tobago, says Faraaz Abdool, offers different micro-climates and eco-systems short distances from each other. Plus, one of the highest densities of bird species in the world. Photos courtesy Faraaz Abdool   For a country that has been heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry, we can be forgiven for overlooking the ecotourism potential of these two tiny islands at the southern end of the Caribbean. From the perspective of the nature-based visitor though, here’s what brings Trinidad and Tobago to the top of the list.   When considering ecotourism – whether in the same country or another – mostly for the purpose of enjoying wildlife in their natural habitat, one tends to consider the most charismatic megafauna. Lions for their regal allure, elephants for their sheer size and complex social lives, and ...