Wild Tobago

Ryan Mannette provides commentary on the first public consultation for a hotel development by Superior Hotels of Trinidad and Tobago at Rocky Point in Mt Irvine. Ryan Mannette is a Tobagonian, a marine scientist, and a Director of the NGO SpeSeas that advocates for marine conservation and awareness.   The public consultation was highly anticipated.   Arrival an hour early was not unusual as there were several persons already registered and in their seats at the Buccoo Multipurpose Facility. Closer to the start time, people continued to file in. The numbers were impressive, every seat was filled, then walls were lined, doors were blocked (people were relocated) and persons were standing in the courtyard outside where a speaker was mounted. There were close to 200 attending - more persons than at the Toco port EIA consultations three years ago. People from the communities around Mt Irvine, including Pleasant Prospect , people from the surfing community wea...

Far too often, we feel that uninhabited land is of no importance to anyone and its “use” displaces no one. Faraaz Abdool makes a plea for the visible and invisible creatures of Tobago’s Rocky Point peninsula. All photos by Faraaz Abdool. From space, it is a rough peninsula dotted with vegetation between two notable beaches – Mt Irvine and Stonehaven - on Tobago’s Caribbean coast. From a vehicle coasting along the contours of the smoothly surfaced Shirvan Road, Rocky Point’s largely undisturbed secrets pass by in seconds. A closer look reveals aspects of this easily ignored spit that can teach us about the significance of this location. If we aren’t careful, we could easily lose the habitat of some special Tobago birds. The dry forest at the side of the road is the typical near-coastal vegetation of southwest Tobago. Dominated by medium-height trees, only the loudest birds can be heard over the pounding surf. But the wind carries songs of the endearing Barred Ants...