Wild Tobago

Dr Anjani Ganase, marine scientist, discusses core elements for Tobago’s tourism product Buccoo beach is a beautiful stretch of coast - unmarred by concrete buildings - on the edge of Tobago’s 50-year designated marine park.   The beach begins west of the Buccoo Fishing Facility and is buttressed by a mangrove forest that protects the shore and provides shelter. The path parallel to the beach offers picturesque views of the wild mangroves on one side and beach and ocean on the other. Moving west along Buccoo Bay, you will arrive in the Marine Park, protected under national legislation. Indeed, all of the mangrove wetland is a Ramsar site, designated for their significant biodiversity, ecology and ecosystem services. Local obligations for Ramsar sites are management, monitoring for wise use.   Competing interests: horses, boats and beach bathers in the same space at Buccoo Bay. Photo by Anjani Ganase Beach Day at Buccoo A family heads to Buccoo Bay for ...

Shivonne Peters-McPherson discusses the changing face of the popular party site in the Buccoo Reef Marine Park. All photos courtesy Shivonne Peters-McPherson Tobago has long been known for her diverse, pristine and unique marine environments, spanning colourful coral reefs, dense mangroves and white sand beaches. This beauty propelled the island’s popularity in the 1990’s and 2000’s as an ‘unspoilt’ destination, perfect for visitors seeking a benign nature experience. Along the island’s south-western coastline, beaches such as Pigeon Point, Mount Irvine Bay and Store Bay are popular. Underwater adventures are found on coral reefs such as Kariwak Reef off Store Bay, or reefs off the northern coast such as Charlotteville and Speyside. Among Tobago’s top beaches, one specific beach is memorable, No Man’s Land.   In 2020, the occasional boat visited No Man’s Land     No Man’s Land is now a regular stop for food and liming on many tour operators’ itinera...

  Dr Anjani Ganase, marine biologist and coral reef scientist, begins a series on her early adventures by the sea. In this episode, she gets tumbled by the waves and learns the rhythm of the water. Children should spend time at the beach over the long vacation, with adults who love the sea.   Anjani vs the waves. Photo by Ranji Ganase Wild waves of Blanchisseuse. Photo by Pat Ganase. My first barrel roll I remember my first tumble by a wave, feet flying overhead, water up the nose, eyes are burning. Of course, this was Maracas, our beautiful North Coast beach known for its wild water. I was jumping over the surf but every now and then a big wave comes through. You can either retreat to the shore to be taken out in the attempt, or swim up its face only to be barrelled either way. Timing was everything, but I could never be faster than the big wave.   The tumbles underwater seem endless before a hand from above grabs me and pulls me out of the wave by my leg. I am dan...

  Faraaz Abdool puts the spotlight on the bird whose habitat is the mid-Atlantic and breeding ground the rocky islands off Tobago’s north.   The Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic is unique among all other seas as all its boundaries are oceanic. While the body of water itself was named after the ubiquitous sargassum seaweed found within it, there is a small, cryptic seabird that now carries this name: the Sargasso Shearwater. Its scientific name – Puffinus lherminieri - is in honour of the Guadeloupe-based French naturalist Félix Louis L’Herminier, who, with his son in his later years, spent considerable time studying the flora and fauna of the Caribbean.   An adult Sargasso Shearwater makes its way to its burrow. Photo by Faraaz Abdool Sargasso Shearwaters are pelagic birds, meaning that they are superbly adapted to life on the ocean. They are from the order of birds colloquially known as “tubenoses” which comprises four families of ocean wanderers: shearwaters, alba...

  Faraaz Abdool speaks in defence of the Cocrico which has flourished alongside Tobago’s development. What better credentials for a national bird?     Trinidad and Tobago is a unique and gifted nation. We are arguably the only country in the world with two national birds. Others have additional birds as national symbols, as do we, in the form of “the hummingbird”; 366 species of these glittering gems are scattered across the Americas, eighteen of which can be found on our islands. On our Coat of Arms, the Scarlet Ibis is prominently featured opposite the Rufous-vented Chachalaca, two national birds for two islands in one nation. As national birds, both creatures are supposed to enjoy a degree of protection and veneration. Yet one of these has drawn the ire of many; an issue which is as complex as our history.   A pair of young Cocrico prepare for a night's rest on a secure branch. Photo by Faraaz Abdool Known worldwide as the Rufous-vented Chachalaca, we lear...

The best way to understand and love the ocean is to be in it. Anjani Ganase encourages youngsters, and their parents, to explore the sea, starting at the edges. All photos by Anjani Ganase You do not have to be a swimmer to explore the ocean. Start on the beach, where the ocean meets the land, in the mangroves and at rocky intertidal pools. Most beaches and bays of Tobago are lined by rocky shores with tidal rock pools to explore. My favourite and the most developed rocky pool system is at Rocky Point in Mt Irvine. Here some rock pools are interconnected with deeper water channels that can be explored if you want to snorkel. In these rock pools, you are likely to find crabs scurrying over the rocks, barnacles, mussels, maybe tiny fish, an octopus and sometimes corals, algae and sponges. My favourite shore for exploring tide pools is at Rocky Point, Mt Irvine. Photo by Anjani Ganase   During low tide on calm days, I have explored the tide pools of Arnos Vale a...