Wild Tobago

Hike the Main Ridge in Tobago. Take the Gilpin to Bloody Bay trail and immerse yourself in an authentic Tobago experience that allows insight into why the forested backbone is so vital to the health of the island. Dr Anjani Ganase follows some waterfalls to the sea.   The Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve was declared protected in 1776 for one reason – water. Guided by the findings of English scientist Stephen Hales, who noted the correlation between t rees and rainfall; Soame Jenyns, a member of the British Parliament, convinced the lawmakers that the main ridge traps the water so vital to Tobago’s fertility, climate and island ecology. Over two hundred years later the importance of the Tobago Main Ridge – more than ever – continues to hold true.                                                View of Bloody Bay at the...

The foresight to conserve the Main Ridge Forest “for the security of rainfall” must be extended to the coasts downstream and the coral reefs offshore in order to safeguard the quality of life on Tobago. This is the lesson from islanders on Hawai‘i.  Dr Anjani Ganase (@AnjGanase) addresses the issue of upstream misuse and downstream consequences in an extended version of the article written for the XL Catlin Seaview Survey blog in 2015 (catlinseaviewsurvey.com). Follow @wildtobago on instagram, or wildtobago.blogspot.com for weekly articles in the Tobago Newsday. In 2015, our coral reef survey team from the University of Queensland went to the reefs along Moloka‘i Island, Hawai‘i. Along this coast, we noticed several low rock wall structures made from lava rock adjacent to the coral reefs. Our skipper pointed out these structures, explaining that the Hawaiians built them about 800 years ago to rear fish to feed the villages. In Molokai‘i, Hawai‘i, ancient loko kuapa (fishin...