Mahase (and Jogi) Ramlal
3-3/4 M.P. Blanchisseuse Road
Arima, Trinidad, West Indies
(868) 681-1865
We booked our twelve-day and seven-day (including travel) trips with Caligo Ventures (contact for Caligo is at the bottom of this section). Here are some tips and suggestions based upon our experience:
Accommodations: The rooms at Asa Wright Nature Center are simple but clean and nice. A fan is provided but air conditioning is not available. The food is plentiful with limited selection at the buffet (but enough so that most of us gained weight). Vegetarians are readily accommodated. You can eat and drink anything provided by the staff at Asa Wright; we did and experienced no difficulties at all. Most rooms require quite a walk to reach the center (ours required going up 78 steps; because of rheumatoid arthritis we requested and received a closer room on our second trip). Coffee and tea are provided in the early morning on the veranda as you watch birds, as is coffee, tea and a snack at 4:00 in the afternoon. There is a complimentary rum punch at 6:00 before dinner (mmmm!). One- to two-day laundry service is available. The staff was uniformly courteous and helpful. As examples: one man went out of his way to find a small socket wrench set to help me fix my tripod; my medicine requires refrigeration and was stored in the refrigerator and provided to me when needed; I needed extra towels and received them daily without difficulty; and Asa Wright guides were often available on the veranda to help wityh bird identification. Best of all, in one day on the veranda at Asa Wright a birder new to tropical birding will easily get 20 life listers (if not more).
Our accommodations at the Blue Waters Inn in Tobago were slightly nicer than the rooms at Asa Wright, and they had air conditioning. The food was more varied (you order from a menu), with some items requiring extra payment. The setting on the beach is outstandingly beautiful.
Guides: Our guide on Trinidad was Mahase Ramlal on the first trip. He was outstanding, the best guide any of us has ever had. He managed well with a group that ranged from knowing the birds well to not knowing many at all, from being able to walk all day to having difficulty getting in and out of the van, and from just wanting to see birds to wanting to see and photograph them. We all liked Mahase very much, and were all exceedingly pleased with the job he did for us. We were told by other tourists his father, Jogi Ramlal, is just as good. One very knowledgeable birder from another group stated "Jogi looks like he knows nothing, but he knows everything." On our secoind trip our guides were Jogi Ramlal and his brother Roodal Ramlal. My most important suggestion would be to try to have either Mahase or Jogi Ramlal as your guide for the tours away from the Asa Wright Nature Center. On our first trip I personally left Trinidad for Tobago having seen 145 bird species in seven days, and I am slow to get birds in my binoculars and was taking photographs as well.
Mahase and Jogi each offered some nightime birding for an additional fee (20 to 30 US$ per person depending upon how many go). It is worth every penny! Among other birds we saw the pootoo, common barn owl, tropical screech owl, pauraque, and white-tailed nightjar.
Our guide on Tobago was Adolphus James. Mahase was a hard act to follow, so lets look at the results: Aldolphus also accommodated well to our group, and we saw most of the birds one would wish to see on Tobago, including the blue-backed mannikin, the yellow-legged thrush, the white-throated spadebill, and a nesting white-tailed saberwing. It was great!
While on Tobago, we met another guide, Newton George. While we can not vouch for his services, others who used him thought he did very well.
Our guide to Little Tobago was Frank (of Frank's Tours). Frank took us to within five feet of nesting red-billed tropicbirds and Audubon's shearwaters, and within easy view of a nesting red-footed booby and chick. Great photo opportunities not to mention the views of red-billed tropicbirds soaring over the cliffs and ocean. We had good views of a reef with numerous tropical fish and corals. Getting in and out of the boat was slightly difficult, but I did it with my arthritis and would gladly do it again. One of our party paid 20 US$ extra for a 40-minute snorkling trip over a reef near Little Tobago Island, and was positive about the experience. Frank is very likeable.
Trinidad & Tobago: The scenery in Trinidad & Tobago is beautiful. The people are friendly. The birds are beautiful and varied (though not so varied as in Costa Rica), making Trinidad & Tobago a good introductiopn to tropical biurd watching. Trinidad & Tobago has 110 volt power and compatible electric plugs with what we normally use in the USA. Driving is on the left hand side of the very narrow and winding roads. I personally would not want to drive myself in Trinidad & Toibago. Most places will accept US currency, though having some TT$ is helpful. The exchange rate (September 2004) was about 6 TT$ for each US$. You will need 100 TT$ per person (or a major credit card) to leave Trinidad.
Trinidad (even in the dry season) is hot, averaging a high of about 86 degrees F each day, then down to about 72 at night. Dry season or no, on our March 2002 it showered most days with the rest of the day being sunny. It simply did not rain (despite it being the rainy season) and was very hot and humid on our September 2004 trip. I wore sun screen SPF 35 every day, including on the top of my starting-to-bald head. Furthermore, I believe we saw a wider variety of birds (including the chestnut woodpecker) in March.
One wants to wear a tan T-shirt and shorts. Our research prior to the trip suggested that one should wear long pants to protect against chiggers; in March 2002 and September 2004 we all wore shorts and encountered no chiggers. Hamase Kamlel (our guide) said he would tell us if we needed long pants, but it was never necessary, perhaps because we never went wading through tall grass. I would have saved some weight in my heavy suitcase if I had not taken along those four pairs of long pants! On the other hand, we all had some insect bites. I used nearly pure DEET everywhere we went, and had only a few bites.
You can buy film in various places in Trinidad & Tobago, but film processing is expensive. I successfully used lead bags to protect my film in my carry-on bag (it was going to be searched anyway because of the big 400mm camera lenses I use). This was not an issue on our second trip as boith Joan and I used just digital cameras. We were unable to find compact flash or smart media anywhere we travelled, and fortunately had plenty of storage with us (we took over 4000 photos).
Our reading before the trip suggested problems with crime on Trinidad, but not on Tobago. We encountered no problems anywhere, including when one member of our group left her bag (and money) behind by mistake, and another left a telescope behind in a restroom; all was returned. I believe the biggest problem is in Port of Spain at night away from the center of town; the itinerary did not take us there. Asa Wright provided a guard the one time we went to an abandoned airport for night birding, and again we had no problems.
Make the trip! The entire trip was great! My wife and I highly recommend it to any birder or bird photographer. We were told and then experienced that it is a good way to start tropical birdwatching. Although I studied 350 birds before going to Trinidad, Costa Rica required knowing many more.
Want to ask me some questions about the trip? Just click here and I will be glad to respond.
Do you like watching birds? Never done any tropical bird watching? Don't wait! Go to Trinidad and Tobago! Start with a visit to www.caligo.com. Or email Margaret at margaret@caligo.com. They put together a wonderful birding tour.