Tobago
Tobago has an even more colorful history than its larger neighbor, Trinidad. Both islands were sighted by Columbus in 1498, the smaller one eventually named for its tobacco. The Spanish made no attempt to establish a permanent settlement on Tobago but the island subsequently changed hands on numerous occasions with English, French, Dutch and even Courlanders - merchant adventurers from Riga in the Baltic - claiming ownership at various times. In 1704, the island was declared neutral whereupon it quickly became a base for pirates operating in the eastern Caribbean. In two decades from 1763, the British imported ten thousand African slaves to work on a series of plantations established on the island, producing sugar, cocoa, cotton and indigo. We anchored before noon at the aptly-named Man O'War Bay, enjoying a delightful swim from the ship.
Our afternoon visits introduced us to the rich diversity of flora and fauna on the island. Some hiked to a nearby beach; other went snorkeling in the clear waters off Speyside. A third group went deeper inland, passing the cocoa plantation at Roxborough and its high school where the uniform of the students is chocolate brown, to walk the trails of the Main Ridge Forest Reserve. This reserve is one of the oldest protected rainforests in the Western Hemisphere, having been established in 1776 as a Crown Reserve by the then Governor of the island, Sir William Young, to conserve water on the islands for the benefit of the sugar producers. He had listened sympathetically to the appeals of a pioneer conservationist, one Mr Jennings. Donning rubber boots, we walked among the broad-leafed plants and tropical trees with their striking epiphytes, survivors of several severe hurricanes to hit the island, notably those of 1792, 1847 and 1963. It was after the latter that the approach road we used was built, replacing the former ridge trail formerly used to bring production from the plantations to the ports on the backs of donkeys and now serving as the splendid nature trail. Among the birds spotted were: white-tailed sabre-winged hummingbirds, orange-winged parrots, yellow-legged thrushes, bananaquits and the blue-crowned mot-mot.
Tobago has an even more colorful history than its larger neighbor, Trinidad. Both islands were sighted by Columbus in 1498, the smaller one eventually named for its tobacco. The Spanish made no attempt to establish a permanent settlement on Tobago but the island subsequently changed hands on numerous occasions with English, French, Dutch and even Courlanders - merchant adventurers from Riga in the Baltic - claiming ownership at various times. In 1704, the island was declared neutral whereupon it quickly became a base for pirates operating in the eastern Caribbean. In two decades from 1763, the British imported ten thousand African slaves to work on a series of plantations established on the island, producing sugar, cocoa, cotton and indigo. We anchored before noon at the aptly-named Man O'War Bay, enjoying a delightful swim from the ship.
Our afternoon visits introduced us to the rich diversity of flora and fauna on the island. Some hiked to a nearby beach; other went snorkeling in the clear waters off Speyside. A third group went deeper inland, passing the cocoa plantation at Roxborough and its high school where the uniform of the students is chocolate brown, to walk the trails of the Main Ridge Forest Reserve. This reserve is one of the oldest protected rainforests in the Western Hemisphere, having been established in 1776 as a Crown Reserve by the then Governor of the island, Sir William Young, to conserve water on the islands for the benefit of the sugar producers. He had listened sympathetically to the appeals of a pioneer conservationist, one Mr Jennings. Donning rubber boots, we walked among the broad-leafed plants and tropical trees with their striking epiphytes, survivors of several severe hurricanes to hit the island, notably those of 1792, 1847 and 1963. It was after the latter that the approach road we used was built, replacing the former ridge trail formerly used to bring production from the plantations to the ports on the backs of donkeys and now serving as the splendid nature trail. Among the birds spotted were: white-tailed sabre-winged hummingbirds, orange-winged parrots, yellow-legged thrushes, bananaquits and the blue-crowned mot-mot.
