Wildfowl Trust
Located in Pointe-à-Pierre, Trinidad and Tobago, founded in 1966, the trust a non-profit organization contains two lakes and about 72 acres within the Petrotrin oil refinery.
Its goals are environmental education and public awareness; research, breeding and re-introduction programmes for locally endangered, wetland birds; improved environmental policies through lobbying; and the promotion and implementation of the wise use of natural resources.
Information on the Trust can be found at http://papwildfowltrust.org/ or on their Facebook page.
Part of educating the public, the organization gives tour, teaching about the animals and vegetation and the role each has in the eco system.
Our adventure this week took us on the tour of the wild fowl trust, around the lake and then into a nature trail.
As you enter the main building you are greeting Frankie a very friendly blue and gold Macaw that says hello as you enter.
The building has a lot of items on display, shells bones and snakes you can interact with.
They also have some souvenirs you can purchase to help raise funds to maintain the place.
This building was surrounded by a lot of flowers and trees, and some bird feeders, where you can see birds having their meal.
You can also see the very colourful peacocks strutting around the yard, enjoying the shade of the trees.
The Tour
Our tour began around the lake, where you can see different types of wild ducks. These ducks are dark in color not white like the ones we mind for food.
The tour guide explained that they Trust helps maintain the population but breeding and releasing them back into the wild.
He explained the different types and sizes of these ducks.
He also explained that these ducks helps keep the mosquito population down as they feed on the lava in the water, and they help keep the lilies in the pond clean.
We then met a caiman, which had been injured and they were nursing him back to health.
Got to see blue and gold macaws as they where quietly nesting.
He also show us the Anhinga also know as the snake bird, because when swimming only the head and neck are visible above water due to it’s low buoyancy and the neck has a “S” like appearance.
An because it’s feathers are not water-proof you can often see them roasting in the sun with wings spread open to dry.
Walking around the lake you can also see huge fishes swimming around they are so big you can see them from a distance.
Our Guide also explained a number of different flora and fauna to us, and then we took to the nature trail.
Nature Trail
The nature trail was a short two-kilometer walk, passed the second and much larger lake.
There we encountered a number of spiders and even one caiman chilling at the side of the lake.
We also saw one of those fines Tarzan would be swinging on, which apparently could hold up to two hundred pounds easy.
This walk took us through some bamboo and across a number of hills until we came to and Ajoupa what we call a carat shed or wigwam.
Here the guide explained to use will sitting in the Ajoupa that it was where the Amerindians use to have town meetings and weddings etc.
Then we finally made our way back to the first lake, where we then saw some Scarlet Ibis, T&T’s national bird and some white peacocks.
After which we made our way back to the main building, where we got to meet one of the BOA snakes.
It was a fun day amongst the wild animals, getting educated on our countries wild life and vegetation.
Some of the people with us, even ventured to picnic under the trees to finish of the day.
The area is nice and serene and perfect for that picnic, and for taking those amazing photos.