Caroni Bird Sanctuary Tour

I recently went on this tour for the first time in my life. It was more than worth the price and effort. The tour is offered all year round and on almost every day. The site is on the right heading north by the Caroni exit, Solomon Hochoy Highway. There is a large parking lot which is visible from the highway that is free to use. South of the parking lot is a road leading to the tour operators and to the Caroni Swamp Visitor Centre. The area with the operators has a parking area also that can hold at least 25 cars. The Centre is at the end of the road and is free to enter.

I chose to go with Nanan's tours (http://www.nananecotours.com/). It was $50(TT) a person and left promptly at 4pm. I called in the reservation and paid on entry. There were multiple boats from the company leaving around the same time. A boat holds about 35 people, there are rows of benches along the boat and the seats were comfortable and padded. The floor was soft to walk on, there was some kind of rubber perhaps.We could have carried coolers, snacks, food, anything we wanted to.

Driving out along the river there were people fishing and liming on the banks. The funniest encounter was a little boy who said "Hola!". There was no fee to lime on the river bank and fish. The driver was explaining about the mangrove and birds and crabs along the way. The is an old sluice gate that was abandoned and the broken pieces remain. Further along the trees grew over the river and one of the branches had a sleeping snake. The boat went out deeper into the swamp area and the area was very scenic. There was one bird with a fish in its claws perched on a tree. There were Great Egrets, Blue Herons and of course the star of the show the Scarlet Ibis. We went through the maze of water passages around small islands and saw the natives along the way. There is a large wooden tower that visitors used to climb up but it is now dilapidated and climbing is prohibited.

Eventually all the tour boats parked alongside each other and waited for the birds to come in. The spot we 'parked' in was directly below the flight path of landing aircraft for the Piarco International Airport. When planes flew overhead the birds were disturbed by the noisy engines and flew away. The operators mention 'thousands' of birds, but we saw a couple hundred. We did not park very close to the bank/mud flat the birds were landing on so I was very glad I had my camera. We would see birds coming in overhead and around us. Binoculars and a high zoom camera are a must.

The boat pushed off around 630pm. and we were back on land at about 6.45pm. On the way back I got a couple mosquito bites. Mosquitoes need fresh water to live in and the swamp is inundated by the sea so it is salt water. I suppose as the fresh water is coming down the river they are able to breed there. I was disappointed at the end on leaving the boat about what welcomed me back. There was the same empty shed and benches I saw when I first arrived. There was nobody selling t-shirts, key chains, post cards, stuffed toys, shot glasses etc. I would have even taken some comfort in a doubles man.. but there was nothing at all. Just my car to go back to. This is a major fault and should be fixed. Perhaps in the Visitor Centre there are things for sale, but most people will not go to the Centre and the tour together. Like most other people on the boat, the first time we heard about the Centre was when we saw it from the boat while on the tour and by the time the tour is done it would be closed. There is a large billboard on the highway advertising the operator, and a small blue and white sign mentioning the Swamp. Last year there were brown and white signs put up across the country to point to tourist landmarks. I think this deserves a much larger sign on the highway. Along the entrance road is a billboard about the swamp but you have to look southward to see it, as is it aligned west to east.

 Of the five or six boats that I saw in the swamp, all except one was filled with all foreigners. The foreigners were mostly elderly couples and with a tourist operator. They had their cameras and binoculars, but no brochures, jerseys, maps etc.. what a loss. This was one evening that at least 150 people passed through that one spot and it seemed like just the operators profited. This was very poor Ministry of Tourism.

The tour was orderly and well executed. I felt completely safe throughout the entire thing. The boat ride was smooth, there are no waves in the swamp, except those from other boats in the area. I would definitely recommend this to everyone.

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Topics:
Tour cost price information review experience for boat ride
Caroni bird swamp tour
Caroni swamp boat guided tour
Caroni river ride to see birds
River water tour in Trinidad and Tobago