A walk in the Jungle

Last Sunday was very hot in Trinidad.  Our South African neighbour Caryn (she lives opposite us and has three kids about the same age as Kuba and Ally......they're all great friends) suggested a walk in Chaguaramas Forest.  We were happy to accept.....somewhere new for us to see, and something different to keep the kids amused.  So we all piled into the cars and followed Caryn.

We'd been to Chaguaramas before, a few weeks ago with Phil and Chris Morris, but only to a couple of bars at the Marina.  I say only: the bars were really nice, situated right on the bay, beautiful views, especially when the sun went down over the western tip of the island a couple of miles away, towards the unreachable (unless you have a boat) Scotland Bay, and the beer was excellent.  We'll certainly go there again.

Anyway, the forest is a different matter.  We turned off onto the road to Macqueripe Bay,and drove out past the Golf Course.  It's not a bad road, by Trini standards, straight and level, and with enough room for two vehicles to pass without scraping wing mirrors or worse.  Caryn took as all the way to the car park at the Bay, just to show us where it is (and recommended it - so we'll have to give it a try sometime), then doubled back about half a mile, before pulling in at a closed and padlocked gate.  We parked there, and walked along the road into the woods. 

It's part of the Chaguaramas National Park, so the road, at least here, is well maintained.  We walked for maybe a mile, and although the day was stonkingly hot, under the shade of the trees it was much cooler.  At one point, just before we turned back, there are huge bamboo tress on both sides of the road.  Some of the trunks (if you can call them that) were 30 or 40 metres high and as thick as my thigh, and arched right over the road like the eaves in a cathedral roof.  Every bunch of such trees had at least one (and often more) termite nest hanging from it, sometimes the size of a dustbin.  Quite extraordinary.  There were loads of different brighly coloured birds flying around, and bats....in the middle of the day (and I always thought they were nocturnal creatures!).

Kuba and Gracie....in the Bamboo Cathedral

We spent about an hour wandering around, and only saw about three other people, all cyclists.  Just beyond the Bamboo Cathedral, the road runs round to the left and steeply up a hill, at the top of which I'm told there are some old and ruined fortifications (the US Army leased this part of the island during WW2 for some reason), and spectacular views across the whole north western peninsula.....on one side Port of Spain, to the west the Scotland Bay area and its offshore islets, and to the north a good stretch of the coast road and Caribbean Sea beyond....so it's a very popular hiking and cycling destination for locals and tourists alike.  We gave it a miss, because dragging 5 kids under the age of 6 up a steep hill on a hot Sunday morning just to look at an admittedly spectacular view didn't seem like a good idea.  I'd love to do it sometime, though.

After that, we returned to the cars and drove about a mile back towards Chaguaramas, and turned left onto a road through an old and abandoned mango plantation.  The road was in a much worse state, in most places not much more than a muddy trail, but we bumped and jolted our way perhaps a mile along it until we came to a barrier that marked the extent of the road, and parked there.  From here, we headed off into real jungle...hardly even a footpath, pushing our way through head high ferns and undergrowth.  There were a lot noises coming from the jungle on either side of us, but we didn't see anything.  Then, after perhaps two-thirds of a mile, we came to a place where the undergrowth opened up a bit into something more resembling a path, and took the left fork.  A couple of hundred yards brought us a small and crystal clear stream flowing down through a rocky gorge.  Shoes off and into the water....the kids had a great time, and all got soaked (as kids should under such circumstances).  At one point a beautiful butterfly with blue, orange tipped wings the size of my hands flew past us, and there were dragonflies and birds everywhere.  It was a lovely spot.

My Jungle Prince....

The gang....



And My Jungle Princess....