Rainforest

When Gerald and I were in Tobago, we were determined to go to the rainforest, which is why we found ourselves up at 05.00 one morning, rather bleary eyed. We were meant to go with a group of people, but they didn't show up, so we ended up with the guide all to ourselves. He was one of those people who was crazy about birds, the feathered variety I hasten to add, he was so enthusiatic for us to see all these colourful creatures, he could identify them just by their sounds and could spot them in the foliage even when they were so well camouflaged. There are many different species of birds found in Tobago, he took great pains to teach us all the names of the birds that we saw, not that I can remember any of them, and it was so interesting to watch them all. The most unique and fascinating bird we saw was one that literally danced on the branches of the trees, trying to attract a mate, it had a kind of routine that it repeated over and over again. If we'd just gone there on our own we would never have even known about all the birds, and since there weren't that many other animals left in the rainforest, we might have come away a bit disappointed. Apparently before the rainforest became protected, all it's animals were hunted out for food. The only other thing we saw was a very beautiful snake that was lying dead on the side of the road.

I enjoyed being in there though, the foliage was very thick, we needed wellies and big sticks to help us walk around, and there were lots of little streams and waterfalls. There was a certain peacefulness in there, very comfortable. When we fianlly emerged from there a few hours later, I was sorry that the experience was over.