10 independent reviews for Trinidad & Tobago nature holiday
Reviews for Trinidad & Tobago nature holiday
Graham Jones review 27 Mar 2024
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Photographing humming birds. Seeing Scarlet Ibis roost and flamingos in evening light at Caroni Marsh -from our own boat! Swimming outside our room in Tobago Seeing Oil birds in Trinidad at Asa Wright2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Just enjoy! A realy good trip well put together.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Absolutely. We visted major and minor willdife hot spots. Tobago was superb and the The Asa Wright center on Trinidad was wonderful .4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Excellent. Well designed and carried out perfectly.Darren Burge review 7 Feb 2024
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
At the Asa Wright Nature Centre we went on several excellent guided evening walks with guests from Trinidad and other countries with shared interests all having a good time. We saw a variety of creatures - including a snake, scorpion, bats, different sized spiders and other intersting insects.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
If visiting Yerrette hummingbird garden, arrive early so you can take plenty of photos of the birds before Theo starts his talk. Consider booking a smaller boat for a better view if exploring the Caroni Swamp. Visiting the Nariva Swamp and Bush Bush Nature Reserve, cover up well with long trousers and long sleeves, use plently of insect repellant and take it with you. Take a small torch to enhance viewing on the evening walks at the Asa Wright Centre and try to avoid room 4 which has steep steps and a lack of a view and daylight.When flying from Tobago to Trinidad it can be handy to have a drink and snack with you before you enter Tobago airport as flights can be delayed and cancelled and there is nowhere inside to buy anything. Also useful to have a couple of books for delays and downtime.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes, we used local guides and local transport, visited local attractions and stayed mainly in local guest houses.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday. We met other guests from around the world and got to know some of the local people who were lovely and friendly.Neil Riley review 7 Feb 2024
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Seeing the Scarlet Ibis coming in to roost at Caroni Swamp.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Wear long trousers on all of the walks to avoid bites around the ankles.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
We were pleased to stay at independent local hotels and having local guides as we felt this was ensuring a greater contribution to the local economy. Similarly our visits to local conservation projects were informative and interesting.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
The operator provided excellent local guides and their expert knowledge of the birds and animals made a real difference in making the holiday so enjoyable. Each day was well planned and all of our guides and drivers were friendly, punctual and provided lots of information about the localities we were travelling through as well as for the destinations.John Walford review 27 Jun 2024
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
At Cuffie River, I slept with the doors open so at night, bats regularly flew round the room collecting moths.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
If you go in the rainy season, be prepared for mosquitos.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
There were a few drawbacks to my experience but I expect a group trip with the same itinerary would be very successful.Gretchen Nicholoff review 12 Mar 2024
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Stay at Asa Wright. Birds and exceptional staff to help us find them!2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
3 nights at AsaWright is not long enough...see if you can stay 4 or 5 days. Blue Waters Inn is certainly in a beautiful setting, but after our staff interactions at Asa Wright, we felt a touch of indifference or unhappiness in some of the staff, hastening to say the nature guides we had at Blue Waters were quite wonderful!3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
We hope it did, but I fear our airplane rides were not very earth-friendly.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
It was wonderful. Excellent work by the operator. We never felt abandoned and were always treated very well. Pick-ups and drop-offs went very smoothly, always something we get concerned about while traveling.Valerie Walker review 25 Mar 2023
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Watching the leatherback turtle coming ashore to lay her eggs and the tropic birds at Little Tobago Island and all the hummingbirds we saw were all memorable.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Take plenty of cream for bites and plasters as you will inevitably get bitten standing around on forest trails and in long grass. Pharmacies are not that easy to find particularly on Tobago where there are none to the East of Scarborough. Also get local currency because some of the small traders and people who run the boat trips do not take credit cards.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
It certainly supported some of the locals as tourism has not fully recovered from the pandemic and some places were obviously short of tourists. One thing we thought could have been changed was taking an internal flight between Trinidad and Tobago with 3 hour check in and weight restrictions on hand luggage. Would it not have been better/cheaper to catch the ferry?4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Overall very good,the guides and all the transfers were excellent who went out of their way to make our holiday special.Read the operator's response here:
Catching the ferry between Trinidad and Tobago is an option, but there are some notable drawbacks. It is slower (the ‘fast’ ferry is a 3 hour crossing with a 2 hour check-in – so 5 hours in all), sea conditions can be rough, and the timetable can vary unexpectedly. Most travellers choose to fly. It’s a reliable, inexpensive service and the flight time is just 20 minutes. The carry-on allowance (in addition to hold luggage) is rather generous - a 10kg bag plus one other item such as a handbag, backpack, laptop bag or camera bag.
Catherine Lee-Elliott review 24 Feb 2020
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The knowledge of the Naturalists and their ability to identify birds after only the merest glimpse of them passing overhead at high speed ! The courtship performance of the blue backed manikins in Tobago was both amusing and marvellous. The motmot was also a magnificent site to behold. Trip to Little Tobago was interesting as was the sea getting there. Cuffie River resort was fantastically peaceful as we were the only guests staying there at the time.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
In Trinidad don’t stay for the full visit at Yerrettes - do a short version without the lunch and the lectures! Lunch was good but the lectures too long. Could easily be shortened by couple of hours. Be prepared for more laid back approach to things and timings in Tobago. Expect things to happen Caribbean style. The ocean at Speyside was particularly rough while we were there so snorkelling off the beach or even much swimming for that matter. Additionally the Blue Waters Inn may be close in mileage terms to Speyside but it is definitely not an easy stroll there & back. The terrain is quite hilly for anyone not pretty fit.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
I think the local people involved in the hotel trade and birding tours are doing ok out of our trip but we didn’t access any local shops etc. We did however use a taxi once or twice to go out to eat to make a change from the hotel. The fact that visitors are interested in the local bird life and other creatures probably does help to preserve their environment and encourages the locals to discourage hunting and habitat destruction.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Very good indeed apart from the inability to fly direct in to Trinidad and out of Tobago. Having to stop for a crew change at St Lucia on the way out and Antigua on the way back made the travel time to the Caribbean unpleasantly long especially as the UK terminal was Gatwick. British Airways did not cover themselves in glory either as they split 3 of us (travelling together) up despite being on the same booking ref and having upgraded to Traveller plus. Not impressed by that.David Davies review 30 Apr 2019
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Leatherback turtles nesting and the many birds.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Lots of suncream and insect repellent are essential. It's hot so don't expect to rush around like you might in the UK. Don't expect accommodation to be to quite such high standards as the UK - we found lights missing bulbs for example. You need to relax and go with it, no problems were major. Everyone was very friendly and helpful.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
The guides were all local and without exception excellent. Many of the accommodation venues were conservation focussed and hopefully our payments will help to maintain these wonderful places for future visitors. T&T are only just beginning with recycling etc. so I am not convinced that our trips reduced environmental impact.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Excellent. Well put together with the right length of time in each place and the right order of places to stay. Local support first class.Liz Crowther review 17 Apr 2019
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
There were lots of memorable moments. Highlights included seeing turtles come up onto the beach at Grande Riviere to lay their eggs, visiting Yerette humming bird garden, going along to rehearsals of a couple of steel pan bands in Port of Spain and spending time on the beautiful beach at Pirates Bay near Charlottesville, Tobago.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Take a good set of binoculars - the birds are truly amazing (and we are not really birders...). Take plenty of mosquito repellent for walks in the rainforest and elsewhere. Time your visit so that you get to see the turtles. If you want to visit the pitch lake (we did), be aware that is entails quite a long car journey from Port of Spain.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
The guides and drivers were all local people who were extremely informative and very helpful. By visiting Grande Riviere we were able to support the turtle conservation programme and also the new chocolate making initiative. Likewise, staying at ASA Wright meant we were supporting their education programme. As far as reducing environmental impact is concerned, we did do a fair bit of driving to get from one place to the next so I don't think we helped reduce carbon emissions in any way. Our impression is that, as a country, Trinidad and Tobago has not really embraced the notion of re-cycling but we tried to do our bit by re-filling water bottles etc.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
We had a great holiday.Peter Pinfield review 9 Feb 2017
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
there was a highlight nearly every other day because we were moving around and we had so much to see and experience2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
double up on insect repeliant !3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
it was very locally based, very much eco friendly which is what we wanted4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Excellent, informative, very knowledgeable guides and rangersHoliday Reviews
You can trust Responsible Travel reviews because, unlike many other schemes, reviews can ONLY be written by people who we have verified have been on the holidays. In addition, we don't run these holidays ourselves - our only interest is giving you the best independent advice.
