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Main Wetlands in T&T
NARIVA SWAMP – 2022
Description of event
The road we had to take through Plum Mitan was winding, narrow and has minimal signage. At more than one point we were unsure if we were on the correct path despite using GPS so we stopped to ask an elderly man in the Biche village.
The next person we asked along the way did not know of Nariva Swamp either, but he knew exactly how to get to the Mayaro area from Biche so we followed his directions. We eventually reached and the tour guide excitedly greeted us and ran to start up his boat to take us down the swamp’s river. Before we were 5 minutes down the river Danraj Narine aka “Bobby” of Nariva Swamp Boat Tours, the tour guide started explaining the many species we were possibly about to see and explained that during the trip the tide which was then low, would begin to rise as the day progressed…
It was then at about 6ft deep and can rise to up to 12 ft deep – The first species we saw was the obvious mangroves which comprise both red and white mangrove.
A Spectacled Caiman and many species of birds seen; Pygmy Kingfisher, Golden headed Manakin, Pied Water Tyrants and Scaled Pigeons. After about half hour down the river we approached an island called Bush Bush island which is the nature walk aspect of the tour. The island spreads 334 hectares but we only walked a small portion.
Here we saw many tree species including Spiked Palm, Bullnose bats, we heard White Fronted Capuchins which apparently are omnivorous. We saw two wild Howler Monkeys, which are herbivorous but those images were poor quality.
The White fronted monkeys feed on baby birds, fruit, lizards and black conchs within the swamp. We saw Cascabels along the river as well as on the edge of the island, butterflies; Blue Emperor and Postman and Shelled Fungus. At night when the tide is higher and the pond on the island has more depth, anacondas up to 2ft in width come out to roam.
There are iguanas, agouti, lap, manicou and porcupines as well, based on our guide’s information. In addition, Red tailed Squirrels, Dragonflies and Mosquitoes were seen, the latter felt. There weren’t very many flowers but we surely saw Wild Heliconia alongside and old metal mesh cage where Blue and Gold macaws, up to seven years ago were kept for rehabilitation in to the area.
Cage once used for Blue and Gold Macaw reintroduction into the wild
Three termites’ nests were on the island which can get as big as 14-20 lbs in weight, similar to the bee hives – up to the week prior bees attacked visitors to the island on their hour long nature walk. We soon head back to the boat and toured a path parallel to where we were. This path was more open and allowed for a scenic boat ride during which Chandelle and I got to chat with Bobby.
While chatting we learned:
1. Manatees can be seen (if a separate tour is booked) on the other side of the swamp. We both previously knew of the presence of the manatees but assumed they would be seen on this tour.
2. This boat trip was Bobby’s second boat tour since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, with his first only being early November. He works for the Forestry Division as well but takes care of his hearing impaired uncle who lives with him.
Using this survey as a guide we interviewed Bobby to learn a bit more about the impacts of the Swamp on his community.
Challenges and opportunities
Challenges – The main road used to access the Nariva Swamp collapsed due to weather conditions which led to the area being flooded, the week the initial event was carded. This resulted in the visit being postponed which also meant the unavailability of most of the previous participants for upcoming dates, inclusive the initial transport company. We started off with a total of 12 participants (transport team included) for the 26th of November and ended up with only 2 on December 10th.
Usually it takes on average 1.5 to 2 hours one way to the Swamp however having to use alternative routes instead of driving time being 3 to 4 hours, it was 7 hours driving time and resulted in more than double the amount of gas money to be allocated.
The survey originally was to be made up of less questions and discussed with multiple people in the community but because there were less participants and barely anyone in the area at all, this could not take place.
Opportunities
Luckily, due to the drastic change in number of participants, we were able to donate what wasn’t used for the trip to the Manzanilla community during our visit.
Follow up plans and ideas:
We think that a great way to ensure the community’s continued/improved support is through awareness of location of Nariva Swamp to those along the alternative routes and in neighbouring villages and of services offered with the alternative routes that can be taken to get there as everyone we stopped to ask for directions had no clue where it was or how to get there. Social media is a great tool to do this!
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