All activities / Wildlife Safaris / Caroni Swamp
Wildlife Safaris in Caroni Swamp
A vast tidal mangrove wetland on Trinidad's west coast, just south of Port of Spain, laced with channels and lagoons and protected as a bird sanctuary. Each evening thousands of scarlet ibis, Trinidad and Tobago's crimson national bird, fly in to roost, turning the mangrove islands red at sunset in one of the Caribbean's great wildlife spectacles.
Why here
The scarlet ibis is Trinidad and Tobago's national bird, and the Caroni Swamp at sunset is where you meet it in force. The bird's colour is startling, a deep flame red it gets from the crabs it eats, and the whole point of a Caroni trip is timing. In the late afternoon a flat-bottomed boat carries you out from the boardwalk through a maze of mangrove channels, past caimans basking on the banks, tree boas coiled in the branches and herons and egrets stalking the shallows, to an open lagoon facing a small mangrove island. Then, as the light drops, the ibis arrive: hundreds and then thousands of them stream in from their feeding grounds and settle on the green island, and it slowly turns scarlet as if the tree is flowering. It is a short, easy, deeply memorable outing barely half an hour from central Port of Spain, run by boatmen who have watched these birds for generations, and it works as well for a family or a first-time birder as for a serious one.
Best months
The ibis roost in the swamp all year, so the sunset fly-in happens daily and the tour runs year round, leaving in the late afternoon to reach the lagoon around dusk. The drier months from about December to May give calmer, clearer conditions and easier birding, while the wet season brings more mosquitoes and the chance of an afternoon shower, so bring repellent and a light rain layer. Numbers at the roost vary night to night. Bring binoculars; the boats hold position at a respectful distance from the roost island.
Getting there & around
The Caroni Bird Sanctuary boardwalk is off the Uriah Butler Highway about a 30-minute drive south of Port of Spain, easy to reach by car or taxi. Tours leave once daily in the late afternoon and last around two and a half hours, returning after dark, so book ahead and arrive in good time for the boarding. No walking or fitness is involved beyond stepping into the boat. Bring insect repellent, water and binoculars.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (1)
Nanan's Eco Tours
OutfitterNanan's Eco Tours has run boat tours of the Caroni Swamp for more than sixty years, a family operation tracing back to Simon Nanan guiding visitors into the mangroves in the 1930s and to his son Winston, the naturalist for whom the sanctuary is named. Its flat-boats leave in the late afternoon and thread the channels to a lagoon opposite the roost, timing arrival for the ibis fly-in at dusk, past caimans, tree boas and herons. Tours run daily, about two and a half hours.