Real Treasures At The Asa Wright Nature Centre In Trinidad

The Asa Wright Nature Centre is a small resort nestled in the Arima Valley rainforest (Country of Trinidad & Tobago). The Asa Wright Nature Centre and Lodge has also earned some admiring world attention. For decades, avid international birdwatchers have trekked there to experience one of Trinidad’s treasures; some come year after year. From hummingbirds, hawks and oil birds, to the beauty of waterfalls, mountain streams and lush tropical forest, it is one of Trinidad and Tobago’s special places. Armadillos, agouti, iguanas, tegu lizards and 29 species of bats live here, as well as the outstanding bird life for which the centre is famous. As for the wildlife found here, species include 97 native mammals, 400 birds, 55 reptiles, 25 amphibians, and 617 butterflies, as well as over 2200 species of flowering plants.

The centre, founded in 1967, is itself a reclaimed cocoa, coffee and citrus plantation. It is now focused on conservation and eco-tourism. It is an excellent natural history destination for students of tropical ecology, birdwatchers, tourists and citizens who want to escape city life and breathe in some of the rainforest beauty that forms part of our natural heritage. The centre also generates jobs for local communities, and is an excellent example of sustainable eco-tourism. A special group here, aims to raise much-needed funding for continued protection of the almost 1500 acres of protected land, and for expanded outreach and educational programs. There have been a few educational and outreach programs of the centre, including the Valley School Outreach Program which reaches students in 27 schools in the Arima area, educating young citizens about the value of their own rainforest riches. There is a need to protect and conserve Northern Range forests, as there can be piles of cascading rubble from destroyed habitats-the result of continued quarrying on the part of four area quarries, which has stripped bare, many areas in the forest and destroyed valuable parts of the ecosystems.

We definitely need more eco-tourism and nature reserves such as Asa Wright, to not only generate foreign exchange through eco-tourism, but also to provide employment, and to serve as valuable, unique centres of our own home-grown excellence and spiritual well-being. The Asa Wright Nature Centre has received eco-tourism awards such as the CCA award in 1992, for environmental conservation. In 2006, it received the Ministry of Tourism Excellence award and again in 2007, received the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago award for best-kept natural heritage site. Current programs at the Asa Wright Nature Centre include the Valley Schools Outreach Program. Workshops include using bamboo as a construction material, art, chocolate making, grant-writing guidelines, snake handling, customer service training, bat education, tour guiding, cocoa rehabilitation. There are also research projects that include malaise traps, camera traps, annual Christmas bird count, butterfly station, weather station, volunteer tree-planting, cocoa harvest and lodge maintenance programs. Future programs at the Asa Wright Nature Centre include a topographic survey of Spring Hill Estate, topographic mapping of all hiking trails, a freshwater fish-viewing trail, a survey of mammalian fauna, the building of a cocoa museum, establishing a bird-monitoring program and identifying and evaluating ecosystem services provided by the Asa Wright Nature Centre.

You can sign up to become a member of the Asa Wright Nature Centre. If you are interested in helping with funding to protect the wildlife sanctuary here at the Asa Wright Nature Centre, or if you are interested in volunteering for or sponsoring one of the outreach programs, please visit their website at http://www.asawright.org. You can also write to them at Spring Hill Estate, P.O. Box 4710, Arima, Trinidad, West Indies. Their phone number is (868) 667 4655.