I Came Home To Tobago: April 2009

Saturday, 18 April 2009

Harris Jungle Tours & Accommodation

My name is Harris Mc Donald and I will inform you, entertain you and educate you
about Tobago´s culture and tradition. I will show you the historical sites,
hidden trials and the protected rainforest.
In the year 2003 this forest was voted internationally as the number one rainforest in the world.

Here is a selection of the Tobago sightseeing island tours I offer:

RAINFOREST WALK/ BIRDWATCHING WALK

Get a glimpse into the extensive wild life of the oldest protected rainforest in the world from white tailed sabre wings (Campylopterus ensipennis) to the blue grey Tanager (Thraupis episcopus)
US $ 45.00 TT $ 270.00

FULL DAY COMBINATION

Enjoy an early morning rainforest walk, look forward to a picnic breakfast, then snorkel it off at Angel Reef in Speyside, relax over lunch at the Tree House, then end the day with a drive into Charlotteville and a visit to the Argyle waterfalls.
US $ 95.00 TT $ 570.00

LITTLE TOBAGO

Take a ride in a glass bottom boat to a natural habitat of a variety of migration seabirds, then snorkel at Angel Reef and get a glimpse of the largest brain-coral in the western hemisphere. Stop in between for lunch at the famous Tree House.
US $ 70.00 TT $ 420.00

HARRIS SPECIAL

Enjoy a personalized day throughout Tobago with a visit to Fort King George, Argyle waterfalls and some snorkeling at Angel Reef or Lover´s Bay Reef with lunch at the Tree House.
US $ 75.00 TT $ 450.00

RAINFOREST AT NIGHT

Let your imagination run wild with a visit to our rainforest. Chance an encounter with Douen, La Diablesse, or Papa Bois, protector of the animals.
US $ 50.000 TT $ 300.00 prices subject to change

CHARLOTTEVILLE FOREST

Spend the night on the edge of the island then take a ten-hour walk into the forest of Charlotteville.
Enquire about pricing

SPECIALS

TURTLE WATCHING

From April to July see Leather Back Turtles as they come home to lay the eggs of the new generation.

SHOPPING TRIPS

to the capital of Tobago.

SUNDAY SCHOOL

Transport to the Sunday evenning dance event with steel band live music.
Enquire about pricing

Ask about day tours to the Sister Isle. Each tour is arranged on a personal basis and designed to suit your needs. My tour details are flexible. I look forward to meet you in Tobago....

EMail : harris_jungle@hotmail.com

Phone : 868 639-0513 (home)

Cell : 868 759 0170

Visit my main website at www.harris-jungle-tours.com

Turtle Friendly Links

The people and places that support our efforts.... thank you for supporting them!

Our Favourite Tour Guides - Turtle Watching and More!

Harris Jungle Tours (868) 759-0170
Tour Tobago (868) 477-4795
Ellis Clarke (868) 682-9147

Cosy Black Rock Guesthouses Near The Beach

Birdie’s Nest
Auldwyn Lyndsay Apartments (868) 635-0623
Duke Robinson’s Apartments (868) 639-8626

Villas Near The Nesting Beaches

Cool Places To Eat and Drink and Other Things To Do in Tobago

Kariwak Village - hotel and restaurant near the airport, great food, yoga and massage.

The Fish Pot - lunch and icecream near in the lively village of Pleasant Prospect next to the main nesting beaches plus dinner and entertainment on Friday (868) 635-1728.
Signature Lounge - next door to Fish Pot poetry, pool, drinks and more!
La Tartaruga - Fine wines and Italian cuisine in Buccoo
Slow Leak Mountain Bike Tours.
Tobago is a small (26 by 6 miles / 42 by 10 km) idyllic tropical holiday island situated in the south-eastern corner of the Caribbean. It lies close to the South American Coast with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other.

The mean air temperature ranges between 23°- 32° Celsius (73°-90° Fahrenheit). The dry season lasts from middle December to end of May and the wet season from June to December. Tobago is a paradise for nature lovers with its rich flora, fauna and the large number of birds. There are more birds per square mile than any other island in the Caribbean, approximately 330 different species. English is the official language used in Tobago.

The following pages show you what Tobago has to offer through the eyes of a tobagonian TTTIC certified tour guide. My name is Harris Mc Donald and I was voted tourguide of the year 2002 and 2005. I will inform you, entertain you and educate you about Tobago´s culture and tradition. I will show you the historical sites, hidden trails and the protected rainforest. In the year 2003 and 2004 this forest was voted internationally as the number one rainforest in the world.

Here is a selection of the sightseeing island tours I offer:
TRINIDAD ****

ONE DAY NATURE TRIP AND SHOPPING See Asa Wright Nature Center and the Caroni Bird Sanctury in Trinidad. Enjoy the shopping in Port of Spain. US $ 150.00 TT $ 900.00

TOBAGO *****

Ask about day tours to the Sister Isle. Each tour is arranged on a personal basis and designed to suit your needs. My tour details are flexible. I look forward to meeting you in Tobago....

...and now enjoy the Tobago sightseeing island tour and the picture gallery on the following pages....

Charlotteville

Little Sister

Parlatuvier

Scarborough

Update
Harris Guest House - Summary Description
5 room Guesthouse. Reader Satisfaction Rating
Owned and run by Harris McDonald, a popular lifeguard at Store Bay who also runs Harris' Jungle Tours, the Harris Guesthouse could offer friendly and hospitable accommodation to visitors if you don't mind a short journey to the beaches.
Detailed Description
Website extracts and/or information supplied by Harris Guest House
Harris jungle house ...
Hello and welcome to my family-owned and run "guest house".
The property is located in Canaan, Golden Grove Road, a small quiet village near the western coast of Tobago. With the rural neighbourhood my customers experience life among the hospitable people of Tobago. Come in and have a look ..........
After the pick up at the airport you can choose from 5 different guest rooms all with private facilities and refrigerator:
2 Air-conditioned family rooms sleeping up to 4 adults each with cable TV.
3 Air-conditioned suites accommodating 2 persons each.
The prices do not include breakfast but can be provided for you on request. There are no taxes or service charges.
From the two bedrooms shown below, you have direct access to the garden. Here in the garden you find a cosy corner for a rest after your daily activities. There are caribbean varieties of fruit and flowers. Watch the humming birds and enjoy the quiet tropical country athmosphere.

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Size: 26km x 9km
Population: 52,000
Capital: Scarborough
Language: English
Currency: TT$
Climate: 20C - 32C
Electricity: 110v
Time: - 5 hours GMT

Millions of years ago, TOBAGO was part of the South American mainland. Geologically, unlike the Caribbean islands you know, TOBAGO is an Eden - flora and fauna in abundance, nothing too fierce and countless species of flowers, birds and butterflies.
The Main Forest Ridge, the island's jungle-topped spine, has been a protected reserve since 1776! Making it the oldest example of eco-conciousness in the Western Hemisphere.
TOBAGO has always been coveted. Christopher Columbus came upon it in 1498. It passed from Spanish control to British in 1580. Thereafter, with the Dutch and French joining in, it was battled over constantly, finally being ceded to Britain after the fall of Napoleon in 1814.
TOBAGO is SO very beautiful! Early in the year, for example, the Immortelle trees blossom and swatches of bright orange are everywhere - luxuriant by the roadside, explosions of colour on the distant hillsides. It's a sight everyone should see at least once.

Eden Revisited. Travel inland from the beaches and what awaits you?
Waterfalls, hung with jungle fronds, made for bathing - ask for Goldsborough, Argyle, King's Bay.
Rainforest, thick with vegetation, alive with the sound of birds, the iridescent flash of butterflies, the colour and delicacy of orchid, heliconia and hibiscus. Tours are available, friendly guides only too happy.
Villages, high on mountain-tops, overlooking vast expanses of sea on one side, rolling hill and dale on the other. (Make sure you pass through Moria.)
Old cocoa plantations, citrus orchards, sudden vistas, waving school children. All this TOBAGO offers you - along with regular parlours should you require refreshment. (The people will be delighted to explain the virtues of the coconut-drop or the bene ball.)

Classic Caribbean. If you're looking for somewhere idyllic to lie for the first day or two - somewhere that eases the mind as it warms the skin - come to Pigeon Point. Here, palms sway above you, the turquoise sea shimmers before you, glass-bottomed boats put the reef beneath you.
Some hundreds of yards off Pigeon Point is the Nylon Pool, where the clearest blue water you've ever seen shimmers, at a regular depth of only four feet, over an acre of white sand.
TOBAGO is ringed with bays and hidden villages. From Charlotteville in the north, to Parlatuvier and Castara in the centre, to Grafton Beach and Store Bay in the south, choose your own personal cove.
Beach life is simple. TOBAGO is not the place where drinks come with giant umbrellas! Beautiful people are welcome, but TOBAGO is not a fashion show. It's a place for recalling life as it was meant to be.
Sometimes full of laughter. Sometimes contemplative. Always peaceful.

Sub-Aquatic
TOBAGO is a largely unexplored scuba heaven. Here are giant Manta Rays, with a wingspan of 12 feet, ready to interface. A dive-spot off Little Tobago, in the north-east, is their favoured meeting-place. Here a brain coral the size of a house! Here is the famous Buccoo Reef, offering squirrel-fish, parrot-fish, trigger-fish, angel-fish in depths of five feet and under for the more snorkel-orientated, and even those who prefer to remain in the boat! Here is visibility of 130-150 feet, in waters warmed and enriched by the Guyana current, from the coast of South America, which attracts all sorts of exotic fish like a magnet. Barracuda, dolphin, whale sharks, turtles…as much variety, aficionados have said, as on the Great Barrier Reef.
Golf
Drive off the first tee at Mount Irvine Golf Course, away from the turquoise sea, into the coconut groves, and you've begun one of the most challenging experiences in Caribbean golf. The course is a tropical delight. Play from April through June and the fairways are lined with scarlet flamboyant trees. Walk off the eighteenth, (back by the sea if you feel like a dip), and the nineteenth is but a few paces more. In fact TOBAGO has two 18-hole championship golf courses, the other being at Tobago Plantations, Lowlands. Surrounded by acres and acres of rolling greens, these are the venues of many international golf tournaments.
I never found this in the Caribbean before
It's true, you'll tell sceptical friends, "They race goats. And crabs!" Before you picture a grown man astride a struggling goat, hold your horses. The jockeys run behind their 'rides', encouraging them with shouts and a small stick. It's the highlight of the Easter holidays in TOBAGO, and you won't find anything like it elsewhere. Place your bets, enjoy the fun, and the winner, by a short beard, is…. Let's not ignore Carnival. Perhaps not as massive as its larger sister in Trinidad, Tobago Carnival is still an exercise in festive abandon, with its own quirks and costumes. (And after a hot day on the road, a balmy beach is never far away). Visit panoramic Fort King George, where the great former powers squabbled over TOBAGO. See old Fort Milford, within local food kiosks. See a new Caribbean in an unspoilt island.
Feeding Frenzy
TOBAGO's rich earth grows much of the delicious food on offer. Its fertile seas render up some of the world's best fish and seafood. Original restaurants abound. At Speyside a restaurant in a sea-grape tree overhangs the water. Fresh fish is not a problem here. In Charlotteville, a tiny house on the hill, overlooking the island's most beautiful fishing village, serves kingfish, ground provisions (eddoes, cassava, sweet potato), with a challenging home-made pepper sauce. In the more developed south, sophistication rubs shoulders with simplicity. Italian, French, Indian and international cuisine are all available in the most relaxing of venues.
Oh, won't you stay!
TOBAGO has a beautiful room for you. From 5 Star palaces to friendly guest-houses, all things are available.