Caroni Swamp, Trinidad

The Caroni Swamp is the largest mangrove wetland in Trinidad and Tobago and it's quite practically located only a few kilometres south of Port of Spain. It is also a bird sanctuary where thousands of scarlet ibis (the national bird of T&T) fly in every evening to roost in the swamp's mangroves. It is such a gorgeous site to be out on the mangroves at sunset as the scarlet ibis come in to roost, slowly covering the green mangroves trees until they appear to be abloom with bright scarlet cherries.

There are apparently only two places in the world where you can see the scarlet ibis like this. One is in Venezuela, where I hear you have to undertake a significant hike to get to the site. The other is here in the Caroni Swamp, nestled right between the busy city of Port of Spain and Piarco International Airport - no hiking necessary!

Soon after Sarah left us to return to Australia, our dear friend Julia from Munich, Germany, joined us for a two week stay. So, the tourist itinerary continued and the Caroni Swamp was the first stop.

Jesse boy, Julia, Samuel, Lea and Lorena at the start of the journey.

Can you see, can you see.

Locals fishing on the swamp.

There are a number of crustaceans that the scarlet ibis feed on. A juvenile scarlet ibis is mostly grey until is consumes enough of the adult crustaceans to turn its feathers red (similar to flamingos turning pink). This little crab isn't big enough to have his crusty red colour yet but he's the sort you find throughout the mangroves.

Our friend Lorena watching the baby crab crawl up Lea's arms.

Another friendly local in the mangroves.

When nature calls...

The view from the middle of the Caroni Bird Sanctury, looking towards the northern ranges.

Here, you can see that these guys are juvenile - some are still grey and some are part grey, part scarlet (perhaps click on the photo to see the larger version)

Here, again perhaps in the larger version of the photo, you can get a sense of the birds' colour.

Here they come.

Beginning to dot the trees like cherries. Here, against the backdrop of green you can get a real sense of just how strikingly scarlet the birds are.

Unfortunately you can't get any closer than this and my 150ml lense just doesn't do the site of these beautiful creatures on the trees any justice.

This should give you a sense of how close you are to the airport when you're in the middle of the swamp.