myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

We arrived from Castara on Saturday 16th October for a weeks stay at Top River Pearl which is well located about 200 yards up Spring Street and is very much in the middle of the village housing.
We had booked a one bedroom apartment and found ours to be on the upper floor and therefore had a very high ceiling which helped the airflow which as the temperatures were in the very high thirties was of great benefit.
The design of the building is attractive and with the use of local timber adds to the feeling of comfort etc.
We were there during a quiet period and were the only guests for the first 3 days and this did make it a bit quiet to be honest.
The cafe was also very quiet during this time and we found ourselves making snacks and enjoying the views from our balcony a lot.
I have to say that all of my dialogue with Rainer the owner was dealt with in a very professional way and helped me to think I had booked correctly.
I would say that it is a great place for basing yourselves while in Charlotteville probably offering the best guest house style accomodation in town.
My comments about Charlotteville will be covered in my overall visit report which will be completed later.

I stayed at the Top River Pearl from 4 - 11 December 2004 and all I can say is that it was one of the WORST PLACES I HAVE EVER STAYED!

To begin with there was nobody there except a gardener, who told up we could pick up the key from the woman across the road. We knocked - and were obviously a nuiscance as she went to get the key, gave it to us and shut the door. Nothing like a friendly welcome!

The "manageress" of the place - well, she called herself that but didn't actually do much (when she was there). Oh, you see because she lives "a long way away" she couldn't make it everyday (except to make sure she took my money!).

The Cappucino Bar I had read great reviews and was looking forward to : CLOSED FOR THE ENTIRE STAY - BECAUSE IT WAS LOW SEASON we were told. So why did we pay HIGH SEASON PRICES??

Tranquility would have been nice. The music blaring across the hillside in the middle of the night - the gardener strimming at 6:00 am - the bin lorry at 6:30 am.

Strange design - the rooms in the upper floor have gaping holes where the eaves meet the wall....covered with chicken wire to keep out the bats. MOSQUITO SCREENS WOULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER IDEA.

On the day we left, the cleaning lady tried coming in at 9:00. Yes - I was itching to leave the place, but I wasn't going to be rushed out!

All in all I left feeling VERY disappointed.

I'd be interested if my comments were retained in the guest book at the property.

Anonymous wrote:I stayed at the Top River Pearl from 4 - 11 December 2004 and all I can say is that it was one of the WORST PLACES I HAVE EVER STAYED!

To begin with there was nobody there except a gardener, who told up we could pick up the key from the woman across the road. We knocked - and were obviously a nuiscance as she went to get the key, gave it to us and shut the door. Nothing like a friendly welcome!

The "manageress" of the place - well, she called herself that but didn't actually do much (when she was there). Oh, you see because she lives "a long way away" she couldn't make it everyday (except to make sure she took my money!).

The Cappucino Bar I had read great reviews and was looking forward to : CLOSED FOR THE ENTIRE STAY - BECAUSE IT WAS LOW SEASON we were told. So why did we pay HIGH SEASON PRICES??

Tranquility would have been nice. The music blaring across the hillside in the middle of the night - the gardener strimming at 6:00 am - the bin lorry at 6:30 am.

Strange design - the rooms in the upper floor have gaping holes where the eaves meet the wall....covered with chicken wire to keep out the bats. MOSQUITO SCREENS WOULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER IDEA.

On the day we left, the cleaning lady tried coming in at 9:00. Yes - I was itching to leave the place, but I wasn't going to be rushed out!

All in all I left feeling VERY disappointed.

I'd be interested if my comments were retained in the guest book at the property.

Not sure why it says "GUEST" as I've logged in.
Anyway - that review was mine - Marco.

I don't know what went wrong there, Marco - I was just about to delete the post and account but couldn't understand how an "anonymous" account had slipped through the system.

I am most surprised and dissapointed by your comments about Top River Pearl. With you liberty I am going to send a copy to the owner, Rainer Tichai, who funnily enough leaves Tobago today to return to Germany. I know that he will be VERY concerned by this and certainly from our own experiences and all the reports I hear, this is most unusual and will be very unacceptable to Rainer. Normally I hear nothing but good reports about Top River Pearl.

Add us to the list of satisfied customers. Looks like we were there just after Marco. We thought it was charming.

Did you actually like anywhere on Tobago, Marco? All you do in this forum is bitch and complain. Maybe you're spending too much time with your head in the handbook for your Sealife DC 310 Pro, whatever that is. Get real guy!

Steve - I certainly don't mind you sending a copy to the owner.

Perhaps it WAS an isolated case - but there were 2 other sets of people there at the same time.

2 German girls in the appartment next to us were also very disappointed.

1 English couple stayed in the ground floor appartment - Bob I think was his name, and they only managed to stay 1 NIGHT!

Jonti - won't even dignify that with a reply.

We stayed at Top River Pearl from 19 Dec - 9 Jan and really enjoyed it. In relation to specific points that Marco raises:

To begin with there was nobody there except a gardener, who told up we could pick up the key from the woman across the road. We knocked - and were obviously a nuiscance as she went to get the key, gave it to us and shut the door. Nothing like a friendly welcome!

We also got the key from the lady over the road. She had been looking out for us and spotted us wondering round. She was perfectly pleasant bearing in mind we got there at 9pm and it was pouring with rain.

The "manageress" of the place - well, she called herself that but didn't actually do much (when she was there). Oh, you see because she lives "a long way away" she couldn't make it everyday (except to make sure she took my money!).

Lisa, the manageress introduced herself to us next morning. She was there most days and always popped by to see we were OK or had a friendly word as we passed. She got us and the other tennants Christmas decorations which we thought was very kind. I know she actually did shopping for some other guests who were not able to.

She also ensured that the place was kept clean and tidy and the linens were changed.

The Cappucino Bar I had read great reviews and was looking forward to : CLOSED FOR THE ENTIRE STAY - BECAUSE IT WAS LOW SEASON we were told. So why did we pay HIGH SEASON PRICES??

Not sure who told you that but it was closed due to damage in the mudslides - we saw the kitchen when we were there and the staff were desperately trying to get it clean and ready to use - not easy as the mud stains.

Tranquility would have been nice. The music blaring across the hillside in the middle of the night - the gardener strimming at 6:00 am - the bin lorry at 6:30 am.

Hardly Top River Pearls fault..

It is in my experience always the case in hot countries that outside work starts early - hence the strimming and bin collection. Didn't bother us.

There was lots of music when we were there - as Top River is very near the Methodist Church we were woken at 5 on christmas morning by carol singers doing "in the bleak midwinter" - absolutely fabulous.

We didn't mind the noise from peoples houses - that is what happens when you are in the middle of a village. Good job you weren't there for the big boxing day bash at Sharon's - that was really noisy!!

In fact I always find the chickens noisier than the people - but i get used to it quickly (replaces the seagull noise we get here).

Strange design - the rooms in the upper floor have gaping holes where the eaves meet the wall....covered with chicken wire to keep out the bats. MOSQUITO SCREENS WOULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER IDEA.

However there were fans in every room and if you followed Steve's advice you would direct these onto the bed at night to keep the mossies off!

On the day we left, the cleaning lady tried coming in at 9:00. Yes - I was itching to leave the place, but I wasn't going to be rushed out!

Very different for us - we were upgraded for the last two days to the cottage but on the last day had no pressure to leave.


All in all we enjoyed Top River - and we have got over the disappointment of the restaurant not being open - gives us (yet another) excuse to go back!

We would recommend it to others - and indeed have done.

I don’t want to be rude, Marco, but your posts have annoyed me enough to register and make my first post in this great forum. You still haven’t answered the question. Was there ANYTHING you liked about Tobago? You have done nothing but make inappropriate ego posts about a camera and then do nothing but bitch about the Tobagonians and every place you stayed.

Listen, guy, a lot of us had a disappointing holiday in December and January. Reasonable folk accepted that it wasn’t the fault of the islanders and just got on with it and made the best of their holiday. We had a great time. The folks down there, including the girls at TRP, more than made up for it and tried their best. Charlotteville was the worst hit part of the island. Come on, those guys were working in really rough conditions. They couldn’t open the cafe because of the weather problems. Lisa, the manageress, is a great hard-working lady. Did you bother to go up to Cambleton, where she lives? Did you see the problems up there? I bet not. OK, so the weather screwed your holiday. Tough, but you gotta move on. If you want respect, show some sensitivity and don't be so gxxdxxxx selfish.

Jonti
Not sure why Marco can't complain if he wants it was his holiday he had expectations that obviously were not met so surely he is entitled to air them without getting some personal abuse.
I have to say that in the time I have been reading these posts this is the first time I have seen anyone being flamed and it kind of jars a little.

Neil

Marco

I have just received a reply from Rainer, who has just arrived home in Germany after many, many hours of travelling. As I thought he would be, he was most disappointed and upset by your comments.

Louise has dealt with most of your comments from an independent third-party point of view. I would have preferred a softer, less personal tone to Jonti’s comments (please do not make personal comments), but they did prompt me to review your posts (despite the carrier-pigeon Internet connection here in Tobago) and I have to agree that they do seem to rather paint a picture.

I am truly sorry that so many people, like yourself, had a wet and miserable holiday here in Tobago during the past month, but just be grateful that you came to the Caribbean and not to Indonesia. I have been coming here since 1957. I do not believe I have ever experienced three or more days of continuous rain or cloud cover in all those years. Neither had I ever experienced crocuses peeping through the ground as early as the beginning of January, as they were before we left England two weeks ago. Let’s be honest, the weather is screwed and everywhere is experiencing strange weather patterns. It must come as no consolation for me to tell you that the last five days have been typical tropical sunshine (actually less than typical because we haven’t had any showers at night, as far as I know).

Based upon my personal and intimate knowledge of Charlotteville, Top River Pearl and even the ‘rude’ neighbour who handed you the keys (who happens to work at Top River and is a very nice lady) I have to repeat the view expressed in my first response that I am surprised by your comments.

Rainer has asked me to point out that as you did not know what time you would be arriving, they made arrangements for you to collect the keys. He apologises if the lady who gave you the keys seemed less than welcoming. Maybe it was another member of the family, or you misunderstood her manner? Top River Pearl is an apartment guesthouse. It does not have staff on 24 hour duty, nor should one expect it to.

May I add a personal note. Tobagonians often appear to have a very brusque manner. That is normal and no insult is meant by it. Watch the way they talk to each other and you will appreciate that they do so in exactly the same way and yet, seconds later, can be in fits of laughter. It is simply a cultural difference. Tobagonians will also pick up on a visitor’s mood and attitude very, very quickly. If you arrived understandably tired, disappointed and possibly frustrated by the wet weather and/or were less than courteous or polite, you would get very short thrift, particularly if the person who handed over the keys was just helping out and not actually an employee of Top River.

Rainer asked me to apologise for the café not being open. However, you arrived on the first day that the road had been reopened after the mud slides that sealed Charlotteville off from the rest of the world. The weather conditions caused tremendous problems for the staff, who not only had the café to open and clean, but their own homes and those of relatives as well. The whole village was effectively out of operation, not just Top River Pearl.

Finally, Rainer has assured me that there is no question of removing your comments in the guestbook. Why should he? Any guests who read it are already at Top River Pearl so perfectly able to make their own mind up as to whether you have been fair to the establishment or not.

During the week Marco & I stayed in Top River Pearl I can honestly say it was miserable. We both understand and totally sympathise about the landslides and of course the weather cannot be helped by anyone.

However some little things would have made a big difference e.g. perhaps Lisa telling us the cafe was shut because of the landslide damage. What she actually told us was that they always closed it in low season because it did not make any money. However as Marco said we were paying high season prices.

We certainly did not expect staff to be on duty 24 hours a day but perhaps a note on the door of the office as to when we could next expect Lisa would have helped if we had any problems.

The noise from the hillside the bin men and the village obvioulsy not a problem Top River Pearl can do anything about but why was it advertised as quiet and tranquil - completely misleading. The gardener well yes outside work does start early in hot countries but I have been to many other hot places - some (Egypt) a lot hotter than Tobago and yes they start early but they start with the quiet jobs. The more noisy jobs tend to start around 7:30, 8ish a far more sensible time.

Regarding directing the fan at the bed good idea and we did have it directed at the bed but still got eaten alive at night. This despite plugging in the mosi repellent things etc. So perhaps some mosi nets over the gap in the eaves would be a good idea.

Louise I wrote:
Lisa, the manageress introduced herself to us next morning. She was there most days and always popped by to see we were OK or had a friendly word as we passed. She got us and the other tennants Christmas decorations which we thought was very kind. I know she actually did shopping for some other guests who were not able to.

She also ensured that the place was kept clean and tidy and the linens were changed.

The Cappucino Bar I had read great reviews and was looking forward to : CLOSED FOR THE ENTIRE STAY - BECAUSE IT WAS LOW SEASON we were told. So why did we pay HIGH SEASON PRICES??

Not sure who told you that but it was closed due to damage in the mudslides - we saw the kitchen when we were there and the staff were desperately trying to get it clean and ready to use - not easy as the mud stains.

Well Louise - It was Lisa herself that told us about the cafe being closed due to low season. In terms of damage - nobody mentioned any. In fact, before I left Steve put the following post regarding TRP

"Hi Marco

I can confirm that Top River Pearl was undamaged. They suffered a bit of flooding in the ground floor laundry/utility room, but that was all. And how do I know all this, well by coincidence, Rainer Tichai wrote to me yesterday advising me of a couple of changes and mentioned how relieved he was to have got away unscathed yet again."

I appreciate that there were problems with the mudslides and I sympathise with all those affected. It was a truly disastrous event which did cause a lot of hardship. But having previously been advised there were no problems at the property.....what was I supposed to think?

I did not expect there to be 24/7 attendance - but below is the information I received from Jorg - the guy I booked the appartment through.

"Dear Marco,

there is somebody at the reception waiting for you - it should be no problem if you arrive there during the morning...

Kind regards,

Jorg"

Forgive me therefore for then wondering what the heck was happening. We arrived at around 2pm and it had been a nice drive up from Crown Point, with stops at the beaches along the way.

I didn't dispute the fact that Lisa was a nice person. We met her 2 lovely children who she was taking to Scarborough to buy outfits for their Christmas event at the school down the road and they were very excited. My comments were based on my observations and on the facts as we saw them.

I wanted to address the comment about attitudes. We went to the Banana boat one afternoon and had a couple of beers. Had a great chat with the barman and said we'd like to go and eat there. He told us they were closed the following day but then open after that. We walked there (and yes - we got wet!), but it was all shut up (and again the next night).

OK - it's Friday and there was someone there. After a couple of beers we decided to have a couple of cocktails as they sounded so interesting on the menu. No - the blender is broken. OK, I can live with that. How about some food? I'm not sure if we have any. Hmmmm.

Jonti - I won't get personal. But if you'd read my posts you'd have noticed I didn't buy that particular camera! Strange you only registered to post stuff like that. Nothing constructive to say?

What did I like about Tobago? Well, Gails was very nice. We met her on our first night in Charlotteville when we walked past coming back from Pirates Bay. Said we'd probably pop in later - and she did some fantastic Goat Curry. Went there another couple of times - and on our last night after other places were shut stopped by for a couple of beers. She gave us all hugs and kisses as we left.

R&Sea Diving were great and have a great bunch of people working for them. One (crazy) guy drives in from Charlotteville every day (in a reputed 45 minutes!).

We drove around the island many times - exploring here and there. King Peters bay was fantastic. Met a lobster fisherman there who we gave a lift up to the main road. Very interesting guy.

Think I'll leave it at that.

My and my boyfriend also stayed at Top River Pearl, during November - the big storms and landslides occurred on the first Thursday night we were there, and our hire car got washed away down the road outside TRP and completely ruined! Luckily though it didn't go in the sea or demolish anybodies house. We were devastated. Anyway, I thought Charlotteville was lovely, and Top River Pearl very well built and nice inside, but I was pretty upset about the really loud music very nearby, sometimes going on until 1am, and when you've woken at 5am cos of the roosters, thats not very restful!

This loud music problem made me want to move straight away. I raised it with Lisa and she acknowledged the problem and we ended up moving accomodation to Speyside, especially as all the water, electricity etc had run out in Charlotteville. I felt sorry for Lisa, because its not her problem, but at the same time, I do not want booming music keeping me awake all night on holiday.

Its difficult - I mean, I wanted to experience the real Tobago, which we did, but not getting sleep on holiday is seriously bad.

We also found that the fan was too high up to have much effect and was creaky and looked as though it might fall down. The balconys were lovely though and the staff friendly.

Cathy

MY goodnss me !What is it you people want
TRP is in the middle of the village,surrounded by houses,a school and two churches practically on your doorstep!Work starts early in the morning(typically 5.30-6.00am)'cos it do get hot in the afternoon!!!I have met Reiner and found that he is very carrying of his house.His staff,all of them,gardener to manageress and the manageress's children have all be caring and welcoming towards me.Remember places such as C'ville and Castara are not "resorts"catering to tourists,but working villages that welcome "guests".Don't expect everything to go quiet at 10pm especially if there is a celebration.LIVE IT!!!
A frustrated but happy David at present in TRP C'ville(where the sun is still shining)

Went for Tobago for the second time last summer with my wife and 2 daughters for 3 all too short weeks. This time we figured the kids were old enough for a week of "rough" travelling and decided to explore the remote Charlotteville. Far from the 2 weeks of tranquile paradise of Kariwak at Crown Point.

Booked TRP over the net with Rainer from home. Rainer handled this with the utmost politeness despite of temporary sickness. We got "the Pigeon" (our loyal taxadriver) to drive us to Charlotteville his hometown on the weekend as the Fishermens festival started in Charlotteville. Everybody was concerned for us as the festival is crowded and noisy. The town goes from 2000 to 20.000 in 3 days and is famous in that corner of the caribic. But we were happily surprised as we always are in for a good story and some extra experiences. And boy did we get that. It had it all! Tobagoans sure know how to party. and not the least bit touristy...

Because of the festival we were doublebooked at TRP. I guess Lisa isn't the most experienced host but I'd hated her to be that anyway. Tobago is about real people not tourism as far as I'm concerned. And she fixed us up with a nice apt. up the hill. Another surprise experience. I admit to being mildly annoyed at first at the inconvenience but that washed away in the waters of Pirates bay. Heaven on earth. Swam with an iguana! After the Festival the town got cleaned out of bottles and stuff and everybody took a day off, also old miss Williams the local baking-lady. And except the roosters and fruitbats. And we finally got the cottage at TRP. Luxury, private, spacious and a stunning view from the balcony where we spent a lot of the time during showers smoking cigars, scetching, and reading while Lisas very curious kids played with ours.

The neighbour in the back had an annoyant habit of playing very loud music in a very sugary R'nB genre. Not the Reggae/dub/Soca we learned to love. That was the most annoying thing at TRP and we made it a nightmare fore innocent Lisa. Funny thing though: On the second but last day I spied on the guy and found this huge booming speaker on his porch. Next to it a goat was asleep and guess what!? In the door the guy was struming his electric guitar. And suddenly the music that pissed us of for days was a wonderful delight as he was so easygoing good at it. Not exactly mt favourite genre but wow you don't get that at home.

And we miss Gail. No. Our hearts cry out for her warmth, heart and kitchen. I will call her Queen of Tobago and soulsister any day. Give her my undivided respect if you ever go there...

If you want to experience the real Tobago go to Charlotteville with an open heart. Forget about Pigeon point... that place is ruined. Contact me for pic's of C'ville if you want...


Stay cool allright?

I really can't believe what the disgruntled guest had to say about Top River Pearl! His experience couldn't be more the opposite of ours -- I think it all depends on one's perspective, and one's ease in really becoming part of a "new" culture. Granted, we didn't have devastating rainstorms when we stayed for a week in November, nor mosquitoes, and the cafe was open, but while the cafe is nice, it's not what makes TRP so special.

How we long to go back to Tobago just to stay at the enchanting Top River Pearl! I can truly say it was one of the best experiences in my husband's and my lives (and we've traveled a great deal), and definitely one our daughter will forever treasure.

From the hospitable staff (Lisa is a gem, as are the other employees and their children!) to the absolutely gorgeous rooms (we stayed in the cottage) I can't rave enough about it. I feel such joy in my heart whenever we look at our photos from that wonderul trip.

I'm going to re-post my "review" from back when we first stayed there, in case readers don't want to have to backtrack through other forums to get there. A couple of things have changed (Clark the Kayak Guy is no longer there, from what I hear) but nothing significant. Here it is:

We recently had the most wonderful time in beautiful Charlotteville, and a huge part of the reason for our happy holiday there was the Top River Pearl guesthouse. I’m shocked that there hasn’t been a review of it or posting about it yet (as of Nov. 2003), so I’ll go ahead and post something, because this place is NOT to be missed!

Top River Pearl is by far one of the best accommodations we’ve stayed in anywhere, and is quite reasonably priced for what you get. Because we were visiting Tobago with our 7-year-old daughter, we opted for the “house,” rather one of the two or three apartments, but I gather that the apartments have the same wonderful, airy, mahogany-rich feel -- they’re just smaller and have one bedroom.

The house is nothing short of magnificent! It is a very generously sized one-story house on top of TRP’s office and café. Its tremendously tall ceilings make the place seem even bigger. Mahogany is everywhere. The richness of the beautifully crafted hardwood doors, windowsills, louvres, tables, beds, and other furnishings perfectly compliment the vastly airy open space and the cool, attractive tile flooring. It’s kind of like “top-notch cozy Swiss ski chalet meets ultra relaxing Caribbean getaway.” It’s a combination that works splendidly. While there, I learned that owner, Rainer Tichai, of Germany, actually designed the place himself. He’s a landscape architect by trade, but I must say he did a remarkable job as a “regular” architect as well. TRP is first class all the way.

The bedrooms are also roomy and just as lovely as the rest of the place. Our daughter had the front bedroom, which had a queen bed. My husband and I took the back room with the king-sized bed. The beds were extremely comfortable. The futon couch in the living room can also be pulled out as a sleeping space, so the house can house up to six people. (The futon is not as comfy as the beds.) The bathroom is bigger than our bedroom back in San Francisco, and super airy, like the rest of Top River Pearl, with attractive blue and white tile work. The kitchen is spacious and well appointed. It has only a propane stove “top,” and that worked for us, but I can see where it would be nice to have a real range – it would fit the atmosphere of Top River Pearl, and enable guests to have more cooking options.

We loved the shared deck between the house and the apartments. It is large and has an attractive mahogany table and chair set, and two incredibly relaxing hammock “chairs.” (Picture a hammock you only sit in.) Our private deck was also lovely, with views of the bay (about 200-300 meters away, down the hill) and of surrounding local life. TRP has no screens, but mosquitoes were not a problem during our visit. In fact, none of us had one bite during our entire stay on the island.

Before I go on about the place itself, I have to say part of the reason our stay at TRP was so enchanting were the women who work there. Lisa is a friendly, helpful, very efficient and caring manager, and Chamion is also very engaging and extremely helpful. I enjoyed her company tremendously. She shared some recipes with me and even came by with ingredients one day to teach me to make a local dish I wanted to be able to cook at home. Their children also came by and made friends with our daughter, who enjoyed them so much that she didn’t miss her friends at home. Rainer is lucky to have them, and the rest of his staff, including Alicia (who was also kind enough to write out some recipes for a couple of dishes I wanted to be able to make at home) and Sheryl. It takes a lot of people to make TRP shine as it does.

At first I was worried about the lack of air conditioning, but that proved not to be a problem at all. It was much warmer than we’re used to in chilly San Francisco, but we quickly acclimated – partly because we didn’t have air conditioning! I found that when we stayed in air-conditioned lodgings in Store Bay on the way home, the heat outside felt stifling. In Charlotteville we were outside in the water most of the daytime, and at night a little breeze often graced the house. If we were warm at bedtime, we just showered and wet our hair and let the super powerful floor fans cool us off as we drifted to sleep.

Speaking of sleep, the only real problem we encountered were the nocturnal roosters Charlotteville seems famous for. At midnight on the first night there, I awoke with a start to the loudest cock-a-doodle-doo I’d ever heard. It turns out that our bedroom was right next to a large mango tree that these birdies like to roost in at night. When one of these fowl starts up anywhere within hearing distance, every other rooster answers in reply and soon the silent island is awash in a sea of crowing. It’s really funny to hear, but when you’re trying to sleep, the humor is quickly lost. (Our daughter slept through this every night, only once awakening to ask us “Who is playing a trumpet?” Ah, a city child indeed…) I managed to learn to sleep fairly well with earplugs firmly in place. The beasts would start crowing about every hour or half hour, and would die down after five to ten minutes. But after three nights of this, I was starting to imagine how tasty some rooster stew would be for breakfast…

Lucky for the chortling chickens, I found a solution on Night 4. I’d gone on a wonderful rainforest tour with Newton George (I’ve subsequently read the great reviews of him and his tours on mytobago.info, and couldn’t agree more.), and this foremost bird expert gave me some advice that made the rest of our stay as blissful by night as it was by day. He said to take some whacks at the tree with a stick or broom and rustle the roosters out of there shortly after they went up to roost in the evening. They’d fly off and after a night or two of this might not come back to the inhospitable tree for a while. With maniacal glee I followed his advice and took a broom handle to the brushy parts of the tree. Suddenly at least seven hens and roosters buzzed out of the tree right over my head, protesting all the way to wherever roosters and hens go when they’ve been roused out of bed. (A startling experience for me and, I’m sure, them; I felt a little bad, but there were thousands of trees within earshot so it’s not like they’d have to go homeless.) A total of 15 hens and roosters flew out of the mango tree and didn’t come back that night. Our sleep was long and deep. The next night I performed the same chicken chicanery and only three flew out, leaving us in peace all night. Our last two nights we didn’t even bother with the tree. They’d found other lodgings. Granted, other roosters abounded, but they weren’t so close and never interrupted our sleep. (I think the people who stay in the apartments don’t hear the crowing like we did, because the trees aren’t right next to their windows, so that’s a plus for staying there if you don’t want to have to beat around the bush, so to speak.)

Clark (known around Charlotteville as The Kayak Guy), who runs a fun kayak touring business in the village, told us about another way to hush the roosters at night: Soak corn kernels in rum all day and sprinkle the boozy corn around the tree before the birds head up for the night. They’ll apparently be so soused they won’t give a hoot about crowing.

I mention our rooster solutions at such length because they might come in handy if you stay at TRP. I wish I’d known about these techniques for quelling their sonorous ways right from the start, but it worked out fine in the end, and I have a good story to tell friends now. (I’ve heard from other not-so-lucky guests at other lodgings in the area who had no way of controlling the nearby crowing because the trees were too high or they didn’t have access to them, so really, Top River Pearl is one of the easier places to rid yourself of midnight roosters.)

Top River also has a café. It is very beautiful, and serves European and American breakfast and lunch fare. Our last day there, Alicia made a magnificent loaf of coconut sweet bread, and we devoured several slices. I hope in the future that the café can feature a few more local dishes like this.

My dog is in bad need of a walk now (he is crossing his legs…I told him when I started this post that it would be just a couple of minutes), so I’ll wrap it up by saying that Top River Pearl is truly a gem waiting to be discovered by lucky visitors, and we greatly look forward to our next stay there.


 

My wife and I visited Tobago and stayed at TRP for two weeks over the Christmas and New Year holiday in 2003. All I can say is that we loved it. Granted, people need to realize they are not staying in a resort, they are staying in a small town that is really focused on fishing and local events - not tourism. If you do not want chickens, bats, locals singing in their church, listening to their boom-box, or other such factors that we believe make a holiday meaningful - go back to your Club Med and slather on the suntan lotion.

We loved TRP for what it was. A perfectly nice accomodation in a small village where we could walk down the road and buy fresh fish, fresh bread, fresh fruits and get to know most of the store owners within the first few days. It is the kind of place where local kids will invite you to join their football (soccer game), local fisherman will take you out on a run if you dare, and where you can relax while still being human.

As for Top River Pearl - it is not perfect, but we loved it. I understand Rainer was trying to import window air conditioners for the weak Americans and a few of the complaining Euros. But on a particularly hot night when he was there he also found (from a neighbor possibly) a standing fan for us. It was a kind gesture.

When we stayed there the cappucino bar was our favorite place to have some fruit or an ice cream and play dominoes for an hour or so before going for a scuba dive. It was not fancy - but there was always someone available, the food was good, and it was a cozy retreat.

There were a few mosquitos around - but one is visiting the tropics! Plenty of mossie coils at the little shop down the road and they were not the agressive type anyway.

Lisa was a great asset to us, helping us find our way around, ensuring our clothes were washed and our room was clean.

And here I must say - when we stayed at TRP, the place was immaculate. I have lived in the tropics and know how difficult it is to control mold, insects, rodents and dust. The staff do a great job.

We loved Tobago. We give Top River Pearl very high marks. For its size in a town of its size I believe it is the best one can get - and I have stayed in guest houses from Cambodia to Panama to the Gambia........

Rob in Washington, DC

Hi Everyone

Sorry, but there's a technical problem in this forum and it's not showing the names of posters. The anonymous post above is actually by registered user Rob Floyd from Washington. You will notice it did the same to Marco's original post. It also did the same to me, but I deleted it, re-logged in and re-posted. I think I know what the problem is, but frankly it will take too long to fix on the slow lines here in Tobago, so it will have to wait until I return to the UK and broadband in March.

Well - having read all the other comments all I can say is that it seems we were really unlucky. Perhaps the cafe reopened the following week, perhaps the hammock chairs were put out the day after we left, maybe the mossies disappeared on 12 December...who knows.

I can confirm however that Clark - The Kayak Man and his dog are still around and we had a great time with them on a trek up a stream to the waterfall.

Dear all,

If you do not want chickens, bats, locals singing in their church, listening to their boom-box, or other such factors that we believe make a holiday meaningful - go back to your Club Med and slather on the suntan lotion.

I keep seeing posts that indicate that a good night’s sleep is something that you should not expect in Tobago

Well please can I let you know that it is not my experience at all!

I’ve never had a night’s sleep broken by a Cockerel or a Boom box, in fact where I stay I am a long way from most sources of noise apart from Sunday School at Buccoo, which is only 5 minutes walk away, and to be honest, it is quite hard to detect that on Sunday evenings unless you stand outside your room and listen carefully.

I am a very light sleeper, and this kind of thing would really irritate me if it happened, but I guess that I’ve been lucky. The worst I have heard is the occasional Chaka-lac being disturbed by a dog. Apart from that, my experience of Tobago in the evening and early mornings is just the sound of the sea, and insects and birds chirping.

A peaceful location should be just like that.

Steve F.