myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Does anyone know how long it takes to walk the Mot Mot trail (from Arnos Vale to Culloden)? I'm also wondering what condition the trail is in.

Hi Bryan

That's a walk I've always promised myself, but never done. Its a beauty!

My guess is that the track is about 6 miles long and would take about an hour and a half to walk. The track is fine for walking, but must NOT be attempted in a vehicle. Appart from the VERY high risk of getting stuck (with absolutely no chance of turning round), a small stream crosses the track about three miles down and the banks are very erroded and steep. Very risky unless you've got a second vehicle and a winch - and very experienced offroad drivers. I speak from experience!

Thanks Steve, that's exactly the sort of info I was looking for. I mainly want to do some bird watching and I know that area of the island is excellent for that (I own land along the Courland river just up from the Top O Tobago guesthouse). Actually I can do plenty of bird watching from my property (parrots, cocrico, and mot mots abound), but since I'll be there for three weeks starting the end of April, doing mostly cutlashing, surveying, and other forms of back breaking work, I'm thinking that a day off to explore the Mot Mot trail would be a nice diversion to give my aching back a rest. The return trip will be along the Arnos Vale road, since there's a shop in Les Coteaux that sells "Beastly cold Carib", yummy.

Thanks again for the info.

Brian,I would say i would be best to double Steves estimate.I walked it a couple of years ago,and granted ir was extremely muddy there are quite a few strenuos bits.
David

Fair comment, David - but maybe you're not as young and fit as me!!!

Seriously though, thanks for that. My feelings were that it would take a lot longer (if memory serves me well, it took us about 45-60 minutes to drive it) but I thought that if I said longer, some bright spark was bound to call me an old fart who ought to take more excercise.

Hi Bryan

I think that if you are walking and twitching - as opposed to yomping on a route march - an 06.00 departure and arrival at Colloden by 09.30 would give you plenty of chance to see things and not get caught out in the real heat of the day. You'll be gagging for that beer by the time you hit the main road, so plenty to drink would be advisable.

I once rather foolishy drove this track in a saloon car, during one of my 'let's see where this takes us' excursions.

After around a mile it was impossible to turn around or to reverse back that far. My wife was rather concerned, but we plodded on VERY carefully.

We made it to the end in one piece, but I would seriously echo Steve's advice to anyone considering travelling it by vehicle - Do not attempt it. Instead, why not contact Fab of Tobago Now. His 4x4s would be just the job for this interesting trail.

Cheers
Steve

A Saloon bobbing down the Mot Mot trail. That must have been quite a sight (-:

I'm guilty of just as bad. Some years ago I attempted the back road from Charlotteville to l'Anse Fourmi about an hour before sunset in a old Datsun. Suffice it to say I had imbibed way too much Puncheon rum at the beach, hic, and had gotten my courage up a few notches too high. Thankfully my wife is the driver.

We actually made it a few miles, and crossed a few deep ravines on nothing more than a few splintered planks left over from what were once some bridges. We finally had to turn around, and that was no easy feat on a steep mountainside, because the road had been completely washed out by a landslide. Those tiny little Datsuns are really good at turning around on mountainsides. They're about as long as they are wide.

It was a stimulating, if not crazy experience.

Bryan

You take the off-road challenge crown - or at least your wife does.

My navigation of the Mot-Mot Trail was during our first visit in 1999 and I gather that the surface has deteriorated considerably since then.

Oddly enough, we were in a Datsun too (a Sunny - the same model that I learned to drive in 30-odd years ago, so God knows how old this thing was). As I recall, it didn't have a serviceable spare wheel and we were rather low on petrol because is was a Sunday..... I must have been mad!

I will wait for the L'Anse Fourmi - Charlotville super-highway to be finished, before I attempt the journey, but that could be some time to come I guess.

Cheers
Steve

Dear Steve, do not be afraid. The superhighway is as reported, testdriven and asserted by me fully graded all the way to Cambleton and as long as it doesn´t rain traversible without the slightest difficulty even in a saloon car. We met at least 5 vehicles last time. What difference compared to the Old Road which I, daredevil, of course have traversed numerous (2?) times in the dry season.