Walking in the reserve

Tony Gibson · Post by **Tony Gibson** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:59 pm

Steve,
Are there any restrictions in the reserve, I see by the map that there is a long ridge down the centre, is it worth the effort to get up their or it it restricted.

Post by **Steve Wooler** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:44 pm

Hi Tony

No, as far as I am aware there are no restrictions about movement within the reserve. However, do not under-estimate the effort required to leave the established trails and get up to the ridge. Remember, this is not an English wood –it is largely primeval rainforest.

As far as I know, nobody has every managed to traverse the entire length of the ridge. During my recent visit, I met and spent time talking to a fascinating American who owns a house on the Englishman’s Bay Estate, where we were staying at the time. He spends a lot of time up in the rainforest. It is his ambition to traverse the ridge. He’s tried it a couple of times with a local guide, but failed. This is something that has to be planned and run like a military operation. It would take several days and that means carrying an awful lot of equipment – and water in particular. Apparently previous hurricanes have meant that the ridge is largely composed of fallen trees, so most of your effort goes into climbing over things, but with a huge pack on your back that’s no joke. It really needs to be done as a team operation. Even a two-man team would be unsafe, because if one was injured, it would be unsafe for the other to attempt to get back on their own – and more than difficult to lead any rescue team back (even if such a team existed). Very high risk! Stick to the Gilpin trail.

Tony Gibson · Post by **Tony Gibson** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 3:14 pm

Thanks for the reply Steve, something to dream of in coming years.
Three weeks to go now, been waiting and planning for eight months, devouring the website almost every day, just hope the flight is ok.

Regards Tony

David Watkins · Post by **David Watkins** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 4:48 pm

Tony,as Steves says,it's not Burnham Beeches.There are many problems,Tobago is primarily a volcanic island so there are many hidden gullies and pitfalls.
I contacted the Admirality,here in UK,to see if they had any maps of the interior-----basically no,they had could provide coastal feature maps nothing else.
Ordinance Survey,never surveyed Tobago,Trinidad yes,but there were reasons?(pitch&oil)
It could be quite a project!!!
I await the tv documentary

David

Lina Mallon · Post by **Lina Mallon** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:02 am

Hi there,

we did a 3 hour hike through the rain forest and I have to say, it went up and down like a yoyo!
It was fantastic, but, given that we're no experts (no slouches either though), and our guide was taking us on a tourist trail, hiking the whole ridge would be a major event it its own right, and not something you would pull off as part of a holiday.
That is to say, even on our 3 hour "hike" we went up and down hill by a couple of hundred meters each way a few times.
I reckon it's take some planning to walk the ridge.
Anyhou, I'm very jealous of your trip!

Have a fantastic trip, whatever you decide to do!

Paul (on Linas Log in).