New golf course on Little Tobago in Summer 2010
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 5:25 am
I do not know what I, as a non-golfer and nature lover, should think of this news. In former years, Little Tobago used to be a bird paradise and so far any activities to erect hotels, restaurants or even a shed for a beach bar were forbidden, as the government, in a bright moment, announced in 1985 the so-called "Law to protect the endemic fauna and flora of Trinidad and Tobago". Little Tobago owed its protection to a single small bird, the Tobago Lark, a rare subspecies also known as the most gorgeous of the unimpressive birds of the Lesser Antilles.
When I visited Little Tobago in 2003 I warned the authorities that I had spotted a mammal on Little Tobago, maybe some readers can remember my report about the animals I had seen during my vacations, which can be found here
http://www.mytobago.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=956
but I was only ridiculed and obviously nothing had happened after I left the office of the responsible, having emphasized that even the slightest disturbance can *irreversibly* destroy the fragile balance on this small island.
Now the obvious must have come true: most probably due to the unknown animal and to some extent
due to heavy storms during the last years the small population of the Tobago Lark has completely vanished. There are *no* endemic animals left on Little Tobago and it does not help that the Red-billed Tropicbird and the Brown Noddy can be seen in masses, as they are also a common sight on the neighbor islands.
Obviously somebody with the necessary money had waited for this opportunity and has convinced the right person that now, as there is nothing left to protect, another golf course in a spectacular
environment could attract the financially strong clientele to boost this region of Tobago, as the Speyside divers are notorious for buying their beer in supermarkets and for cooking spaghetti on their appartment stoves.
To make it short: it's a pity that such a nature gem is replaced by yet another golf course, even
if the investor (rumours say from South Africa) had the funny idea to place the start of the course (and by the way also the 10th hole, it will be a 9-hole course) on Goat Island (the island James Bond author Ian Fleming used to own), on the one hand to give the fishermen some additional income for the ferry service, on the other hand to "separate the wheat from the chaff", as not everybody will be able to send the ball over the water to Little Tobago.
Nothing is sacred anymore!
Achim
When I visited Little Tobago in 2003 I warned the authorities that I had spotted a mammal on Little Tobago, maybe some readers can remember my report about the animals I had seen during my vacations, which can be found here
http://www.mytobago.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=956
but I was only ridiculed and obviously nothing had happened after I left the office of the responsible, having emphasized that even the slightest disturbance can *irreversibly* destroy the fragile balance on this small island.
Now the obvious must have come true: most probably due to the unknown animal and to some extent
due to heavy storms during the last years the small population of the Tobago Lark has completely vanished. There are *no* endemic animals left on Little Tobago and it does not help that the Red-billed Tropicbird and the Brown Noddy can be seen in masses, as they are also a common sight on the neighbor islands.
Obviously somebody with the necessary money had waited for this opportunity and has convinced the right person that now, as there is nothing left to protect, another golf course in a spectacular
environment could attract the financially strong clientele to boost this region of Tobago, as the Speyside divers are notorious for buying their beer in supermarkets and for cooking spaghetti on their appartment stoves.
To make it short: it's a pity that such a nature gem is replaced by yet another golf course, even
if the investor (rumours say from South Africa) had the funny idea to place the start of the course (and by the way also the 10th hole, it will be a 9-hole course) on Goat Island (the island James Bond author Ian Fleming used to own), on the one hand to give the fishermen some additional income for the ferry service, on the other hand to "separate the wheat from the chaff", as not everybody will be able to send the ball over the water to Little Tobago.
Nothing is sacred anymore!
Achim
