Located in the nation's capital, Port of Spain, Queen's Royal College was founded in 1870 under the British colonial government. The present college building, known as The Main Block, was built in 1904 in the German Renaissance style. It features royal palms, a lighted clock tower and chiming clock. The college is now part of the free secondary school system in Trinidad and is one of the best in the country. One of its most celebrated graduates was Dr. Eric Williams , the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

This magnificient building is the residence of the current President of Trinidad and Tobago, ANR Robinson. It is situated in the lush Botanic Gardens of the nation's capital, Port of Spain, along the northern edge of the Queen's Park Savannah. The park's two-mile circumference is a popular exercise track and there is always some cricket, football or rugby in progress.

Built by the British in 1804, this fort is located in the hills 1,100 feet above the capital city of Port of Spain. This historic fort retains vestiges of its original structure and armaments, but its main attraction is its fine views of Port of Spain, the Gulf of Paria, the west coast of the island, and the nearby Venezuelan highlands.

Locally referred to as the eighth wonder of the world, the Pitch Lake is "a dark mass of imperceptibly moving asphalt near the southern town of La Brea: it doesn't look like much at first glance, but it is an extraordinary place. Crude oil or bitumen seeps through a fault line in the sandstone 250 feet below ground, providing an endlessly replenishing pool of bitumen for roads and mastic roofs." The Pitch Lake contains the largest known deposits of natural asphalt in the world. References: Discover Trinidad & Tobago: The Trinidad and Tobago Travel Guide, 1995; Callaloo, Calypso & Carnival: The Cuisines of Trinidad and Tobago by Dave Dewitt and Mary Jane Wilan.

You can walk on the surface of the 115-acre lake, but heavy objects, like cars, sink in minutes. Tour guides are available throughout the year to show tourists different areas of the lake. Local legend claims that the lake was created when God punished an entire village for destroying hummingbirds to take their brilliant plumage for decoration. This tour guide informed us that Amerindians were forced into the lake when Spanish conquistadors invaded Trinidad.

This part of the lake is called Elephant Skin because of the way the pitch looks when it is peeled back. In 1595, Sir Walter Raleigh used the lake's pitch to caulk his ships. In recent history, mastodon teeth and other fossils have been recovered from the lake. A small museum is located on-site to explain the history of the lake.

The Asa Wright Nature Centre is located at 360 metres in the mountains of the Northern Range of Trinidad on a former cocoa-coffee-citrus plantation partly reclaimed by secondary forest and largely surrounded by impressive rainforest. Founded in 1967 under a Trust administered by the Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. and an international Board of Management, the Centre is a world-class natural history destination for students of tropical ecosystems and is of particular interest to birdwatchers. To see Squirrel Cuckoos, Toucans, and all manner of other species fly within sight of the front gallery, to see Tufted Coquettes and half a dozen other species of hummingbirds feeding on the vervain from the back gallery, is but a start of what the birder will find at the Centre. Botanists and entomologists and other naturalists will find the area equally rich.

The Caroni Swamp is the third largest swamp in Trinidad. It is situated on the west coast of the island and is built around the distributaries of the island's largest river, the Caroni. The Caroni Swamp includes fifteen thousand acres of marshland, tidal lagoons, and mangrove trees. In this picture you can see one part of the swamp, and in the distance, the mountains of the Northern Range.

The Caroni Swamp is famous for its Bird Sanctuary, a protected area where the endangered Scarlet Ibis makes its home. The main event at the Sanctuary begins around 4:30pm when the Scarlet Ibis and Egrets travel in squadron formation to roost on the mangrove islands. If I had a better camera I would have taken great pictures of this spectacular event! Motorboats are available to take visitors around the narrow mangrove waterways. Over 157 species of birds can be found in the area, along with snakes and alligators.

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