Trinidad and Tobago are twin islands at the southernmost tip of the Caribbean chain, just off the Venezuelan coast, and they are unlike anywhere else in the region. Where many Caribbean islands built their economies on sugar and tourism, Trinidad built its on petroleum — which means it avoided the overdependence on foreign visitors that shaped much of the region and developed an economy diverse enough to sustain an extraordinarily rich cultural life. The result is a destination with genuine depth: the birthplace of calypso, soca and steel pan, home to one of the world's greatest carnivals, and the owner of some of the Caribbean's finest food.
Carnival in Port of Spain is the Caribbean's most famous festival and one of the world's great celebrations. Held in the days before Ash Wednesday each year, it fills the streets with masquerade bands of thousands of costumed revellers, live soca music that pounds at volumes that become physical, steel bands marching at dawn, and a spirit of collective joy that takes over the entire country. The preparations — costume making, rehearsals, the week of events leading up to the main days — are as interesting as the event itself for visitors who arrive early.
Steel pan — the only acoustic instrument invented in the 20th century — was born in Trinidad from the percussion culture of African-descended communities who developed the technique of beating oil drum tops into tuned instruments. The musical forms that emerged from this process — steelband music, calypso, the blend known as soca — are Trinidad's cultural gift to the world. Evening performances in panyard spaces around Port of Spain allow visitors to hear these forms in their original communal context.
The Pitch Lake at La Brea in southwest Trinidad is the world's largest natural deposit of asphalt — 75 acres of thick black bitumen that moves, bubbles and surprises with wildlife (an anaconda was once found living in a pool). It is a strange, industrial landscape that somehow remains fascinating. The lake has been commercially exploited since the 19th century and still provides asphalt used on roads across the world.
The north coast of Trinidad is volcanic in origin, with jungle-covered mountains (the Northern Range) dropping steeply to beaches where leatherback sea turtles come ashore between March and August to lay eggs. Maracas Bay, with its long arc of sand and food stalls serving bake and shark (fried bread with spiced shark fillet), is Trinidad's most beloved beach and one of the Caribbean's finest.
Tobago is Trinidad's calmer sister island — a small island of forest hills, quiet bays and excellent coral reefs. The Buccoo Reef is a popular if well-trafficked snorkelling site. Speyside in the northeast offers some of the Caribbean's best diving in waters rich with brain coral formations and schooling fish. The Tobago Rainforest — said to be the oldest protected rainforest in the Western Hemisphere, designated in 1764 — provides birding and hiking in genuine jungle.
Trinidad's food is magnificent and reflects its ethnic diversity. Doubles — two fried bara flatbreads stuffed with curried chickpeas, tamarind sauce and pepper — is the essential breakfast food, available from street vendors for pennies. Roti (influenced by the large Indo-Trinidadian community), pelau (rice with meat and pigeon peas cooked together), pholourie (fried dough balls with mango chutney) and the rum punch culture complete a food scene that outclasses most of the region.
Trinidad and Tobago moves to its own rhythm — confident, creative and entirely itself.
