November 30th and December 1st marked the first two days of training in trail design and maintenance for 21 government and community-based stakeholders from the six pilot protected areas in the "Improving Forest and Protected Area Management in Trinidad and Tobago" project. The overall objective of the training is to build capacity of stakeholders to design more attractive ecotourism products.
The first day was based at the Pax Guest House and the second day was based at the Asa Wright Nature Centre. Topics covered included the historical context of these two ecotourism destinations, the products offered to tourists and the typology (characteristics) of the tourists.
The most exciting part of the days’ activities was walking along trails in the vicinity of the two sites and taking in the interesting sights and sounds. Considerations for trail design were discussed. These included who are the targeted users of the trails, the use of established historical trails, the use of ridges, gradient, drainage and the type of materials used to construct the trails.
On the Alben Ride trail from Pax Guest House (at left); view from the trail (at right) .
Down the Discovery Trail towards the call of the Bearded Bellbird (at left); Listening to the Asa Wright Nature Centre tour guide (at right)
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