Travel Guide Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve

This reserve is home to exceptional flora and fauna. It is estimated that this rainforest, one of the oldest protected forests in the world since it became a reserve in 1776, is home to some 15 of the nearly 90 mammal species found in the Caribbean. In addition to mammals, it is home to 24 species of non-venomous snakes, 16 species of lizards and 210 species of birds, the most remarkable being the White-tailed Hummingbird, which is both rare and endemic to Tobago. After Hurricane Flora in 1963, many species declined in numbers or disappeared altogether. The Sabre Hummingbird is one of the species to have recovered since the passage of this terrible hurricane. It was declared an ecologically sensitive species by the Trinidad & Tobago Environmental Management Authority in 2005. The ridge of the Main Ridge forest is also home to the ocellated gecko, an endemic animal found nowhere else in the world. Surprisingly, its small rivers have very little biodiversity, with only 4 of the 13 species of freshwater fish found in Tobago's waters.