Fishing Pond Village is located along the northeast of Trinidad. It is a small, rural village with a wealth of natural fauna including Red Howler Monkeys, Scarlet Ibises, Egrets, Herons and Fish-Eating Bats. It is also one of the best places to view nesting Leatherback turtles. One of the unique features of the area is the 200 meter Fishing Pond boardwalk, which was built in 1995 and spans across lagoons in the Manzanilla Windbelt Reserve. This provides the easiest route of access to the turtle nesting beaches, and is quite an architectural feature to behold on its own.
At present though, the boardwalk exists in a state of disrepair and has been found unsafe for public use. In fact, much of the turtle watching industry has been neglected over the years. This is unfortunate since Fishing Pond shows a very high level of floral and faunal diversity for such a small area, with the vegetation ranging from wetland to tropical rainforest.
In 2004, residents formed the Fishing Pond Turtle Conservation Group with an aim to both conserve the sea turtles which nest on the beach, and to develop the tourism potential of the area. The first task is the repair of the Boardwalk so that nesting beaches can once again be easily accessible, followed by a resumption of tours. It is not unheard of to see more than 50 turtles nesting per night so Fishing Pond Village has a good potential to become a turtle watching centre.
Click here for the outside of Fishing Pond's Brochure
Click here for the inside of Fishing Pond's Brochure
