Dear Colleague,
Paria Springs Eco-Community and the Tourism and Industrial Development
Company of Trinidad & Tobago (TIDCO), in partnership with
NaTour Communications in the U.S., cordially invite you to join
our Familiarization Tour of Trinidad to see and experience a glimpse
of the island’s Eco and Adventure offerings. The FAM takes
place between October 27 and November 3, 2004, throughout the
island.
We currently have openings for a number of FAM trips, which
have been kindly supported by TIDCO, Paria Springs and a number
of local partners. These will be wholly subsidized with round
trips from Port of Spain; just as importantly, a number of international
round-trip air tickets are also available for qualifying operators
and media. Visit www.natour.us/trinidad for more information on
the specific itinerary.
If you haven’t added Trinidad and Tobago to your program
itinerary, picture these enticing visions:
- Kayaking along a serene river under impossibly long bamboos
creating a living archway…
- Rugged, tough, sweat-inducing hikes to mountaintops covered
in impenetrable rainforest…
- Taking an easy walk in a river to a waterfall that looks
like it came out of a Disney movie…
- Mountain biking down forest trails so fast that your eyes
dilate as the adrenaline pumps, or riding easily along coastal
country roads with palms swaying in the soothing Caribbean breezes…
- Birding where the birds are purple, scarlet, aquamarine –
enough colors to make a rainbow blush.
Trinidad’s eco-adventure product is diverse, as is its
geography and natural history. Once a part of South America, Trinidad
and Tobago are by far the most biodiverse Caribbean Islands. Here
tree ferns, mosses and other plants seem stuck in an evolutionary
time warp that has seen the dinosaurs come and go, but live with
newly evolved flowering plants, together forming ancient yet modern
rainforests. Savannas abut Marsh Forests, next to Seasonal Lowlands,
Semi Deciduous Forests, Swamps and much more, setting the stage
for mind-bending birding, mountain biking, hiking and more.
And don’t forget diverse cultures from Europe, Africa,
India, China and Native America, blending into a unique culture
that has spawned Calypso, Steel Drumming, Limbo and a host of
other world-famous festivities that make your spine tingle with
rhythm. Our culture culminates in our carnival which is touted
as the greatest show on earth, with good reason. It is said that
Trinidadians did not invent the party, but that we perfect every
day.
Another aspect to the FAM Tour is the 2004 Shandy Carib International
Surfing Classic & Adventure Festival, which is in it fourth
very successful year and will attract many participants and fans
globally. This is the Caribbean’s premiere adventure festival,
combining surfing, mountain biking and other adventure events
and has several clear goals:
- Development and promotion of Trinidad and Tobago as the Caribbean’s
premiere eco/adventure destination, with the eastern half of
Trinidad’s Northern Range as the crown jewel.
- Development and promotion of adventure sports like surfing,
mountain biking and adventure racing in Trinidad and Tobago.
- Assisting local community-based organizations, NGOs and tourism
providers in the development and promotion of eco/adventure
tourism and conservation.
With more than 40 years combined experience in this industry,
Paria Springs Eco-Community is a leader and founder of ecotourism
in Trinidad and Tobago, pioneering mountain biking, hiking and
birding trails, and developing community-based ecotourism activities
with local benefits. We are willing to offer specialist packaged
tours in Mountain Biking, Hiking and Birding, or multi-activity
tours that can include Kayaking, Diving, Snorkeling and much more.
All tours and packages are based on the tenants of ecotourism,
which means they have strong cultural components and localized
benefits.
We’re sure you’ll find the itinerary
a unique mix of adventure, eco and cultural tourism offerings,
and we hope you’ll be just as excited to experience Trinidad
in person, and in turn offer this to your clients or readers.
With the end of October just around the corner, we urge you to
contact us at your soonest convenience to indicate your interest
in the FAM trip. Please copy each of us in your correspondence
so that we can address your questions in a timely fashion:
Courtenay Rooks, Paria Springs Eco-Community,
rooks@pariasprings.com
Jeremy Garrett, NaTour Communications, Jeremy@natour.us
Thank you again for your interest, and we hope to see you in Trinidad
in October!
Courtenay Rooks
Paria Springs Managing DirectorSponsored by Tourism and
Industrial Development Company of Trinidad & Tobago (TIDCO) |
