Wonderful experience to see flocks of the Scarlett Ibis coming back to roost in the trees at sunset. Also saw tree boa snakes and the smallest ant eater.

Kahleel was very knowledgeable, professional and accommodating. We enjoyed spending the day with him exploring Trinidad.

Enjoyed our tour of Port of Spain! Loved the indepth information shared by tour guide. We ended with a recommendation for a great meal. This is a must do for visitors to Trinidad.

Little Tobago is a little slice of paradise you don't want to miss. The view from Blue Water Lodge took our breathe away , like a location for a Bond film. Our guide Edith was delightful and paced our hike slowly on the yellow tail trail to accommodate my husbands asma and lent me her umbrella to aid steep path. The effort was worth it, to see a Red Bill on the nest and Frigate birds chasing them to steal the fish just caught. Spotting a Mocking bird 🐦 nearby was a bonus. Although the water was too choppy to snorkel we gazed at tropical fish including trumpet fish and soft coral from the glass bottom boat at Angel Reef 🐟 . So enjoyable we did not want ti leave , so stopped for a light lunch at Blue water. Driver Lindel was helpful & grest at avoiding potholes. The tour was a birthday treat hard to beat. 🎁 0

I like to thank you for the perfect organization of our holiday. Everyone was great and, what I didn't expect, always on time. We enjoyed the two weeks very much. The fantastic experience started with Dominique, who put all my wishes in an extraordinary itinerary and answered all my questions instantly. Barry was one of the best birding guides we ever experienced (and we had good birding guides in Colombia and Costa Rica too). Edith was fantastic too - not just, because she is german - and Khaleel and Denton were great guys, very knowledgable, friendly and helpful. So, nothing to complain at all. Hope we can come back soon. Frank

Island Experiences excels not only in making arrangements for complex itineraries, but also with matching tourists up with tour guides who understand very well how to provide both highlights and insights about the places being visited. Khalil was our guide for this tour and he was outstanding. He not only gave us the "sights and sounds" experience (a marketplace, temples and mosques, Pitch Lake, the ultimate Roti lunch by a busy highway), but also provided foundational information about Trinidad's demographics, history, cultural geography, economy, and politics. Wow, that was truly worth (and more) the money spent on the tour. Highly recommended!

Our driver Junior was prompt and friendly. The actual wetland/swamp tour was v interesting passing through the mangroves, seeing a selection of local birds, plus tree snakes. The highlight is waiting and watching the scarlet ibis relocate for night, so serene. Also the egrets and flamingos. Sadly there was a small amount of rubbish on the route, which would not take much effort to clear.

We had a fantastic afternoon in the lagoon on Michael’s boat with Edith Thomas as our tour guide. We met the lovely Urquhart family from Toronto, who all made the experience special. We loved Nylon Pool and No Man’s Land for door and drink. Highly recommended!

What a beautiful island. This tour ensures you get to see all the highlights so you feel totally connected with the island and its people. Our entertaining wildlife guru Edith collected us at our hotel and off we went to spend a very interesting day together. Apart from appearing to know every person and all wildlife personally, while explaining sites and history, Edith was such an interesting and entertaining guide. After other guests cancelled at short notice, we were fortunate to be just two persons joining her whole day island tour. We learned about trees and protected forest, birds, food, waterfalls, history and stopped for a very affordable lunch in a tree house restaurant. The food was so tasty and we ate looking out to sea. Perfect. We'd enjoyed the company of Island Experiences' Khaleel in Trinidad and now we had the same good feelings with Edith, who is full of knowledge and humour. This is a great tour.

The trip was amazing. Our tour guide Derrem brought us good vibes. The views was amazing, and a time was had. The hike was on the easier side and the beach was a nice way to end the excursion.

Excellent trip, very courteous driver/guide, and very informative. Highly recomended. Enjoyed it very much. Good company to go with.

We’d just had two fabulous tours with this company. The itinerary for this third tour is very good but it just didn’t have the same good vibe that we’d experienced. For starters, we were on our way to pick up the second group when our guide Clyde mentioned tipping. Honestly, this is a real turn off. Yes, we would have naturally offered a tip for good service, and we did anyway. But to hear this before we’ve even left town is really not good. Next, the guide’s voice was a bit too soft to understand. I did once ask him to speak up. I expect to hear a Trinidad accent force, but not looking at your guests and speaking softly meant that much information was sadly lost. Finally, my partner was disappointed not to be offered water as we had been on the Island Experiences tour the day before. We did bring water ourselves but would have appreciated more. We did get to buy some later, but more of that in a moment. Let’s talk about the itinerary, which I actually thought was well planned. The first stop was at a large covered market. This was very interesting- seeing many foods I didn’t even know existed. The vendors were all so happy to explain what they were selling in a kind and proud way. Nobody tried to force you to buy anything. It was all relaxed. A good stop. The second stop was at the Hindu temple in the sea, and also a burial site for the different styles of burial between muslims, Hindus and others. Quite fascinating, as was the explanation of small but beautiful Temple Of The Sea. A good stop. The third stop was at an inland temple, so ornately decorated and towered over by a huge statue of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. This is the second biggest in the world. We walked around the area and learned more about the history and customs. It was a good stop. The fourth stop was for a roadside sit down roti and drink. Bring cash for this stop as cards are not accepted. The fifth stop was at a shop near the pitch lake, where we were advised to buy flip-flop shoes and water. The largest flip flops were too small for me so I took the largest I could get. No worries at all. The sixth stop was at the pitch lake. It’s not a tar lake. Pitch is more solid. Our guide Vikki was one of a kind. Never a dull moment with Vikki. She explained all about the lake, surrounding nature, industry, everything. We walked right to the centre of the lake, which is mostly solid, leaving our flip flops to take their punishment. Vikki went out of her way to ensure we had the full experience and have some interesting demos. An interesting stop, and a very different experience. Tips - For the temples, ensure your shoulders and knees are covered. Island Experiences does explain this but one couple missed it. We had already departed their hotel and had to return shortly after to change. Perhaps the guide should have noticed earlier. - Take cash for the food stop - Take several bottles of water Tips for the pitch lake visit - Be prepared to paddle in water during parts of your visit. Don’t wear trousers or a dress too far below the knee. - If you have your own waterproof shoes, do wear them. Crocs would be ideal. One guest had his flip flops pull apart on several occasions and was understandably very frustrated by this. The pitch strangely does not stick to shoes, though some managed to stick to one of my heels and took a lot of scrubbing to remove. - Don’t follow too close to the person in front. One person, wearing very nice clothing, had pitch / sulphur water flicked over her very nice outfit. Alternatively, pack separate clothes for Hindu and lake visits. - The lake is said to offer a swimming possible. In practice, you would have to get changed before you enter the area as you would want to get changed while standing on the pitch. Clothes and towel would be ruined. Also, there are no showers in which to clean up afterwards. Finally, you’d be in a very small water channel, so swimming really isn’t an option.

This tour gave us an insight into Port Of Spain centre, a food and swim stop at Caracas Beach and a swamp boat tour to see colourful birds. The day before, we had taken the Island Experiences street food tour with guide Khaleel. How fortunate we were to spend more time with Khaleel on this eight hour tour. He continued to educate and entertain us in his highly professional guided manner. Lucky us. The first part of the tour took us to several places around Port Of Spain. We’d walked on our own in some areas the day before. Now it was time to revisit and develop a better understanding of the history of this city and its well preserved buildings. We toured by car and made plenty of stops to get out, walk and explore and take photographs. We were off to a good start. The second part of the tour took us up and over the nearby mountains, pausing at several lookouts to admire the spectacular views. All this time we were engaged in conversation with Khaleel. We then drove down to a popular sandy bay that was full of life and, equally importantly, full of buzzing street food restaurants. After trying shark and bake for the first time, it was time for a swim. Even in January the sea temperature was very pleasant, as was the sand beneath me. A word about the waves…every so often on this day, the waves would rise up to around twelve feet high before crashing down. I’m used to such conditions and enjoyed swimming out through the waves and ducking down when necessary. After meeting precisely on time to depart the beach, we headed for a famous swamp and nature reserve. Here we boarded open boats carrying around thirty people. We set off in our boat on a somewhat dull waterway. Where were all the birds? Not to worry, later we turned into the nature reserve and there were the most brightly coloured birds. A magnificent and very enjoyable sight. All-in-all this was a very varied day with much to see, do and enjoy. So much of that was due to our wonderful guide Khaleel. He’d been a star during our food tour and he was excellent yet again during our day tour. Thank you Khaleel for your professionalism. TIPS - Do take your swimming costume to enjoy a swim at the beach - Rain can appear quite suddenly so do take an umbrella. If there is a downpour during the boat trip to the bird reserve, the boat guys will open up a large plastic sheet for the passengers to hold above their heads. It works but having an umbrella for when there is light rain and no plastic sheet is worthwhile. The boat floor can get quite wet so waterproof shoes are a bonus. - Take binoculars for bird viewing.

I’ve taken a few food tours in my lifetime and always find them enjoyable. With this in mind, my partner chose this evening street food tour in Port Of Spain, Trinidad, and I tagged along. From the very first smiling welcome by our guide Khaleel, I knew we were on to something special. After arriving exactly on time, he took us to an area that was vibrant with street food stalls and expertly guided and advised us on what was going on around us. If we had passed this area without a guide, we would have walked by it all in five minutes. Instead, our minds and tastebuds were enlightened in the most wonderful way. I got to try many new foods and understood what was behind them. It was an adventure. I love learning new things and here I learned a lot. We later moved to another part of the town and enjoyed another type of cuisine. More was on offer but we had to decline, despite having shared a good amount of food to avoid feeling full too early. We were too full to continue, but very happy with what had gone before. We also spent some guided time with a man selling a variety of juices, juices like I’d never tasted before. The vendor was so very helpful in explaining the fruits in the drinks and showing us pictures of the fruits. It was hugely educational and we sampled many new tastes. A few words about our wonderful guide Khaleel. He is at the top of his game and carefully explains everything and makes it so interesting. He never blurts out a string of words, he engages with you. He also has a culinary background so when he describes foods, he does so with knowledge and passion. He also speaks very clearly so you will understand everything without straining to hear. This was a fabulous evening in the hands of a charming and expert guide. Do you need to eat beforehand, in case you sample just a few things? No. Do you need to avoid eating beforehand so you have capacity to enjoy the generous and varied food provided? Yes. Can I recommend this tour to anyone interested in food and who wants to get close to Trinidad and Tobago culture? Most definitely.

We had 2 tours with the island experiences: one in the city, then Maracas beach for lunch and then in the afternoon the Caroni lake (with Mike). The second one passing through a local market, hindu temples and the Pitch Lake (with Khaleel). Both very knowledgeable and friendly and great drivers too. We felt at ease and comfortable with both for 8 hours :-) Both the Caroni Lake trip and the Pitch Lake are unmissable because they are very unique. You will never see scarlet ibis birds in flocks in the trees and you will never see natural tar and walk over it. Its really strange. Dominique and team at head office also tried to arrange a last minute chocolate farms visits for us (which was not possible, but you can get the chocolates from all over the island at the shop in the Normandy hotel - highly recommended). Overall we are really thankful for two great and safe days full of delicious food. We are vegan and there were enough options as well. Would highly recommend and would do the hiking tours, but we ran out of time... see you next time.