An aerial view of the recreational ground with the heavily tree shaded river on the right.
The Lopinot River is literally on the same estate of Count Lopinot that we covered last. It takes a bit of walking if you already are touring the historical location or you can drive straight to it via the solitary Lopinot road. There is a serene, relaxing and heavily shaded area with lots of gazebos and sheds for families to set up their picnic tables and even cook (which Trinidadians love to do when they visit the river). We call it "making a cook by d river" or "bubbling a pot" where they usually cook curry duck or pelau! We explore the lopinot recreational area as well as the path to the river as well as the river itself!
We continue from the Estate house under the beautiful yet tremendous immortelle trees that cover a lot of the estate rendering the sun's scorching rays null and void. It was so magical. From under the large canopies you can see above how the recreational ground is much brighter as it is open to the clear skies. The walkway was well paved and lined with red wooden posts on either side with lovely lamp posts intermittently. I can just imagine how awesome it would look at night under the trees.
Here is a better view of the recreational grounds with lots of benches to spectate games as well as goal posts used for football and a cricket pitch in the middle, a must have for every Trinidadian savanna and recreational field. It was quite empty today as it was dead in the middle of a weekday and most people were at work and those that were free were at the river which we will get to in a bit!
Amidst the walkways that take you past the recreational field and to the river, there is an awesomely casted concrete version of the island we were on, Trinidad. In the middle was a large sign post stuck right where we should be located (in the middle of the northern range). The left side of the sign pointed to the the city of Diego Martin in the West and to Toco, a town in the east while telling you how far away each was from where we were in Lopinot! There was a southward facing arrow pointing to the city of San Fernando as well. This was really cool and would be and awesome photo opportunity for the tourists!
The shed that you see above signified the right turn of the pathway that takes you from the estate proper to the river. It begins with a sharp drop in elevation that gave me a great vantage point to turn around and be able to take a wide angle and breathtaking shot of how the huge immortelle trees cover the estate with breathtaking green canopies and fern covered gigantic branches. It felt like something out of Tolkien's Middle Earth, almost enchanted and magical!
The path took us off the paved walkway to a dry beaten path that was even more magical than before. There were immortelle trees here as well but more sparsely than before, interlocked with bamboo forests that now dominated the sky's view. Bamboo always means that the river is close by!
I could not help but be enamoured by these majestic trees, their huge trunks and branches as well as the vines that hung from them. The sunlight played with them awesomely and looked so majestic!
We finally got to the Lopinot Historical river after walking for around 5 minutes. There was a sign with a lot of rules which I am quite sure most of the people who where there currently were breaking including the noise pollution one as there was someone with a huge audio setup blasting music as people played in the river and cooked and enjoyed themselves!
There were families who occupied sheds with benches and gas stove tops. As mentioned before, Trinidadian people love to sit by the river under the bamboo trees, and make it a picnic of sorts, cooking large meals and enjoying nature. You can see how many cars there were with lots of coolers, drinks, snacks and food!
This was the audio setup the guy had. This is a norm in Trinidad with people having elaborate and loud audio systems in their cars just to visit the beach or river and play music loudly. I, personally very much dislike this as it disrupts the natural calming effects of the location. Yet, always there is someone there, where ever it may be, with their loud audio system!
The river to the left of all of this was quite weak in flow this time of year being only a little trickle! Rocks had to the placed near the picnic area to retard the flow a bit to form a substantial pool for bathing which as you can see above, the children were enjoying quite a bit! The river isn't usually this small or brown but I guess this time of the year was not its prime. Still the water and the vibe of the people and children was very much an awesome vibe and did not stop everyone from enjoying the riverside merriment and feasting!
The Lopinot River and Recreational picnicking area is always such a beautiful and eye pleasing location to bring the family and enjoy some good curry duck and take a dip! The valley itself where Lopinot is nestled within is quite breathtaking and filled with deep rich historical significance. It is always a pleasure to visit, thanks for coming along, Cheers!
