Asa Wright Nature Centre

The Asa Wright Nature Centre sits in the forested Arima Valley of northern Trinidad, operating since 1949 as a combination research station and eco-lodge. Named after Asa Wright, an Icelandic-British plantation owner who opened the estate to naturalists in the 1960s, it has grown into one of the Caribbean's premier birdwatching destinations. A particular draw is Dunston Cave on the property, home to a colony of oilbirds (Steatornis caripensis) — rare, cave-dwelling nocturnal birds that navigate by echolocation and are known locally as 'diablotins'. Visitors explore a network of nature trails through rainforest, cocoa plantation, and stream edges where over 400 bird species have been recorded, making it a flagship site for tropical ornithology in the Western Hemisphere.