As you go further and further to the east of Port of Spain, the colour of the Northern Range gets greener and greener.

It's a cool, welcoming sight, much unlike the repulsive look of the parched, scarred, desiccated and burnt hillsides of Diego Martin, Petit Valley and Port of Spain.

As you approach Arima and then Valencia, most of the hills look almost as green as if the scorching dry season has not yet touched them.

But on a closer look at the earth beneath the trees, the dryness of the leaves on the ground will reveal that even here the good earth is under the stress of a rainless dry season.

There is a scientific explanation for the green look of the mountains in the east. It has to do with the trees not being hacked away and the land burnt stark and black, killing all vegetation above and below the earth. The tall trees apparently attract the rain clouds, while the mindless slashing and burning drive them away.

That is why Port of Spain and environs, where the squatters fight to dominate almost every inch of mountain, are turning into hilly deserts with scarcely any rainfall.

But in the east, where the squatters and farmers have not taken over the mountains, rain falls more than in Port of Spain.

And that is why two of the reservoirs which service the thousands of people on the East corridor are located in the East.

Located about three miles off the Valencia Road, is the Hollis Dam, the oldest one in the country. It was built between 1934 and 1936, under the reign of Sir Claud Hollis, who governed Trinidad and Tobago from 1930 to 1936.

This man-made lake is fed from the waters of the Quare River and rainfall from the surrounding mountains. When full it can supply 8.2 million gallons of water to people in Arima, Nettoville, Cleaver Road, Bregan Park, D'Abadie and Arouca every day. With the dry season, that supply has been cut in half.

The Hollis catchment also supports a variety of animal life such as lappe, tattoo, howler monkeys, deer, wild hogs, Caiman, talapia and snakes. But neither hunting nor fishing is permitted near the dam. While people are allowed to picnic, courtesy WASA, on a bank of the dam, no swimming is permitted, for obvious reasons.

Foreign visitors and many locals have already heard about the spectacular wildlife around the dam, and would hike there to watch the 90 species of birds that call Hollis their home, some permanent, and some flying there for the winter.

TOP