I had dreamt since childhood of visiting a tropical rainforest, but it had always seemed an impossible dream. However in 1992 I decided to plough all my savings into fulfilling the dream. I had seen the Asa Wright Nature Centre advertised as the perfect place for an introduction to the rainforest, and hoped that the trip might allow me to see a few rainforest butterflies, but really had very little idea of what to expect.

My first 5 days were based at the Asa Wright Nature Centre, in the Arima valley located in the Northern Range mountains. Early on the first morning a guide knocked on the door and told me that he would take me on a guided tour of the trails. After the introductory tour I decided that I would prefer to continue my exploration of the area alone. The entire trail system could easily be walked in a couple of hours. 

Even though this trip took place 15 years ago, I still vividly remember standing alone in the rainforest, surrounded by the haunting siren wail of cicadas, a sound which seemed to be initiated by slight increases in temperature, and began as the "crick-crick" of a single cicada, and then swept in a wave across the forest, rising in frequency and volume over a period of 2 or 3 minutes, and then quickly fading. Sometimes the sound of the cicadas, and of the thousands of tiny frogs was almost deafening. 

The gorgeous gurgling call of oropendola birds was one of the most characteristic and beautiful sounds of the rainforest. Also very characteristic was the omnipresent and far from unpleasant smell of rotting fruit and fungi. The birdlife was truly wonderful -hummingbirds hovered just inches away as they fed from feeders on the nature centre verandah. Beautiful tanagers, kiskadees, motmots, jacamars and honeycreepers were seen regularly, and deep in the forest I heard the strange ringing call of bell birds. Further memories were provided by the appearance of a huge monitor lizard which periodically strolled across the garden, and by the gorgeous views across the rainforest clad mountains of the Northern Range. 

Early one morning as I departed in a minibus for a bird-watching field trip, an Owl butterfly Caligo brasiliensis flew past the vehicle. I begged the driver to stop, and managed to fall into a ditch as I scrambled excitedly out of the vehicle to find the butterfly. I spotted it at rest on a tree trunk, and fully expected it to fly off as I approached, but luckily it stayed long enough for a photograph. 

The holiday was a wonderful introduction to neotropical lepidoptera. As well as the fabulous Caligo, I had my first sightings of the huge dazzling blue Morpho helenor, which were glimpsed periodically as they patrolled along water courses. Fascinating Glasswings Ithomia agnosia enticed me away from the security of the trails into the undergrowth, where imaginary snakes waited to pounce. Mosaic butterflies Colobura dirce, sat on tree trunks, and surprised me when they scuttled squirrel-like around to the other side of the tree when approached. More amusement was provided by the cheeky Arawacus aetolus, a zebra-striped Lycaenid which sat motionless until I pointed my camera at it, whereupon it slowly but very deliberately rotated to present me with a view of it's posterior !

Other favourites included the stunning red back and white Coolies, Anartia amathea; the fabulous Red Daggerwing Marpesia petreus, with its beautiful deeply sculpted wings; and pretty black and red Postman butterflies Heliconius erato which fluttered around flowers as if suspended by an invisible thread.

Another very appealing species was a gorgeous skipper, with chocolate wings fringed with gold; and bright carmine red legs and eyes. This was a species which took 10 years to identify ! The illustrations in Lewis and Seitz are very poor, but I eventually concluded that it was probably Orses cynisca, and this was later confirmed via e-mail by Andy Warren, the neotropical skipper expert from Carnegie Museum in USA. 

Probably the most fascinating species of all was a wonderful little moth, with the most amazing dead-leaf camouflage. I spotted it out of the corner of my eye as I was photographing a Parides Cattle Heart. At first I thought it was a dead leaf, with a spider positioned symmetrically upon it, but closer examination revealed that the "dead leaf" was the wings of a moth, and the "spider" was it's body and legs. It adopted an extremely odd posture, with it's body, legs and outstretched wings held in a vertical plane, and had a strange mesmerising effect on me as I watched it. I gave it the nickname "Sit on it's bum moth". For many years I was completely mystified by the insect, but it was was finally identified 10 years later by Mike Shaffer of the Natural History Museum, as Siculodes aurorula, a member of the Thyrididae. My specimen was the first ever recorded in Trinidad.

Day trips from Asa Wright included a boat trip in Caroni Swamp where I saw mudskippers, and flocks of scarlet ibis and white egrets alighting on the distant mangroves as the sun set. Trips to an abandoned USA airbase Wallerfield and to Aripo savannah produced a few additional species, but I was always glad to return and spend as much time as possible at the Asa Wright Centre. 

After leaving Trinidad, I flew to Tobago for 4 days based at Arnos Vale on the north coast of the island. Each morning I was awoken by the very raucous calls of dozens of parrots. The hotel grounds had dozens of large crabs scuttling about all over the place.

Flowering bushes attracted passing Phoebis Sulphurs, but butterflies on Tobago were always scarce. A short walk away from the hotel however was a patch of farmland with a small stream. There I had my first ever sightings of the Monarch Danaus plexippus.

Day-trips included a very scenic round-the-island car tour, seeing beautiful beaches, and villages with fascinating little wooden stilt houses; and various walks through coastal hillside forests and the lovely Louis d'Or valley.