The manatee's hidden haven.

• Author: Sankar, Celia

SOMEWHERE ALONG the Manzanilla stretch on Trinidad's southeast coast, about two hundred feet: from violently crashing waves, and some seventy feet from the busy road, lies a placid pond, hidden by a wall of mangrove trees. In its waters lulls Trinidad's largest wild animal, the manatee, a gentle, seal-like mammal, which spends its day nibbling on water grasses on the surface and resting under water.

It is estimated that about a dozen manatees live in the pond and the mile of waterway it flows into, in the Nativa Swamp. These herbivorous creatures are not at all territorial and have not developed any natural defenses. As if unaware of their vulnerability, they swim leisurely up and down their waterway, often alone.

But ever since the manatee's presence in Trinidad was first recorded in 1810, its meat has been considered a delicacy. This has made the animal attractive, but illegal, prey for hunters, who need to catch only one manatee to realize a tidy profit--a single animal can fetch up to US$400. "You're talking about an animal that can grow ten feet long and weigh up to two thousand pounds)," says Jalaludin Khan, of the Field Naturalists Club of Trinidad and Tobago.

No wonder, then, that Khan, other wildlife enthusiasts of the San Juan Rotary Club, and government authorities--who have all joined forces to protect the manatees--are loathe to let the exact location of the pond be known.

There, they have set up Trinidad's first manatee conservation and observation station. With the permission of the land's owners, they have fenced off areas that used to give passersby easy access to the manatees. Now, young men from the nearby village volunteer to make daily boat patrols and to keep watch from the two tree perches they have built above the pond.

The catalyst for the project was the experience of a...