The Queen's Park Savannah

The social and recreational heart of Port-of-Spain...

The Queen's Park Savannah, "the Savannah" to most Trinidadians, is the recreational and social heart of Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago's capital city.

Originally part of a sugar cane plantation called "Paradise Estate", it was purchased in 1817 by the then Colonial Governor, Sir Ralf Woodford, to be part of his official residence.

 Paradise Estate 

The purchase price was ₤6,000, which today would be about TT$120 million, approximately US$20 million.

When it was repurchased by the city several years later, for an even larger sum, it was considered a questionable expenditure mainly because the Savannah was thought to be too far outside of Port-of-Spain.

 Struggle to Survive 

The Queen's Park Savannah is the city's largest green space at 296 acres. Savannahs in other Trinidadian cities, like Arima, have been reduced from their original size as they succumbed to development.

Port-of-Spain's Savannah has luckily remained wholly and solely a place for public amusement. Together with the adjoining Botanical Gardens in the north, with it's 870 species of trees, and Memorial Park to it's south, they form a welcome green belt in the heart of the city which all Trinis, and visitors are free to enjoy.

 The Savannah 

At nearly 200 years old, the Queen's Park Savannah is one of the oldest and largest city parks in the Caribbean.

And over the course of that time it's been used for almost everything from a public pasture on which domestic livestock was grazed, to a golf course and horse-racing track. It's also where the Graf Zeppelin landed - German airship, forerunner of the Hindenburg - a day immortalized in calypso by Attila the Hun.

 Public Sports 

The Savannah has also been temporary home to international cricket competitions, flower shows, circuses, expos, and even a public tram that ran all the way around the park.

In the early 1900s numerous sporting and social clubs encircling the Queen's Park Savannah, whose members played everything from polo and cricket, to rugby, soccer, and field hockey.

Today it continues to act as an important venue for many sports, a parade ground on Independence Day, becoming the "Big Yard" during Trinidad Carnival celebrations, when it is often used as both a parking lot and a craft mall.

 Walking Tour 

The best way to see and appreciate the numerous sites is a Queen's Park Savannah Walking Tour, a healthy way to experience the city.

A walking tour around the 2½-mile circumference of the Savannah, lightheartedly called the world's largest roundabout or traffic circle, is a great way to entertain yourself, discover a bit about the country, and feel the rhythm of the city. All you’ll need is a comfortable pair of shoes. The circuit takes about an hour, but you set your own pace and enjoy an entire evening, its up to you.

 Poui & Flambouyant 

The Queen's Park Savannah is particularly photogenic at the beginning of the Dry Season - March and April – when Flambouyant trees are in bloom, and again at the end of the Dry Season – August – when pink and yellow Poui blossom blanket the ground. And for something a little different make sure you see the Savannah's Cannon Ball trees.

 Port-of-Spain History 

As you stroll along you'll pass a number of architecturally important buildings that encircle the Savannah, including the imposing and scalloped structure of the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Knowsley House, Boissiere House, All Saints Church, The American Embassy, and Queens Royal Collage - where Dr. Eric Williams the Republics founder, and Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul went to school.

Then there's the Magnificent Seven - a row of eccentrically designed, European styled, Victorian mansions, the Presidents House - formally the Colonial Governor's residence, Queen's Hall, and the upside-down hotel. Each of which has a story to tell.

 Parks & Gardens 

On your journey you'll also come across elegant Memorial Park at the southeasterly corner of the Savannah, the Hollows - once a reservoir, the Zoo, and the Botanical Gardens.

On your journey you'll walk past the neighborhoods of New Town, St Clair, Maraval, St Anns, Cascade, and possibly the most important and interesting, Belmont, the soul of Port-of-Spain, where free Africans made their homes in the early days, and from where Trinidad Carnival, calypso, and steelpan emerged in a form close to what we know today.

 Need Some Exercise? 

But it's after 4:00 pm on weekday evenings and weekends that the Queen's Park Savannah really comes to life.

When the public footpath becomes an exercise track, and social gathering place for hundreds of afternoon joggers and health conscious walkers.

For those wanting a little more intensity there's nearby Lady Chancellor Hill, an exclusive neighborhood, where you'll find droves of Trinis cycling, jogging or hiking this hillside road with its picturesque panoramas of the Savannah and greater Port-of Spain. Visitors are welcome.

It's at this time of day when the Savannah is a buzz with conversation, and when finding parking, as rush hour traffic goes whizzing by, becomes increasing difficult.

 Delicious Street Food 

This is also the time when, depending on the season, you can treat yourself to a Trinidad oyster cocktail with slight pepper, a snow cone with guava and pineapple syrup, corn soup that most Trinidadian food, delightful East Indian phoulorie, and to quench your thirst a delicious, smooth, freshly cut coconut water. Yummm...

Welcome to the Queen's Park Savannah.

Welcome to Trinidad!