The Pitch Lake

The Pitch Lake at La Brea, in southwest Trinidad, is one of the world's strangest natural wonders, the largest natural deposit of asphalt on earth, a vast, gently steaming expanse of black pitch covering some 40 hectares. Fed by a deep fault, the lake continuously replenishes itself, its thick tar solid enough to walk on in places yet slowly swirling and bubbling, occasionally releasing prehistoric bones and artefacts. Long mined for the asphalt that has paved roads and airports across the globe, it is explored on a guided walk over its surreal, moon-like surface, with warm sulphur pools to bathe in.

History

Sir Walter Raleigh was shown the lake by Amerindians in 1595 and used its pitch at once to caulk his ship, praising it as better than the pitch of Norway because it did not melt in the sun. The local legend tells that the earth opened and swallowed a village whose people had eaten the sacred hummingbirds, and Amerindian artefacts and a skull have indeed been found preserved in the pitch. In the 1840s Abraham Gesner first distilled kerosene from a sample of its bitumen, and in 1887 the American Amzi Barber, "the Asphalt King", won a 42-year monopoly on the lake - asphalt from here paved many of the first asphalt roads of New York, Washington and other eastern US cities (Wikipedia, Pitch Lake).

The landscape

• The asphalt surface - the vast, surreal expanse of black pitch.
• The bubbling pools - the swirling tar and gas emerging from below.
• The sulphur pools - the warm mineral pools to bathe in.
• The guided walk - the tour across the moon-like surface.

When to go

January to May, the drier season, is best, as the surface is safer and less slippery to walk when dry; rain makes it muddy and the pools less inviting. Visits are made on guided tours, essential both for safety and to understand the geology and history of this unusual place.

What to expect

It is a genuinely bizarre geological curiosity rather than a conventionally beautiful attraction, so its appeal is scientific and novelty value, and to the untrained eye it can simply look like a large, dark, oily field; a good guide brings it to life. The surrounding industrial area is workaday. For the fascination of walking on the world's largest asphalt lake and bathing in its warm sulphur pools, though, it is a genuinely unique experience.

Nearby

The southwest coast and the town of San Fernando are within reach.

Key facts