Senior Multimedia Reporter
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Long before tourists began stopping to photograph Digity’s towering mud volcano, villagers of Penal and Debe remember stories from 1938, when the earth opened and swallowed an oil well, leaving behind bubbles of mud slurry and oil seeps.
The story is documented in an article written by the late historian, Louis B Homer, titled “A brief history of Penal/ Debe.” In his article, Homer revealed how Well 306 Spectacular was “sucked into the ground and never recovered.”
Homer said when oil drilling began in 1921, some 171 wells were drilled in the Barrackpore region. Much of this old oil infrastructure still stands in the village, along with vestiges of old weighing scales and railways used when sugar was king.
However, today, despite that haunting reminder of the power beneath the earth, a guesthouse has been built just a short distance from the volcano. This unsettling development has alarmed senior geoscientist Xavier Moonan.
“If after we have witnessed and documented the extent of damage caused by a mud volcano such as Piparo, how can we approve the construction of houses in such close proximity to the mud volcano?” Moonan asked.
He questioned who approved development so close to one of Trinidad’s most remarkable geological landmarks.
Moonan said Digity volcano stands approximately 20 feet high and it is the second tallest mud volcano in Trinidad. It also possesses the country’s largest conical mud vent—a feature that makes it unlike any other mud volcano on the island.
He said that the volcanic cone has watched over the village for centuries while sugar trains once rattled through nearby cane fields, carrying harvests to the Usine Ste Madeleine sugar factory. Although the railway tracks and colonial bridge have largely disappeared, remnants of the old railway infrastructure still lie scattered through the village.
According to Moonan, Digity is one of only two mud volcanoes located along the Penal-Barrackpore anticline, the other being the more famous Devil’s Woodyard in Princes Town.
Beneath its cone lies an extraordinary geological story stretching back millions of years.
“The Digity Mud Volcano is fascinating. The mud slurry comprises Mid-Miocene, 11-million-year-old Lengua deep-water clays primarily,” Moonan explained.
He noted that the mud originates from saltwater trapped within sandstone reservoirs about 3,500 feet below the surface, mixing with ancient clays before slowly finding its way upward through faults in the earth.
The volcano has two main vents. The towering cone dominates the landscape, while about 100 metres to the west lies a cluster of bubbling pools where small quantities of oil often shimmer across the muddy surface, Moonan revealed. Near the volcano, a river runs quietly amid trees and birdsong.
Unlike Trinidad’s more active mud volcanoes, Digity volcano has been quiet for many decades when compared with the Piparo volcano and the Devil’s Woodyard volcano, which both erupted in the past.
However, Moonan said Digity’s volcanic activity is closely tied to the weather.
Prolonged rainfall increases underground water pressure, allowing more mud to be expelled through the vents. During the dry season, the volcano often appears dormant, producing only occasional bubbling. The relationship between rainfall and mud eruptions makes Digity one of the country’s most fascinating natural laboratories, where climate and geology visibly interact.
Chairman of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation, Gowtam Maharaj, said the clay itself has long attracted curious visitors, many believing it possesses therapeutic properties similar to those found at other mud volcanoes across Trinidad.
Despite its scientific importance, he said Digity remains one of the community’s main heritage attractions.
The volcano is listed as a heritage site by the National Trust, yet repeated efforts to transform it into a community tourism destination have faltered over the years.
Former Penal/Debe Regional Corporation chairman Dr Allen Sammy recalled hearing stories from older residents about the disappearing oil well that vanished near the volcano.
“I have often tried to find the exact spot where it disappeared, but we have never been able to,” he said.
He said vestiges of the sugar and oil industry—including abandoned oil infrastructure, weighing scales and sections of railway—remain scattered throughout Digity.
He believes those relics, combined with the volcano, could become a unique heritage tourism experience.
How to get there:
To get to Digity from the San Fernando–Siparia–Erin Road, drivers turn onto Lalbeharry Trace at Debe before continuing through gently rolling countryside into Digity Village. There, rising above the surrounding fields, the volcano comes into view from the roadside next to the awkward sign which reads Volcano Guest House.
