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| Touring can be split into two sections: touring the South of the island and touring the North. The two areas are scenically quite different, and are taken in turn below. Touring The South...  Heading south out of Kralendijk and past the airport keeping to the coast you will soon reach the salt pans. These have been used intermittently for centuries and more recently by Cargill Salt for salt production. The salt mountains are almost surreal - giant, sparkling white, symmetrical hills lined up towards the seaside loading point at Waf Di Saliña. Beneath them lie the salt pans which often turn pink in colour due to the bacteria and algae in them. Truly bizarre and makes for some memorably different photos. The salt company has carefully tailored its operations not to disturb the breeding grounds of the next attraction - the Greater Flamingo. On the salt pans you may well see flamingos feeding. At Pelkemeer towards the southern tip of Bonaire where the water is less saline the flamingos tend to drink and bathe. In the entire salt pan area 135 acres form the Flamingo Sanctuary, the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, and this is the exclusive breeding ground of the entire Southern Caribbean flamingo population. Avoid the temptation to approach them in the sanctuary. They are sensitive to intruders when especially they are breeding and disturbing them in any way is strictly prohibited. On the coastline you can see another accumulation of curious-looking objects. These ones are man-made and consist of a series of stone obelisks and a neat group of small, stone houses. In previous centuries these buildings housed the slaves and the salt company's overseer (or 'bomba' as he was known) working the salt pans. The obelisks were used as marker points for ships to guide them to the salt loading point and were colour-coded so that the ship could mark its position (Bonaire being so flat in the south, discernible land features were virtually non-existent). The big house belonged to the overseer. At the very southern tip of Bonaire you will see the Willemstoren Lighthouse built in 1837 (Bonaire's oldest and, apart from the obelisks, the only other discernible land feature from the sea in this part of the island). After the lighthouse you head east towards Lac Bay where there's a hotel and a couple of bars & restaurants. This is the windsurfing and sea-kayaking capital of Bonaire. It's also an excellent place to snorkel and check out the marine life contained in the giant aquarium that forms Lac Bay. Out of Lac Bay and back towards Kralendijk you pass through the village of Nikiboko where you can stop off for a cool drink. |
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