Barbados Wildlife Reserve — Attraction in undefined

I visited the reserve on December 27th, 2023.

Let me start by saying I came via public transport on the Indian Ground which took roughly 90 mins to reach the reserve from town.

The buses are not reliable but the bus man was accomodating once we asked questions and let him know where we were trying to get.

(First Problem) Upon arrival there was a large sign and a muddy path. There were no security personnel present or staff. We walked to the car park where once again there was no one there to direct us.

We summised where the entrance was and entered through a small gate . The front of desk woman gave us locals very little details while she went into in depth explanation to the tourist. She did not mention to us the feeding time (which is 10 and 2) any security measures, emergency exits, first aid or even how to read the map. She just asked her for our money and gave us a piece of paper and moved onto the next. I am a slim brown skin man late 20s with locs and was with my girlfriend who is a dark skinned slim thick woman with short blonde hair. We are also photographers and it would have been nice to been told about the main attractions of the venue.

(Second problem)

Apart from no information on what to do if injured and the numerous signs saying the monkeys will and can bite there was also not a single checkpoint or personnel on the path. No stationed individual in the snake pen, none in the aviary, none in the reptile enclosure, not a boy.

Me and a few other people just wandered lost until we found our way (never quite finding the aligators or caiman).

(Third problem)

The infrastructure is in desperate need of repair. The wood is slowly rotting and a wrong step can leave you tumbling into some prickly spider filled bush.

(Fourth problem) The little food hut lady needs some manners. She was only kind to the whites and even gave a dark skinned american couple an attitude until their heavy accent became noticeable.

(Fifth Problem)

The deer look half dead. The animals in general look unkept. They deficate all along the path and often on you if you are unlucky enough to be in their way. Most alarmingly I am certain one of the birds had a tumour that has developed into a gargantuan swelling.

(Sixth Problem) Apparently there is a signal station. As a local we were not told this or how to get it. When we asked where were the alligator we were told read the map.

Overall the animals were nicer than the staff. The infrastructure is treacherous when wet and the lack of checkpoints or evidence of first aid makes me worry as many children ran unsupervised in an area with supposed allitators and male territorial monkeys.

I got some awesome photos but apart from the photos and affectionate looks from the deer I cannot...

Sad to say this was not a good experience. The feeding of the monkeys is hardly supervised or done with care. Tourists can freely touch or torment the monkeys if they want without any employees of the ‘reserve’ even paying attention. Yes, they are cute and seeing them so close is a special experience, but at what cost? Their actual wellbeing is clearly not apart of this experience. I witnessed people reach out to poke them and use camera flashes right in their face. This may seem harmless to some people (though it’s difficult to level with that kind of thinking), but they shouldn’t be able to get to that point in the first place.

Beyond the monkeys, the rest of the facility is neglected from the paths you walk on to the reptile and bird enclosures. Low, dirty water levels are all that are provided. Intelligent and complex birds are put alone in filthy cages with hardly any water or food. Many of the birds were covered in pin feathers and bald patches, non stop scratching. There is no enrichment or entertainment for anyone.

No employees are around beyond the cafe. The few that were there did not pay attention to children abusing the tortoises. Literally banging on their shells as the adults watched. It’s not surprising for irresponsible parents to allow their children to be harmful and destructive, but the people positioned to enforce some sort of protection for these animals? Hard to understand how that can happen

Overall this is hardly a reserve but a glorified zoo. This visit broke my heart. If you care for the wellbeing of animals at all I urge you to learn from my mistake, disregard the positive reviews from people that must not be thinking beyond how cute the monkeys are (how? I will never understand), and not contribute financially to the ongoing mistreatment of these monkeys, reptiles, and birds. They deserve so much more care and consideration than what...

So, I will start this off by saying the wildlife reserve was lovely. It had lots of very nice animals like tortoises and deer and birds and overall the experience was lovely. HOWEVER, the reserve really fails in its marketing. The monkeys were not present in the reserve while I was there, while there were huge amounts visible in the Grenade Hall forest that is technically owned by the reserve but is not part of it. I have seen and heard a lot of people say the same.

I think they are aware of this problem which is why the attendants very strongly suggest that you go over the Grenade Hall before you leave, which is all well and good but their marketing really falls short on this and could really do with updating to accurately portray where the monkeys might be at certain times of day. And I also think their marketing should reflect their other animals more, because if I was just coming for the monkeys I might still be disappointed.

Additionally, the staff member at the front desk made me sort of uncomfortable as a solo traveler. He basically chased me to show me where Grenade Hall was and take me down, and pestered me to come for a drink with him after I was done. I didn't think he was particularly a threat but he definitely made me uncomfortable, so that is something to think about if you come as a woman alone. This sort of bothering is not something I have experienced from people working so far, so this took...