Washington-Slagbaai National Park — Attraction in Bonaire

Beautiful park where your driver brings you straight to the Park Ranger Desk to make sure you have the extended STINAPA penning with your name linked to it! The actually check the names with your government issued form of identity. If you don't have one yet: the penning is sold in most hotels and/ or dive shops and of course the Tourist information desk, but also at the entrance of the National Park from this ranger. You get a plastic penning which can be attached to your diving mask whenever you enter the waters around the island. HOWEVER the ticket is what is important. This mentions your name and the date! So as a good advice: Don't just show up with the plastic coin sized penning or you won't get in.

The park tour is done in 4x4 vehicles and is very bumpy! If you tend to get sick in a car.. please make sure you calculate this in! Besides bumping, rocking and totally awesome.. it's also verrrrrry dusty! Don't bring your best clothes! You will be cloaked by yellowish / reddish dust from top to toe if you travel in open air vehicles (like the 4x4 former army range rovers we rode in!

This dust on top of the heat makes it very thirsty.. and believe me, you NEED to stay hydrated! Something your guide looks after on a guided (hotel) booked tour. They all have a big 30liter cooled water tank with them in the car from which you can tap without any limits.. (4 people won't drink this in 8 hours so don't be ashamed to refill)

You have 2 tours in the park... A longer one (done in summer when the road is dry enough to explore the more wilder areas. A short one, mainly done in the 'winter' meaning the wet season.. which makes certain roads too dangerous to pass.

Both are beautiful according to our guide, but we were nevertheless happy to be on the longer summer tour which packs more different things to be seen.

The park itself is with right and reason a National Park. Nature in all it's power shaped and still shapes the islands very different coasts. (you 'll get surprised how different nature can be on just a few miles)

Hard to describe but a must see for every tourist!

PLEASE NOTE : The park not meant to be reached on foot since no living areas are nearby - the tourist area where most hotels are located is even around half an...

Nothing really of interest here that was worth paying $80 for the two of us to enter the park yes idea for hikers not recommend you take a car into the park even with a pick up truck. It was a rough ride. The roads are really bad yes to say to see on the cliff you can see that anywhere. expected to see more wildlife the entrance down to the beach is really sketchy. If you’re young and healthy you would have a little bit of a problem. Otherwise it’s tough to get down to the beach. definitely have to wear water shoes. It could take anywhere from one and a half to four hours getting around the park we took the short route because the roads and the ride was so rough. there is nowhere in the park to use bathroom until you before the exit. There is no place in the park to get water or soda or anything to eat so bring something with you. Seen a lot of people discard the cigarettes and plastic bottles. I am a smoker and I bring a bottle with me to put my ashes in overall not a great experience. Nothing that stuck out said oh wow look at this. So just remember it’s $40 per person. Sometimes your maximum speed will be 15 to 18 km down to 5 to 7. There are some major potholes and bumps. The were some flamingos, but not a lot. We drove around the park and the most we seen was at the exit them. flamingos are very shy, so people were walking up to them, which scares them. They fly away. There was a sign posted. Don’t go past the sign, but people...

Apart from the diving, this was definitely our island trip highlight.

The landscapes range from rugged coastlines attacked by fierce, towering waves. Moonlike landscapes with vulcanic rock and forests of ever present cactuses. Ennio Morricone would have a field day scouting for locations for his next spaghetti western.

Special shout-out to Seru Grandi (spectacular coastal rock formations), Pos Mangel (small pool of water home to a nosy family of green iguanas)

We took the long route, started at around 10am. Took our time stopping at most indicated spots. Also we went diving entering the water at Wayaka II and resurfaced at Slagbaai. A beautiful stretch of coral with an abundance of fish. We exited the park at around 6.45 pm (the last road towards the exit is a bumpy, slow drive of around 40 min. Make sure you leave on time because the gate...