Bonaire Salt Pans and Slave Huts

About this place

Bonaire's salt pans are wide expanses of salt ponds on the island's south coast, about 11 km in a straight line south of the capital, Kralendijk. Their water turns pale pink, with white mountains of salt piled beside them, so from a distance they look like snow under the Caribbean sun. Since the Dutch colonial period salt has been one of the island's main exports, harvested by evaporating sea water in the sun. Along the coast near the pans stand rows of small stone huts built in the 19th century to house the enslaved workers of the salt works, so low that a man cannot stand upright inside. The huts stand today in neat rows, some painted yellow and some white, as witnesses to the island's history. Next to the pans is the Pekelmeer sanctuary, one of the most important nesting areas for the pink Caribbean flamingo, which is often seen feeding in the shallows. The visit is free. Do not enter the flamingo sanctuary, which is closed to visitors; watch the birds from the road with binoculars. The area is exposed to sun and wind, and mornings are best for light and birds.