When my wife and I were on Bonaire in March of 2000, the Slagbaai portion of the park was closed... I believe it was due, at least in part, to damage from Hurricane Lenny. We're planning on being back in Bonaire next August and we plan on visiting the park again. Can anyone tell me if the park is completely open now? We never got a chance to go up to the top of Mt. Branderis and would really like to make the trek. Thanks!

Well....I really don't have very many good comments on this topic but will share our experience....we have not done any dives in this area, but we did take the Slagbaai tour....I personally would not recommend it alone...the guided trips must be better since some people do rave about this out back area....we saddled up the jeep and took the short road through Slagbaai. In my opinion, if you get out of the car and walk about 10 feet into the park ....you will see big cactus everywhere.....if you like you can get back in the car and drive over and through many bumpy, twisty ,turny,bumpy....(did I say bumpy?) roads that seem to go on forever....and this was the short road....we went to the "bird sanctuary" which I kept begging everyone else to stop complaining...it must be wonderful...just over another hill or two....when we got there....it was 4 chickens....I have more birds in my kitchen so we were not impressed....and than we had to get back in the car...(sitting on half a cheek here...half a cheek there ) to distribute the weight and bumps on our sore butt bones....I would hope a quide would have more knowledge of the right way to go....It took us a little over an hour, our arms where blistered from hanging out the windows from the sun....I don't want to discourage anyone...but I think we just went about it in the wrong way.....but the cactus you see at the begininnig is basically what the rest of the trip was like. Excluding the Goto area with the flamingos.....but why not just go directly there? bypassing the whole Cacti experience....I would like to hear everyone elses input on this...Steve whinned the whole way .....he could be diving instead of looking at fences and fences of cactus......

Meryl, I love the long drive/route/trail thru the park..with the A/C on until we near the bird areas or where there are other critters. Maybe it is because of the quiet and solitude (also being from NJ, you know how difficult it can be to find peace and solitude...at least where we are in Northern NJ), but I love to go thru the Park every time we are on the island. Joe drives and I shoot photos. He is not as fond of the ride as me, but he does enjoy it. We go in a RAV 4, so it is probably a lot more comfortable, too. I still say it is something everyone should experience while they are on the island...especially "first-timers" if they are there more than one week. Granted, you miss out on "dive time", but it is worth it in my book. Opinions on the Park seem to run about 50/50 from what I can see. We will make our trek thru the Park again this coming May...just part of our routine, I guess! Carole

No! Don't use the airco! For the proper cunucu experience, you must turn off the airco, roll the windows down, and turn up the radio!

You can see also big Iguana's ad the park....I love the park