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LOCAL Wednesday 2 OctOber 2024
National Park Arikok: Aruba’s biggest nature conservation

The National Park Arikok com- Prins and Dos Playa.
prises almost 18 % of the island. Arikok is also home to Conchi,
Its rugged terrain, desert-like hills Aruba’s most important natural at-
filled with tall cacti, breathtaking traction; also known as The Natu-
coastline and protected local flo- ral Pool. The journey to the Pool is
ra and fauna welcome you to be and adventure by itself and only
explored. There are numerous ani- possible by foot, horse, ATV or 4×4
mals to discover, for example the vehicle.
sea turtle who lays his eggs on the
park’s beaches. Cultural and Historical components
There are a number of sites within
The national park Arikok takes you the park that attest to the history
on a memorable journey of the of Aruba. The Caquetío Indians left
islands past offering unique geo- rock paintings in Cunucu Arikok
logical, cultural and historical sites. and Fontein Cave. The bird draw-
These can all be enjoyed and ex- ing in the park logo is a copy of
plored either on your own or dur- one of these historical artistic ex-
ing guided tours. A wide variety pressions.
of educational and informative
programs and fun activities is avail- Old plantation (Cunucus) sites tell
able. the story of an active yet challeng-
ing agricultural past.
Did you know that four of the in to-
tal seven species of sea turtle lay These Cunucus were also residen-
their eggs on Aruba's beaches? tial areas for the few families that
In the national park, a Least Tern worked the land. These families
(Sternula antillarum) keeps a strict found ways to survive in the difficult
eye on a very special event taking conditions, and were able to erect
place below on the beach: a ma- their homes with materials found
jestic Leatherback (Dermochelys in the area. Two of these adobe
coriacea) heads back to sea after houses have been restored. Park
laying her eggs, while another nest rangers are learning many of the
laid 2 months ago by the same old building techniques in order to
female hatches—a very rare oc- preserve this unique Aruban mud-
currence of daytime nesting and house. At Cunucu Arikok and near
hatching. Sea turtles prefer nesting Plantation Prins you can find these
in the cool and dark hours of the adobe houses.
night. And hatchlings usually wait that approximately 18% of the to- tallest hills on the island are situ-
for the cue of cooling surface sand tal land area of Aruba is assigned ated within the park. Jamanota hill Park Management
before emerging. as a National Park, to protect and 188 meters (617 ft) and Arikok hill For the management of the park,
preserve the flora, fauna, geology 176 meters (577 ft), from which the a dedicated foundation “Fun-
Nature Conservation and historical remains present with- name of the park is derived. dacion Parke Nacional Arikok”
The protected area of National in Arikok National Park. (FPNA), known today as the Aru-
Park Arikok was officially estab- The line of the permanently wind- ba National Park Foundation was
lished in 2000. Arikok National Park is The Landscape and-wave beaten North Coast is established in July 2003. In Febru-
a 34 square kilometers (7907 acres) There is a great geological variety broken by several bays (boca’s). ary 2017, mangrove and wetland
of natural area, located at the within the park. The main aspects Most of them are small yet impres- RAMSAR site #198 Spanish Lagoon
north-eastern part of Aruba which are the rough hills of the volcanic sive inlets at the mouth of dry river- was annexed to Arikok National
contains examples of most of the Aruba lava formation, the mysteri- beds. Some of these bays (boca’s) Park due to its importance as a
island’s flora and fauna against ous rocks of the batholithic quartz- are spectacular sights, adorned feeding and breeding area for wa-
a backdrop of great geological diorite/tonalite, and the limestone with white, sandy beaches and ter birds and as a nursery area for
complexity. We are proud to state rocks from fossilized coral. The two sand dunes, as is the case at Boca a variety of marine organisms. With
this addition, the areas under FPNA
management increased by 70
hectares while the amount of spe-
cies of flora and fauna to be con-
served to over 250. On December
21st, 2018 (AB 2018 no. 77) Parke
Marino Aruba – currently consist-
ing of four marine protected areas
(MPAs) – was officially established
and subsequently brought under
management of FPNA. In 2019
management plans will be estab-
lished for the new MPAs which in-
clude: coral reefs, sea grass beds,
mangrove systems, a large diversi-
ty of breeding seabirds. Parke Ma-
rino Aruba also contains potential
shark nursery areas, endangered
sea turtle nesting beaches and
marine mammal nursery areas.q