Kralendijk- On Sunday, June 2nd, Washington-Slagbaai National Park (WSNP) held its annual open day and also continued the celebration of their 50th anniversary.

Albert Crestian was the master of ceremony for the official part of the event and George Thode (Chief Ranger WSNP) also known as Kultura, was one of the speakers during the official ceremony that began at 9 am.

“STINAPA has worked very hard and did some beautiful and important work in recent years, but STINAPA cannot do this alone. STINAPA needs help from everyone in our community to help protect our beautiful nature. Without nature there is no life.” said Kultura. During the official opening of the event the Dutch flag and Bonaire flag was raised by the Sint Michael Group, whom also had a presentation with their drum band. Pastor Ivan also did a little prayer for more rain for our nature. The day started with a mountain bike race, an early morning birdwatching tour.

Entrance to the park was free of charge and many took advantage of this opportunity. The kid’s corner was busy all day with kids getting their faces painted, playing games and painting on driftwood. Besides the children, many adults took a moment of rest in the kid’s corner and were painting enthusiastically together with the children.  There were various food and sweets stands. For the first time there was a domino tournament in the Washington slagbaai park. There were various presentations like the mascaraed presentation, silver bullet steelband, Grupo tutti frutti, Vibe and JC & Friends.

The open day was well attended. A total of 1,514 visitors were registered, of which 569 in 147 cars drove into the park and 945 people stayed at the entrance. We would like to thank all of the visitors for celebrating with us the 50^th anniversary of the Washington Slagbaai National Park!