The Seru Gracia is with its 296 meters one of the highest mountains in Curaçao. We started our hike on Thursday January 16, 2014 from the top of this mountain. That is possible because there is a road till the top to enable service men to get to the equipment on top of this mountain. There are several large antennes here for communication on the island and between the islands and for the coastal radar. So we parked our cars there and descended on the Northwestern slope of the mountain.

Piedra Mulina 20140116 048 small

That was not easy. There was a dense vegetation on the top. We tried to walk on top of a dry-stone wall, the border between Zevenbergen and Knip, but that was hindered by old cut-off branches of wabis lying over the wall. So apparently in the past someone also tried to walk over the wall, cut the branches and dropped these behind him. Slowly we continued over the wall. After a while we left the wall and went downhill through the bushes. A very nice nature to walk through even though it was not easy. When we reached an open area on the hill we took our first rest. From there we had a nice view on the Seru Batata, one of our future targets. Strangely enough the side of that hill is densely covered with candle cactusses. The other hills in the area don't have this.

We continued our walk clockwise around the top of the Seru Gracia. We reached another dry-stone wall, the border between Knip and Savonet. We continued alongside this wall till we reached a roi. This was about the lowest point that we reached during our hike, about 220 meters. From there it went uphill again in the direction of Piedra Mulina, our target for today. The Piedra Mulina is a very large rock lying between the Seru Gracia and the Seru Christoff. Probably broken off from the Seru Christoff somewhere is the far past. How it got its name is unclear. The Papiamentu name means millstone. The rock has indeed an almost round circumpherence (see the track where I walked around it twice) and a flat top, so maybe the name is not that strange.
We found several rare plants in this area.

After a long rest we continued clockwise around the Seru Gracia. It was already close to 12 when we left the Piedra Mulina. The way back was considerably easier. The view from the Southern slope of the Seru Gracia is very impressive. But that side is also rather steep and the path comes close to the edge.
We reached our cars safely around 12:30 PM. A very nice hike.

No rights can be derived from this report.

  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_001The track in blue is what we walked
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_005Moss hanging in the trees
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_006A miniature garden
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_007Rocks on the side of the Seru Gracia
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_008The hills in the background we have climbed already
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_010Fred taking pictures of the Vitex compressa (Fuma)
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_011The flowers of the Vitex compressa - Fuma
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_012Fred next to a Sabal Palm
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_013Eddy
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_014Eddy and Fred standing, François sitting
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_016Fred, Eddy, François and our guest Bert resting on the side of the Seru Gracia
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_017View on plantation house Knip from the Seru Gracia
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_018Seru Batata - lots of candle cacti on this hill
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_019François and Fred disappear in the vegetation
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_020Erithalis fruticosa - Lumbra blanku
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_021Fruits of the Erithalis fruticosa - Lumbra blanku
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_022Flower of the Erithalis fruticosa - Lumbra blanku
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_023
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_025Anthurium hookeri - rare plant in Curaçao
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_026Anthurium hookeri - rare plant in Curaçao
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_027Anthurium hookeri - rare plant in Curaçao
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_028Mushroom
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_030Strange mushrooms
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_032Tilandsia with multiple flowering stems
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_033Dry-stone wall
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_034Time for a rest under a rock of the Piedra Mulina
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_035Tarzan would have liked this
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_036Tarzan would have liked this
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_037Strange formation - Piedra Mulina
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_038A rare fern - Phlebodium aureum - Lisimbein
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_040Christoffel mountain from the Piedra Mulina
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_043Rare tree - Clusia rosea - Dam machu
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_044Budding flower of the Clusia rosea - Dam machu
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_045Fruit of the Clusia rosea - Dam machu
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_046Ripe fruits of the Clusia rosea - Dam machu
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_047Nice Brasilwood tree
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_048Stem of the Brasilwood tree with a Tilandsia
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_052Tree with moss
  • Piedra_Mulina_20140116_053Eddy is looking down from the side of the Seru Gracia