In the past we already visited Pos Kayuda coming from the Seru Gracia in the Christoffel park; that was a very long hike. From a previous excursion by the 'Vrienden van het Nationaal Archief' we knew that there is also a trail from country house Knip to Pos Kayuda. That is what we wanted to try out.
A small group of the sleuths parked their cars at the plantation house at 8 AM on Thursday November 27. From there we followed the asphalt road looking for the entry point of the trail to Pos Kayuda.
We found the entry point and entered the vegetation there. The first few meters were a bit difficult. Apparently a tree fell down and partly blocked the trail. We had to crawl under it to reach the nicely maintained trail. There were a lot of plastic strips tied to the trees to indicate where to walk.
It was a rather easy walk. Sometimes in the roi, sometimes above the roi. No vegetation to cut, no Prickly pear to walk through, 'a walk in the park' as we call it. In about an hour we arrived at Pos Kayuda.
There is a built stone well there, open on one side. Too small to be considered a real well. A bit higher up in the roi there is a place where water is welling up. Probably this is the real Pos Kayuda.
The name has changed during the 20th century. On the Werbata map (beginning of 20th century) this well is called Poos Koea Juda (well that helped); on the Kadaster map (1993) this well is called Pos Kayuda. Both names make sense. The first one could mean that this well was helpful because this natural well could not be poisened when other wells were poisened on purpose during the slave revolt. The second name refers to the Kayuda tree that can be found opposite the well.
It was still early so we looked for another challenge. We left the roi and started to climb the Seru Batata. Not an easy task because the underground consists of Knip formation rock. Because of its layered structure this can be a very brittle rock; here it has been pulverized over the years so there is a lot of loose gravel where you easily loose your grip. As an extra challenge we also encountered some Wabi's on this slope. But after a while we all reached the area higher up with a much opener vegetation. There we had a beautiful view in the direction of the plantation house Knip and in the direction of the Seru Baha Hundu that we climbed during a previous visit.
The slope of this latter mountain has an interesting layered structure. Some layers are almost horizontal while other layers closeby are almost vertical. Apparently these mountains were formed in a violent past.
We decided to descend through another roi on the slope of the Seru Batata. Difficult because of some steep slopes and loose gravel. Kareljan and Fred decided to follow the roi while Eddy and I decided to stay a bit above the roi on the slope. In the end we all came together at Pos Kayuda.
From there we walked back via the same trail to the country house Knip.
Our track from the plantation house Knip to Pos Kayuda and the Seru Batata
Plantation house Knip - main building
Other buildings belonging to the plantation house
The roi through which we walked
A high Brasilwood tree
The force of water has eroded the soil
An impressive Brasilwood tree
This plant seems confused; defense mechanism for the dry period while it is the rainy season
In the roi close to Pos Kayuda
A well was build here
This skull lies here for quite some time
Taking a rest close to the well under a large tree
The Kayuda tree opposite the well
Could this be the real Pos Kayuda?
This is a natural well
The flower of the Palu di lechi
Plantation house Knip from the side of the Seru Batata
The aliens are back again; we still don't know what this is
View from higher up the Seru Batata
The layers in the rock tell us about a violent past
The layers in more detail
Here the layers are almost vertically
The Sabal palm near the top of the Seru Batata
Knip formation - very brittle stone formation
Banana shimaron - the purple orchid
Nature creates its own sculpture
Flower of the Watakeli
Flower and fruit of the Bringamosa
And now some pictures of the mushrooms we found along our path
