The Seru Maco (Maco mountain) was our goal on Thursday, June 6, 2013. We had seen this mountain several times during our visits to the Seru Kabayé. A striking feature of that mountain was that the Eastern side appears to have almost no vegetatiion. That is what we saw when looking from the Seru Kabayé and that is also easily visible on Google Earth. So we decided to take a closer look.
We parked our cars at the plantation house of Pannekoek. From there we walked, first over the asphalt road and then over a dirt road to the foot of this mountain. Along the dirt road we found an old cistern, probably from the government, where everyone could take water. These kind of cisterns had a tap. Only a rusty piece of the metal pipe remained of that tap.
After a while on the dirt road we decided to leave the road and go uphill. Indeed not much vegetation, so for us it was a "walk in the park". Soon we reached the top. According to Werbata the top is 112 meters but our GPS's did show a few meters less. On the top we found a Kadaster measuring point, VH1284. Not in the common rectangular shape. This one was spherical, but apparently this is a later replacement of the original one. We found a small rectangular piece with the first 2 characters of KAD, the normal designation on these kind of measuring points.
From there we walked on the ridge of the mountain. We saw more vegetation than we remembered from earlier views but still "a walk in the park". No thorny bushes apart from a few Wabis, there were some Prickly pear cacti but these could be easily avoided. We found several "aliens" in one place (look in the photo section for a picture). We still don't know what this is. We have seen these during several walks but nobody is able to identify these, so we called these aliens. I had hope to find the solution this time because there were so many, but I didn't succeed. It is definitely not a part of a dried-out Melocactus. We took several of these apart to check.
When we reached the end of the ridge we went down to the dirt road. Almost immediately we found ruins of several houses to the East of that road. One large house consisting of an old Kunuku house with a later extension and a smaller one which was maybe a separate toilet building. In front of that small building there was a frame of an old car. On a door panel of that car we found the word "akery", so possibly this car belonged to a Bakery. There was also a ruin from a far older building; only a large pile of dark rocks with some plaster was left from that house. The largest house was interesting because the walls were partly crumbled down so we could see the way they were constructed.
Farther along the road we reached the place where we had seen a ruin from the ridge. It had an interesting shape with a traditional chimney. But closer inspection showed that the building was not very old, maybe 50 years. It was just constructed in a traditional shape.
After the hike we all went for a birthday lunch to the restaurant Dokterstuin. This became a tradition for us. Each time when one of the members of this hiking group celebrates hers or his birthday we go there for a drink and lunch. This time it was to celebrate Michèle's birthday.
No rights can be derived from this report.
In blue the track that we walked
Same but now in 3D; to the right the Seru Kabayé, to the left the Seru Maco
A beautifully restored kunuku house
In this smaller building to the left apparently a witch is housed
The government cistern
This is all that is left of the tap
A very nice Brasía (Dyewood or Brasilwood)
The sleuths on the dirt road to the Seru Maco
The top of the Seru Maco; here we go uphill
A bunch of Drymaeus snales on a Wayaká (Guaiacam officinale)
The colorful stem of this tree
Another nice tree shaped by the wind
The Kadaster measuring point VH1284
The measuring point from above
A small piece of the original measuring point shows the KA (KAD)
Michèle and Fred overlooking the valley
Orange moss on a rock
François and Eddy also take a rest
One of the many "aliens" that we found
There is a strong wind while we are walking the ridge
In the distance the Christoffel mountain
A water tank; next to it just to the right of the orange/white pole a windmill
Indeed not much vegetation on the ridge and the Eastern side of the mountain
On top of (this part of) the world
Walking the ridge
The largest old house that we found
The extension of the original kunuku house
The wall of the original kunuku house is crumbling down
This gives a good look at the way it is built
Here you can clearly see that the extension is build against the original sloping wall
The smaller building with the car frame in front of it
The car door with the text (B)akery
The ruin of the oldest building; dark stones with plaster is all that remains
The second group of ruins
A characteristic chimney
but the inside shows a more recent construction
An old kunuku house
View on the Eastern side of the Seru Maco
