Seru Largu Rif 20140313 027 smallIn the South-Eastern corner of the former plantation Rif St. Marie is the Seru Largu located with three steep cliffs. The North-Eastern one is facing the saliña, the Eastern cliff is overlooking the sea and the South-Western cliff is overlooking the land. It is this last cliff that we went to explore. After entering the Coral Estate resort we drove to the small parking lot at the foot of the Seru Lucia. From there we first walked a path that is used by the people living here to walk their dogs and then we entered the field with Indigo plants. Hardly recognisable because everything is very dry now the rain season is coming to an end.

After a short while we reached the big rock that is lying in front of the Seru Largu. Apparantly this big rock broke off and tumbled down in the (distant) past. Hopefully no-one was around here at that time. This is an area where indians used to come. We found some traces in the form of Kiwa and pieces of Karko shells but nowhere in large quantities.
At the foot of the Seru Largu we started to go uphill. It was not our intention to reach the top, which would have been a problem if we wanted to do that because the upper part is very steep, but we stayed on the side of the cliff. We were prepared for bees but luckily the only thing bee-related that we found was an abandoned nest. I saw some remains of wasp nests but these where also empty. Probably all inhabitants moved to an area with more water.

We found a small cave in the cliff and Fred and I decided to enter this cave. We could stand upright. The cave was not very deep and at the end there were some nice stalactites. Also some bats live in this cave.
Leaving the cave appeared more difficult than entering. We both had to hand over our backpack to the other members of the group. Fred got some help to climb down and I went through another small opening to a point nearby where it was a bit easier to descend.

There were several parts along our route where we had to go under a broken-off rock or between a broken-off rock and the cliff to proceed our hike. At one point Fred said that we should be able to calculate the risk of a rock falling down while we are here based on the number of rocks that came down and the age of this area. We didn't try that but you better stay out of this area during an earthquake.

While planning our way back to the cars I saw that Kadaster had marked a well in this area more or less on the shortest route towards the path that we took in the beginning. So we decided to go for a look. The map was not very accurate in its mark and the vegetation was not really cooperating in our search but in the end we found it. First we found the wooden tower that was put over the well and a bit farther the well itself. The sides of the well were made with cement mixed with finger coral. That gives an indication of the age of the well because this construction material was used shortly after Shell came to the island in 1915.
The well was deep and contained water.
Closeby Dirk found a earthen wall with a Kadaster measuring point on top. Identification VH 1506. It didn't look like the other measuring points that we found in the past. This one was lower than usual and also the lettering was in a different format.

All in all a very nice hike through an interesting landscape and with some archaeogical finds in the end.

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