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.
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.
The track in blue is what we walked
Moss hanging in the trees
A miniature garden
Rocks on the side of the Seru Gracia
The hills in the background we have climbed already
Fred taking pictures of the Vitex compressa (Fuma)
The flowers of the Vitex compressa - Fuma
Fred next to a Sabal Palm
Eddy
Eddy and Fred standing, François sitting
Fred, Eddy, François and our guest Bert resting on the side of the Seru Gracia
View on plantation house Knip from the Seru Gracia
Seru Batata - lots of candle cacti on this hill
François and Fred disappear in the vegetation
Erithalis fruticosa - Lumbra blanku
Fruits of the Erithalis fruticosa - Lumbra blanku
Flower of the Erithalis fruticosa - Lumbra blanku
Anthurium hookeri - rare plant in Curaçao
Anthurium hookeri - rare plant in Curaçao
Anthurium hookeri - rare plant in Curaçao
Mushroom
Strange mushrooms
Tilandsia with multiple flowering stems
Dry-stone wall
Time for a rest under a rock of the Piedra Mulina
Tarzan would have liked this
Tarzan would have liked this
Strange formation - Piedra Mulina
A rare fern - Phlebodium aureum - Lisimbein
Christoffel mountain from the Piedra Mulina
Rare tree - Clusia rosea - Dam machu
Budding flower of the Clusia rosea - Dam machu
Fruit of the Clusia rosea - Dam machu
Ripe fruits of the Clusia rosea - Dam machu
Nice Brasilwood tree
Stem of the Brasilwood tree with a Tilandsia
Tree with moss
Eddy is looking down from the side of the Seru Gracia
