On Thursday January 30, 2014 we visited the Christoffelpark once again. But this time we went to the part to the North of the entrance and more specific to the area bordering the Northern part of the former plantation of St. Hyronimus. We met at 8 AM at the entrance of the Christoffel park and drove with two cars towards Serka Manuel. There we parked the cars and started our hike. Our target for the day was the Werbata triangulation point that we hoped to find on top of the Seru Bomba Bua
From the cars we saw two Warawara's on top of Serka Manuel. Not knowing if there was a nest that they would protect we climbed carefully to the top of Serka Manuel. Half way I decided to go back and take a lower route. The rocks were too steep for me and there was little support for hands and feet. Carel had a similar idea so we walked around the two tops of this steep hill. The others made it to the top and also to a second top. We met again at the foot of the second top. From there we walked in the direction of Seru Bomba Bua. Halfway to the top of the Seru Bomba Bua (87 meters high) there is a subtop of 76 meters high. Of course we wanted to go over that top too.
The vegetation was extremely dense and difficult. Not that there were a lot of plants with thorns but there were many Infrou cacti (Prickly pear) on the ground and an awful lot of horizontal vines that slowed our progress. This is clearly an area of the park where no one comes. We found some artifacts but these were all more than a century old (case bottles and gin bottles).
From the subtop of the Seru Bomba Bua we had a nice view in all directions. Looking back we could see the two steep rocks of Serka Manuel and in the opposite direction we could see our target. We took a short break to enjoy our traditional apple and then we continued. First downhill to cross the valley between the two tops and then again uphill. Reaching the top Fred was the first to discover the triangulation point. And, as we hoped, this one is completely undisturbed. It is eroded a bit but the identification plate on the side looks as if it is freshly made. There is a good chance that we are the first to walk here since Werbata placed and used this point to produce the first topographical map of Curaçao.
After a long lunch break we went back. And although we normally like to take a different route for the way back we were almost forced to use the path that we made on the way up. In the valley we could divert and follow a rooi back to where our cars were parked.
It was a long and tiresome hike. Although the distance was less than 2 kilometers it took us almost 6 hours to cover this distance. But finding an undisturbed Werbata point made it all worthwhile.
No rights can be derived from this report.
In blue the track that we walked; yellow: ride by car
View on the Christoffel mountain from the road
Table mountain at St. Hyronimus
View on Serka Manuel, one of our targets
Hetty is climbing Serka Manuel
Rockwall of Serka Manuel - too steep for me
Flowers along the road
We were not the first here - part of a case bottle
View on Serka Manuel from a subtop of the Seru Bomba Bua
The vegetation was quite dense
Jasmijn takes a drink
Hetty and François taking a rest
Our target - the top of the Seru Bomba Bua
Once again entering the dense vegetation
Autumn colors in January in Curaçao
This little guy was trusting his camouflage
Family of Drymaeus snails
Rock wall of the Seru Bomba Bua
This is what we came for - a Werbata Triangulation point
Undisturbed, just some erosion
The identification plate is in very good condition
Lunchbreak on the top of the Seru Bomba Bua
Hetty took a different path to the top
François is taking pictures of the Werbata point
View on the table mountain from the top
View on the Christoffel mountain
Carel is also enjoying the view
The man on the hill
Hetty
Cactus with a nice hat
We went to another top - looking back at François
Jasmijn and Hetty 
Nice mushroom - multicolored
The same mushroom from above
A young mushroom is making its way up
