Although Bonaire is situated in the caribbean, it does not offer the typical tropical landscape one might imagine. Lush green grass and palm trees are seen, but usually around homes or resorts. More commonly seen are tall Kadushi cactus, scrub-like divi trees, paddle cactus and thorny shrubs. This is the perfect environment for a variety of iguanas and lizards. Surprisingly, it is also a good environment for donkeys.
Brought to the island in the 1500's by the Spanish, the donkeys were used for transportation, namely salt from the south of the island. With minimal water requirements and the ability to eat about any type of scrub vegetation, they were well suited for life on the arid island. With no predators and little competition for scrub, the numbers increased over the years. Today, goats and donkeys can be seen roaming the less populated parts of the island. But most of the donkeys have found a home in the
Donkey Sanctuary.
We hopped in our rented truck and drove about 10 minutes out of the main town to the sanctuary. We were greeted by a boy of about 13 years old. Speaking English with a Dutch accent, he welcomed us and we bought 2 bags of carrots from him. He warned us not to roll our windows more than halfway down because a carrot-seeking donkey might put their head into the car and then break the window with their chin! We heeded his advice.
Just across the cattle guard, the donkeys were waiting for us, or for our carrots.
After the initial shock of seeing those lips up close and personal...
...Linnea got used to feeding them.
We are surrounded!!
The donkeys were really sweet and gentle. They would mostly approach the car, see if there were any carrots, then walk away. But after the carrots were all gone, we had one persistent donkey follow us for a while. He trotted along next to us and would periodically kick the truck. The first time I heard the loud thump, I thought I had run over a large stick or something, but the sound kept coming from the direction of the donkey. Linnea started to get scared, thinking the donkey wasn't going to give up on pressuring us for carrots. I was getting worried about our rental truck and the size of the dents this little quadruped was leaving. When he finally realized that we were carrotless, he stopped following us.
After we crossed the safe zone on the other side of the cattle guard, I got out of the truck to assess the damage. No dents, just scratches in the paint. I kept my fingers crossed that they would not be noticed by the rental agency under all the dust and dirt that had accumulated on the truck.
I mentioned to the woman in the office that a donkey was kicking the truck and she assured us that he was not being aggressive. Rather, when they run, their hind legs flail out to the sides. Okaaaaay.
Check out the
Donkey Cam. You won't be disappointed.
